Smokin’ Aces (3/10)
by Tony Medley
Brutal, grotesque,
unrelenting graphic violence unquestionably desensitizes impressionable
people to commit acts they would otherwise not even consider. Would the
young Valley teenager have hit his tormentor in the head with a baseball
bat without the constant graphic violence shown in movie and video
games? Did he think it was going to kill the bully? Or did he think his
victim would just jump up as they do in movies? This movie, masquerading
as a satirical comedy, provides a crash course in deplorable,
irresponsible filmmaking.
A bunch of
not-ready-for-the-B-list actors, including Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta (has he ever been in a movie that didn’t have abundant
violence?), Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Peter Berg, Martin Henderson,
Taraji Henson and, in their motion--picture debuts, Alicia Keys and
Common--, combined with writer-director Joe Carnahan, who has the
deplorable Narc (2002, in which Liotta also appeared) to his
everlasting shame, have come together to make this film in which hardly
a minute passes without someone being blown away with a high-powered
rifle or blood splatters all over the camera or someone is yelling the
“F” word again and again and again. I wonder if Liotta can comprehend
anyone who doesn’t include the “f” word in each and every sentence.
The FBI is trying to get to a
mafia turncoat, Buddy “Aces” Israel, who is holed up in the penthouse of
a Lake Tahoe, Nevada resort. Lots of other people just want to get to
him to kill him before the FBI can get its hands on him.
The only positive comment I
can make on this film is that Piven gives a very good performance as
“Aces” Israel (thus, the name; everyone is trying to “smoke” Aces;
hahahaha, that’s the only laugh in the movie). Well, maybe that was just
me. The media screening seemed to be loaded with gangstas. I had to move
because three sat behind me and were talking throughout the opening
credits with no consideration to anyone around them. I moved to another
seat and sitting next to me was a gangsta chick who laughed every time
someone got his head blown off.
One thing Carnahan does well
is pace. This movie moves along so that there’s no time to doze. But,
then, there are so many people to kill in so many different ways, that
it would have to move along briskly. This is a thoroughly despicable
picture. For my money a film like this deserves an NC-17 rating far more
than one dealing with explicit sex.
One good thing about it,
however, is that even though Ben Affleck is listed as one of the stars,
if you blink, you’ll miss him.
January 23, 2007
|