here we are folks. the real start of the year for films has finally begun. director and screenwriter joe carnahan's shoot 'em up adrenaline flick 'smokin' aces' starts it all. with its intriguing cast and premise it looked to be something to talk about. although it has a few decent qualities there's still something missing. five time entertainer of the year buddy "aces" israel, played by jeremy piven, has gotten himself into quite a pickle. associating himself with the crime leaders of the underworld in las vegas he became delusional. he started believing he himself was one of them. after many failed schemes aces decides the only way to get himself out of the mess he's created is to rat out his associates to the fbi. in turn, mob boss primo sparazza puts a bounty on aces. one million dollars to be exact. not only does he want him dead though he wants his heart too. once word of the bounty spreads hit men (and women) from all over make their way to aces' lake tahoe hideout hoping to get to him first and get their hands on the one million dollars. at the beginning everything in 'aces' is a bit of a jumbled mess. back to back flashback narratives explaining everything up until the present do not let up and may cause some viewers to stop and think twice about what was just said. the same thing happens near the end and comes off the same way. this is a film that can't be taken seriously and there's just far too much storyline here. carnahan tried a little too hard to make it more clever than it needed to be which takes it down a few notches. obviously though we all know what everyone is going to see this film for; the action scenes. they range from good to excellent with none of them being amazing. some of them are a little too well planned and executed to be seen as believable but that's not an issue really. they're all pretty pleasing and that'll be good enough for most people. what really makes everything all go together and is the actual glue of the film are the characters. they're each interesting, entertaining, & fun. we have a torture fiend, chainsaw wielding brothers, a pair of sniper lesbians, & a master of disguise. most appealing would be alicia keys'. in her acting debut she demonstrates just the right amount of cool and sexy melded together to make her character georgia sykes the vixen sniper in one word: awesome. also just as surprising and also a relief was affleck didn't, i repeat didn't ruin the film. now i'm not saying he was good either. just go and see the film and you'll see what i mean. now with all that said there remains to be something missing here. i'm not going to drag out with a couple of jokes what it is either. plain and simple, it's tarantino. 'smokin' aces' looks like it was made from some quentin tarantino movie kit. apparently carnahan didn't follow the directions correctly. had tarantino been the director, i think it could've been great. he would have added that little something that only he can that made 'reservoir dogs' and 'from dusk till dawn' what they were. at least 'grindhouse' will be here in a couple of months. still if you're looking for some high energy fun, 'smokin' aces' is where it's at. - originally written on january 28, 2007