The movies that are always the most difficult to review are the ones that are not bad, but that still has something missing to them. "Smokin' Aces" is definitely like that. While it's not a bad movie, it's still far from as good as it could have been.
I think the movie started out pretty well. It's got an almost "Lock Stock"-like quality to it where it presents all the main characters in different sequences. After that you feel the stage is set and the guns loaded. Unfortunately then you get the first dip in pace, and the movie never really recovers. Sure, you get a few laughs and some pretty well-done action scenes. But the pace really never picks up and lives up to the promise of the beginnings.
It's difficult for me to put my finger on why i didn't really like this movie. Like i said before it's not bad and it was fairly entertaining. Perhaps my expectations were wrong? I expected something more fast-paced and hysterical, while this is a lot more sombre in pace. The good points are the actors, not that they're great but most of them are pretty good in their parts and many of them are quite funny. Also the action scenes are pretty well done. The negative parts is that i would have liked more action, a quicker pace and a lot less bewildering ending (without giving anything away).
I think most people who like action movies might like this one. It works pretty well, although there are quite a lot of things to improve. I give it a 6/10.
