Smokin' Aces - 2007
Wow. After some brief introductions, you get onboard a fast moving train and head out full speed for the next 90 minutes. If you like that kinda thing - and I do - then you will. Oddball characters and crooks in way over their head are the finer things I look for in a film - and I found them here. I searched the net looking for a positive review of this movie. I'm proud to say this is the first.
Writer/Director Joe Carnahan is familiar with this fast paced crime spree adventure genre. In his 1998 Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane indie hit, Carnahan created a wild - yet believable - adventure with a couple of car salesmen, a used car with a trunk full of cash, and a host of people looking for it and them. They converge and and fun ensues. Fast forward to 2007 and Smokin Aces and we have a mob informant with a head full of knowledge, a host of people out to get him. They converge and fun ensues. Repeat as necessary.
We have here a bunch of assassins converging on Las Vegas to collect the bounty for former magician mob boss gone informant. The FBI is out to protect him. Sounds kind of like standard B movie fare but the execution and the character development set this movie apart. Sure, some are over the top but that's part of the fun. It throws alot of crap up at you and some of it is sure to stick. 
There is a group of cousin assassins known as the Trevor Brothers - some inbred neo-nazi boys who would kill 15 people just to get their target. There is Georgia and Sharice, two black lesbian assassins out to make a name for themselves. There's a former revolutionary turned mercenary (who chewed his fingers down to avoid fingerprints), a bail bondsman with some ex-cop buddies and a master of disguise doctor. All this amounts to a cornucopia of bloody, wacky violence.
The acting here is astounding, it lifts the movie up to more than a violent free for all - it becomes essential. The actors are having fun, yes... but they are taking their craft seriously and it elevates the movie to the next level.
If you like Tarantino movies, this will not disappoint.
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