Smokin' Aces (2007)

Synopsis: So there's this mob boss named Sparazza whose the most widely targeted mob boss ever. He's old and weak so his successor Buddy 'Aces' Israel decides to overthrow him by snitching him out to the FBI. As a result, Sparazza puts out a bounty for Israel's head attracting the best hitmen and mercenaries from around the world. This leads to the FBI wanting to protect Israel from all these crazy people coming to kill him long enough for Israel to be transported to the witness protection program. Israel doesn't make it very far before the shit starts hitting the fan and it becomes a mad dash to who can get to Israel first.

Should You Watch It? The direction is very well done as well as the cinematography style. It's very modern in terms of camera work and playing around with cuts. There are also subtle uses of speeding up and slowing down scenes for effect which work nicely in the few fire fights in the movie. The acting is fairly good even without the stars. Sure Ben Affleck is in it but he has a minor role. Oh and there's this chick in this movie that has the biggest motherf**kin' sniper rifle you will ever see. She literary destroys people from a block away. If you've ever played CS and you love the AWP, this chick makes the movie worth watching just by herself.

Things to Watch Out For: This is Ryan Reynold's first serious role in a movie and he pulls it off. Sure he was in a similar role in Blade Trinitiy but his character was still too comedic to be taken seriously. Also, Alicia Keys makes her major acting debut and although her acting was called upon sparingly she did make the most of it and yes she is smokin'!

Things You Don't Expect: The intricate plot and storyline. When this movie sets up, it has a lot of back story and flash backs. I felt this slowed the movie down a bit too much but it did well in accumulating everything together for one big wreck which sorta happened. When all the mercenaries were coming I thought i was going to be a massive fire fight with everyone and that woulda been awesome. Well, that didn't happen, not because they skimped on it but because they decided to go another route by manipulating the plot so that some confrontations were avoided. At first I felt this was a budget cutting move and it did feel a bit like plot manipulation but the twist in the end does bring parts of the movie together nicely which makes the climax/ resolution pass as plausible. It was just surprising that what was precieved as a hardcore action movie turned out to be a drama in the end.

Final Score: 7.0