*** Spoiler Alert ***

I watched Smoking Aces over a week ago, but I’ve been holding off on writing a review because I just can’t decide if I liked it or not. It is not that I specifically did not like the movie, but it is more that the movie’s plot seemed like an excuse to throw a bunch of actors together and then kill them off. Generally I’m fine with action movies that are just a group of action sequences put together, but in Smoking Aces the fights and action sequence just are not good enough to pull it off. There were some specific scenes I thought were cool, but as a whole this movie was not that great.

Here is a basic rundown of the poor excuse for a plot. A Las Vegas magician, Buddy “Aces” Israel, gets in with the mafia and then agrees to to turn on them to the FBI. As a result a 1 million dollar bounty is offered for whoever kills him and brings the mob leader his heart. The majority of the movie is focused around different contract killers trying to get to Ace’s pent house suite to kill him. During this period Buddy “Aces” is in his hotel room high as a kite while his manager tries to get a deal worked out with the FBI. All of the contract killers get to the hotel at the same time as the FBI and a huge gun fight ensues. Most of the contract killers die and at least a dozen FBI agents get killed including one of the two primary investigators on the case. After this huge fight we find that the contract was not to kill Buddy but to bring him in alive so that the mob boss, who turns out to be his father, can use his heart as a heart transplant. Then, the FBI finds out that the mob boss is actually an undercover FBI agent. The head of the FBI helps him get everything ready for the transplant so that he can keep his undercover agent stays alive and they can get info on the rest of the mob’s organization. When the other FBI agent who was originally on the Buddy Israel case finds this out, and finds out that his partner died for nothing, he locks himself in the room with Aces and the mob boss and unplugs both of their ventilators. The movie ends with him sitting there as they die and all of the doctors and FBI agents trying to get into the room.

I did find it amusing at the end when the one cop who spent all movie trying to protect “Aces” was the one who ended up “Smoking” him. Other than that the movie ends with little fanfare and left me confused with the whole plot. Why didn’t the FBI agents know sooner that the mob boss was an undercover FBI agent? Also, how did they not know that Buddy “Aces” was his son? They just happened to find the information right in time to help him get the heart transplant? How continent.

I can’t really recommend this movie. There were some funny dialog portions in the beginning. Additionally, Ben Afflack’s mustache/goatee was a riot, but he’s only in the first part of the movie before he gets killed. So, don’t bother with this one. There are plenty of other better movies you could be watching.