Smokin’ Aces 2

Well, Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball is here, but should it be? Don’t get me wrong, I loved the first one, and Joe Carnahan is one of my favorite film makers, but is this just another cheap attempt to make some quick money? Maybe, but it looks like they at least had fun doing it. I was disappointed to see that Carnahan had little to do with the second film, but in all honestly, I don’t think Smokin’ Aces needed a sequel (prequel), and if he passed on this to do (the just-over-the-top-enough-looking) A-Team, I can’t really complain.

I feel like director P.J. Pesce (apparently the go-to guy for cheap sequels [Lost Boys 2, Sniper 3, From Dusk Till Dawn 3, and some of the Tremors TV series]) tried too hard to emulated Carnahan. Some people can pull off highly stylized action, and some can’t. Given, this could be more a fault of the film’s editor, who used just WAY too much fast-motion.

SA2 has some really slick sets. If I did some more research I could probably find out how many of them were built for the movie, and how many they just found, but either way I guess it doesn’t really matter. Most of the movie took place in one location: a cool jazz club with a crazy-fortified bunker underneath it. But bad news - guess what? Somebody took out a hit on low level FBI Agent Weed (Tom Berenger - when did he get so old??) and is offering a huge payment, so not unlike the first movie, a group of insane assassins is looking to kill him. The FBI takes Weed to the secret underground bunker, which should prove impossible to find, and even harder to access, but somehow even the most inept of assassins (some of the Tremor family, making their return) find it within six or so hours.

Smokin’ Aces 2 has got some pretty decent action with both the gunfire, and gore effects being top-notch. There were a couple of head shots that blew me the F-away (Get it? Nudge, wink)! Seriously though, it seemed to be a good mix of digital and actual blood. The explosion effects on the other hand, were some of the worst I’ve ever seen. I don’t know who thought that was a good idea - we’re talking early-90’s-made-for-USA-movie-quality explosions. We’re talking-Mega-Shark-vs.-Giant-Octopus-would-be-proud-quality explosions.

Overall, the movie was fun, and decently acted, with a little sexiness, and a pretty good story. Some of the attempts to tie into the first movie with random, forced character mentions, and a couple returning assassin’s were a bit cheesy, but hey, the Tremor’s used exploding circus midgets for God’s sake, so complaining about cheesy tie-in’s seems a bit trite. Also, I get the feeling they couldn’t afford to hire Vinnie Jones for an entire movie, Show ▼

but the bits he was in were well performed, and he was definitely a Vinnie Jones character. All in all, worth watching, and better than most straight to DVD releases, but don’t expect anything on the level of the first one. Look for it next Tuesday (the 19th).