In case you haven’t seen a trailer that actually explains it, here is the short version: Buddy “Aces” Israel was a Las Vegas magician who turned mobster. Buddy causes a split in the Vegas mob with him running one side and Primo Sperazza on the other. Primo is sick and he’s ordered the death of Buddy. Buddy is in the process of turning Federal witness against the whole West Coast mob families. A couple of Primo’s guys decide they want to make sure Buddy dies (or maybe they just want to be the guys who do it) so they hire a few more hitmen to go after Buddy too. Oh, and some bail bondsmen guys are after Buddy for jumping bail. The Feds learn about the hit and hightail it to Lake Tahoe where Buddy is hiding to try to protect him, meanwhile the hitmen all decend on Tahoe as well.
There is alot of set up for the first part of the moive, introducing each of the hitmen (or hitwomen in the case of Alicia Keys and Taraji P. Henson), all the Feds and giving some background on Primo Sperazza, Buddy “Aces” Israel and the case against the mob. The characters and the actors (including Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Andy Garcia, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Peter Berg, Tommy Flanagan, Curtis Armstrong, Matthew Fox, and more) make the movie… and when the shooting starts, the action ain’t half bad either.
All in all, this was a great fun movie. I recommend it, though it is a bit bloody, so it is not the best date movie and absolutely not for kids.
Not for Kids? When me and Neil saw it this weekend, the couple in front of us brought their 4 year old. As for the movie, I like it up until it changed tones and became a Usual Suspects rip-off. I would have expected that 10 years ago but not in 2007. I guess they figured that everyone would have forgotten about all of the hip gangster movies of the mid 90’s. And did they have to make the plot twist so obvious? I hate that a movie, more than anything, when they hit you over the head with something that would be a twist if they had only shown it once. I also hate when they flashback to a scene that happened earlier in the movie incase you forgot that it took place. I guess most people who go to a movie and don’t understand that they are not in their living room and that it’s not ok to talk in their outside voice, have to be hit over the head with a plot device so it will sink into their trailer park brains. Damn, the more I talk about this movie the less I liked it. But, I think the first 2/3 was a blast. It was no where near as good as The Host, the movie we watched back at my place after. Monster movies cure my troubles everytime.