5/5 crazy cool movie
  by David E. Aeh
This is a guy movie all around. There are a lot of one liners, crazy over the top action, and if you take your action movies too serious well you problably won't like it. Good looking guys and hot babes all around. Ray Layota is superb. Everybody has a even amount of play time. The weapons are really cool too.

3/5 Shoot `Em Up
  by J. Owen (San Francisco, Ca)
Smokin' Aces is definitely a rock `em, sock `em ensemble-type film. The story line comes off as a backdrop for the multitude of good and great performances.

Taraji Henson delivers a character role that deserves an award. As Sharice Watters, a hit-woman, she belts out dialogue with panache, worth the DVD viewing time, alone. I was reminded of Mercedes Ruell, as Anne Napolitano, in The Fisher King; a role that won Ms. Ruell an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1991. It would make sense to me that Ms. Henson would be nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in her 2008 role of Queenie, in the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This woman can act!

Not all the characters fit the bill: Ryan Reynolds, as Richard Messner, FBI agent, is more of a bumbling, likable guy that is given too many lines and too much camera time. He doesn't stand a chance letting it rip with Andy Garcia.

The list of quirky and over-the-top characters goes on. It's bloody violent, and lots of everything that would be consider "over-the-top". Actually, Smokin' Aces is much more "Shoot `Em Up" than the 2007 film starring Clive Owen, another film you wouldn't want to take seriously.


5/5 Fantastic!
  by R. Matthew Johnson (Bowling Green, KY)
I was able to buy this movie at a terrific price! The movie arrived very quickly and it was brand new as described. I couldn't be happier! Thank you very much! A+++++++!!!!!!!!

5/5 Jeremy Piven had to really be on coke when they shot that last sceen
  by Lydel
As usual I'm not going to go over the plot as a few hundred people here have done, suffice to say this movie is actually pretty good Sat night entertainment. Some people here are being negative because of it's unrealistic story and plot holes, what movie does not have those?? Uh HELLO, this is an ACTION movie and should be judged as such, especially with a title like "Smoking Aces". I judge movies on their merits in their category, I don't put action movies up against a Drama, Romance etc. Most of the assassins were pretty interesting but of course they were not investigated in any depth. I was a little disappointed in Alicia Keys and partners characters, using the stereo-typical "Black Slang" and using the "N" word thru-out the movie, but they redeemed themselves somewhat by having the best action sequences of the film. Keys partner is a chick with a 50cal sniper rifle, and she brings the HEAT by absolutely shredding some FBI agents in the next building. There were a couple of glaring Assassin and Police mistakes, like when Keys partner goes to another room for a better line-of-site shot and leaves the door open behind her, just in time for the FBI to come and shoot her in the back. (I'm pretty sure Assassins cover their back, that's Assassin 101) Also the highly trained FBI agents know they are taking fire from a monster sniper rifle from another building, yet they stand up and respond with mere pistols, and a SHOTGUN?? Do you know what the spread is on buckshot?? If your not standing right in front of a person, all that shot just spreads out, just dumb. Common and his typical diatribe was unnecessary, to say the least but at least some Black people survived. Anyway, the story was not bad but the action was some of the best gunfight scenes I have witnessed in awhile. Absolutely kinetic. You can tell the directors were trying to copy the standard of Asian action movie gunfights, and they come close but Asian flicks of even 20 years ago (See John Woo) are still some of the greatest gun battles ever committed to celluloid. Anyway, this movie is a good action flick and should not be easily dismissed.



4/5 A little more complex than I thought
  by Shamontiel L. Vaughn (Chicago)
Three different crews try to take out Buddy "Aces" Israel after a million dollar contract is put on his head after telling FBI secrets. While one person (FBI agent?) keeps trying to keep his cover under wraps, that quickly fails, and the FBI wants him and all his counterparts as well. Problem is that now the FBI has to deal with the million dollar hungry criminals also looking to take Israel out.
I was curious how Alicia Keys was an actress, and I've enjoyed everything Common has played in films, so that was the main reason I wanted to see it. What I did not expect was for the two entertainers to be so good at playing criminals. I thoroughly enjoyed their performances. The movie started off slow and very detailed (not the type of film you want to turn your head away from or you'll miss something, especially the climactic scene and the "make sense" scene towards the end), and although I'm not too big on action films, I like dramas. This one was impressive.

The secret was a little too confusing and I had to rewatch a scene to make it "make sense." But there was a scene towards the end with Common and Alicia Keys on the stairs that just would NEVER happen with the FBI in real life. That was very much a Hollywood moment, but I liked it nonetheless.