There is so much blood in Smokin' Aces that Joe Carnahan makes Quentin Tarantino look like a pansy. Writer-director Joe Carnahan (Narc) weaves together a story about bloodthirsty, money-hungry hitmen trying to take down Vegas entertainer Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven) before he can snitch on his Mob contacts to the Feds (Ray Liotta, Ryan Reynolds). The dialogue is as fast and dirty as the gunplay in a film that is darkly funny and, funnily enough, somewhat serious, too. Unfortunately, this creates an uneven tone, as the comic violence and the serious aftershocks don't quite gel.
This is no fault of the performers, who are more than able to straddle the seriocomic lines in the script. After gaining fame as Ari Gold on Entourage, it's clear that Jeremy Piven has found his calling playing smarmy, low down rats. Even though everybody's chasing Buddy, the film spends equal time with all the characters, giving viewers a chance to enjoy the relationship between Liotta and Reynolds and some motormouth performances from Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman. Meanwhile, both Common and Alicia Keys are stellar in their film debuts, as Buddy's right-hand man and a hitman, respectively.
In Aces, everybody acts like they know everything, but nobody knows anything. The smoke and mirrors (or blood and gore, in this case) are like visual sleight of hand, distracting audiences from any moments that would clue them in to the twists at the end. But even viewers who pick up on one, or two, or three of the twists need to prepare for a few more. It may take a while to get there - all the blood-spurting does take up a lot of time - but still, it's worth waiting for the reveals. Carnahan's created a real carnival in Smokin' Aces, and his cast seems to enjoy the ride as much as audiences will.
