Smokin' Aces

Okay, this is a controversial-ish choice, and I don't have much time at all. My gripe isn't with the movie, but the marketing.

I know marketing people are among the lowest in the universe, but seriously, what were these cunts thinking? Most of the UK marketing advertised this like it was some sort of knockabout action comedy adventure, where some hitmen were all trying to kill the same target, causing mayhem somewhere or other.

Well, the same target bit was true. The hitmen/women bit was true. Knockabout action adventure kinda thing? No fucking way.

The target is fucked up on drugs, hates himself and is given little choice in selling out his comrades as he tries to turn state's evidence and get into witness protection. It hurts him. He's off his tits a lot of the time. He's falling apart. Ha ha, oh the humour!

Some of the hitmen are killing indiscriminately and are really quite vile. Not a huge amount of humour about any of them, save for one band of twisted fucks. Even their deaths are amusing.

A lot of the action is brutal, not knockabout in the least. The deaths hurt, on the whole. And there are a lot of deaths. People take revenge, people hurt. Some of it's pretty fucking ugly too.

There is humour in the movie, definitely, but the marketing people would have had both barrels from me if I had paid to see this in the cinema. It's been a long time since I've seen a film so completely mis-sold in its advertising.


So see this if you like action movies, it's got a reasonably solid script and a superb cast (led by Ryan Reynolds, who is usually the best thing about any movie he's in, alongside a rather good Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia and the always-great-value Jeremy Piven. Oh, and the very surprising Alicia Keys), it's just maybe not what you would expect from seeing any of the trailers. So there.