It’s hard to believe that he’s already 15 years old. However, “Smokin’ Aces” has lost none of its power and creativity to this day – you can see that for yourself tonight on Sat.1.
It’s easy to forget that Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds was in front of the camera before he became Marvel’s iconic anti-hero. A circumstance for which he is at least partly responsible – after all, since the success of the comic film adaptation, the Canadian has practically only played modifications of his prime role, for example in “Free Guy” or “Killer’s Bodyguard”. And that is now burned into your memory for a long time. Reynolds already let it rip in the 2000s – for example in Joe Carnahan’s assassin actioner “Smokin’ Aces”.
The “deep black humorous action thriller”, which resembles an “ultra brutal ride into hell”, as the official FILMSTARTS review of the film puts it, is now more than 15 years old. But even more than 30 MCU blockbusters, three “John Wick” chapters and lots of other action hits later, the film hasn’t lost any of its power and, above all, its madness. Curious? Then it’s worth tuning in tonight if “Smokin’ Aces” from 12.30 a.m. on Sat.1 runs – despite some rough hard inserts completely unabridged.
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And if you want to continue straight away, you can get “Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball” for a small dollar, for example on Amazon Prime Video:
» “Smokin’ Aces 2” bei Amazon Prime Video*
“Smokin’ Aces”: Action madness with a mega-star ensemble
At the center of the story is Las Vegas illusionist Buddy “Aces” Israel (Jeremy Piven), who is to testify as the main witness in the trial against a mafia boss and is to be protected by the FBI accordingly. But the party-loving playboy ignores the dangers of drug intoxication. Meanwhile, a variety of assassins are on his trail to kill him and collect the bounty.
“Smokin’ Aces” is for us “Spectacular entertainment cinema whose story can’t quite keep up with the high tempo at the end”. That’s why we don’t want to go into the plot any further at this point, but look at the real show values of the film:
On the one hand, “Smokin’ Aces” scores with a never-ending list of big, well-disposed stars, on the other hand with pure action madness including completely insane figures, brute slow-motion shooting and bloody excesses.
The trailer already makes it quite clear that no stone is left unturned here and vast amounts of the red lifeblood are spilled in an extremely creative way. In addition, “Smokin’ Aces” is above all (over and over again) in a good mood because the impressive ensemble obviously had a lot of fun at work here – which is transmitted unfiltered to the audience.
In addition to Reynolds as lead investigator and Piven as key witness, you’ll also find Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Chris Pine, Jason Bateman, Tommy Flanagan, Matthew Fox, Taraji P. Henson and Common, plus director Peter Berg and R&B superstar Alicia Keys .
*The link to the Amazon offer is a so-called affiliate link. If you make a purchase through this link, we will receive a commission.
