Smokin' Aces

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Smokin' Aces
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joe Carnahan
Produced by Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Written by Joe Carnahan
Starring Ben Affleck
Andy García
Alicia Keys
Ray Liotta
Jeremy Piven
Ryan Reynolds
Music by Clint Mansell
Cinematography Mauro Fiore
Edited by Robert Frazen
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • December 9, 2006 (2006-12-09) (Austin Butt-Numb-A-Thon)
Running time
109 minutes
Country United States
United Kingdom
Language English
Budget $17 million
Box office $57,103,895

Smokin' Aces is a 2006 American-British-French action-crime film written and directed by Joe Carnahan. It stars Jeremy Piven as a Las Vegas Strip magician turned mafia informant and Ryan Reynolds as the FBI agent assigned to protect him. The film was the debut of singer Alicia Keys and rapper Common as actors, and also starred Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Andy García, Ray Liotta, Taraji P. Henson, Chris Pine and Matthew Fox. The film is set in Lake Tahoe and was mainly filmed at the MontBleu casino, called the "Nomad Casino" in the film. The film grossed $57 million at the box office against a $17 million production budget.



Locke dispatches Messner and Carruthers to take Israel into custody when the deal is struck. Meanwhile, a team of Las Vegas bail bondsmen, Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) and his partners, "Pistol" Pete Deeks (Peter Berg) and Hollis Elmore (Martin Henderson), has been hired by the sleazy lawyer who posted Israel's bail, Rupert "Rip" Reed (Jason Bateman), to bring him into custody. The bondsmen are gunned down by the Tremors, but Elmore survives. Messner is dispatched to the murder scene while Carruthers proceeds to Israel. At the same time, each of the assassins gain access to the hotel in their own various ways.

Carruthers encounters Acosta, disguised as a security officer, in an elevator at the hotel. Carruthers senses something is wrong and both are mortally wounded in a gunfight. Meanwhile, Soot gains access to the penthouse by posing as one of Israel's henchmen. Israel's second-in-command, Sir Ivy (Common), learns that Israel agreed to inform upon Ivy as part of the plea deal and attempts to kill him, but Israel injures Ivy by throwing a playing card at his eye, causing him to shoot his gun wildly around the room. The hotel security team hear the shots and restrain Ivy in riot cuffs in the hallway. Georgia finds Carruthers and Acosta, both riddled with bullets and bleeding to death, in the elevator, but assumes Acosta is Soot. In Los Angeles Locke abruptly withdraws from the deal with Israel and orders that Messner and Carruthers are not told. The Tremor brothers reach the penthouse floor, where they engage in a shootout with the security team and Ivy, who manages to kill Jeeves and Lester. Israel, learning of the FBI's new position, attempts suicide by gunshot but passes out before he can.

Messner arrives at the hotel and sets up a position around Georgia's elevator. Sharice provides cover from another high-rise hotel with a Barrett M82 anti-materiel rifle, outgunning the FBI agents. Acosta, still alive, shoots Georgia, but is shot by Carruthers. Sharice, thinking Georgia is dead, refuses to escape and keeps shooting at the FBI team. Georgia escapes to the penthouse where she stops Darwin Tremor before he can kill Ivy. Darwin Tremor escapes by posing as an FBI agent in stolen clothes, and Messner, distraught over the death of Carruthers, stops Ivy and Georgia on the stairwell, but decides to let them escape. Sharice, after seeing the pair alive and free through her rifle scope, is gunned down by the FBI from behind.

Locke and a team of FBI agents descend on the penthouse and take Israel to the hospital, while Soot escapes by dressing as a member of hotel security. Acosta, carted away on a gurney, is also shown to be alive. Darwin Tremor nearly escapes, but is gunned down by Hollis Elmore on the casino's parking garage roof.

Messner arrives at the hospital and learns the truth about the day's events from Locke at gunpoint. It transpires that the mysterious Swede is actually a prominent heart surgeon from the University of Stockholm and that Soot was hired by Sparazza to get Israel's heart so it could be transplanted into the body of Sparazza. Sparazza is further revealed to be Freeman Heller (Mike Falkow), an FBI agent who went undercover and was thought to have been killed by the mob. The FBI had attempted to kill Heller, after they thought his assignment had blurred the lines between being a mobster or an FBI agent. But Heller miraculously survived and ended up taking on the role as Sparazza full-time after his mind snapped. The mobster has agreed to expose the mob's operations in exchange for Israel's heart as he is in fact Sparazza's son, and thus, the most compatible donor.

Messner, furious over the unnecessary deaths, especially Carruthers', protests and is ordered by Locke to either resign on the spot or return to Washington, D.C., and forget about the case. Realizing that the FBI will never admit what they did, he walks into the emergency room, locks the door and pulls the plug on both men. He then lays his gun and badge on the floor while Locke and his men desperately try to break in.




Title sequence[edit]

During the making of the film Joe Carnahan's on set photographer captured thousands of stills. These stills (over 3000) were given to the London-based studio VooDooDog who found sequential photographs that could be animated into title sequences. The images were then manipulated using After Effects giving control of camera movement and depth of field. The sequence takes inspirations from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and other 1970's movies. To give the rostrum type hand made feel, ink textures were filmed using a Canon 5D stills camera.




The movie itself contains 18 songs,[2] leaving only one out of the official soundtrack which was "Spottieottiedopaliscious" by Outkast. The score music was composed by Clint Mansell who has also scored such movies as The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream.

Track listing[edit]

No. Title Artist Length
1. "First Warning"   The Prodigy 4:21
3. "Ace of Spades"   Motörhead 2:48
4. "Down on the Street"   The Stooges 3:45
5. "Play Your Cards Right"   Common feat. Bilal 3:09
6. "Trespassing"   Skull Snaps 4:00
7. "Segura o Sambura"   Nilton Castro 2:55
8. "Touch Me Again"   Bernard "Pretty" Purdie 4:23
9. "Under the Street Lamp"   Joe Bataan 2:52
10. "I Gotcha' Back"   GZA 5:00
11. "I Love You"   The Bees 4:33
12. "Morte di un Soldato"   Ennio Morricone 3:12
13. "Save Yourself"   The Make-Up 3:22
14. "Like Light to the Flies"   Trivium 5:43
15. "FBI"   Clint Mansell 3:00
16. "Shell Shock"   Clint Mansell 3:09
17. "Dead Reckoning"   Clint Mansell 3:16

Release and reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

According to Box Office Mojo, the movie grossed $14,638,755 on its opening weekend (2,218 theaters, averaging $6,599 per theater). The movie grossed a total of $35,662,731 in the North American market and $18,878,474 outside the U.S, making a total worldwide gross of $54,541,205.

Critical reception[edit]

The film received negative reviews, scoring a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, with that site's consensus being that it is "A violent mess of a movie, Smokin' Aces has some of Quentin Tarantino's style but not much of his wit or humor". Despite this, the film has gained a cult following with its viewers.

Home media[edit]


Prequel [edit]



  1. ^ Donnellon, Paul. Interview with Ian Albinson. London Retrieved July 19, 2012.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ "Smokin' Aces - DVD Sales". The Numbers. Retrieved 2010-07-10. 

External links[edit]