Movie Review -- Smokin' Aces

Short Review: Not so much good as fun. Visually appealling enough to warrant big-screen viewing, but maybe wait for it to run at the local ghetto theatre.

Long Review: Ever watch a movie and think "Oooooh. So close, good try."? That's Smokin' Aces. It has all the right elements, or enough of them that it could have been fixed in post-production & editing. Which is exactly where this movie falls down.

The story is good, the dialog is hoping, the action sequences and the directing/acting (for the most part) are wonderful, the production values are superb. Lots of eye-candy, lots of little vingettes and story arcs that work really well in and of themselves. But it's as if the editor wanted us to feel the random, unpredictable violence of life as reflected in the broken story line, or have no chance to grow sympathetic for any particular character, because that's how the film is edited.

It could have been a much tighter, smarter film if they'd cut about 45 minutes out of it. It would have made much more sense if it hadn't tried to explain everything. Especially towards the end.

. . . and don't even get me started on the physics of a 120 pound woman firing a .50 caliber sniper rifle at a high rate of fire using a motel matress as a rest. Damn sexy though.