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Everything comes up 'Aces' in violent thriller

Violence is often horribly exploited by filmmakers. Gratuitious gore has become cliche with the raft of slasher movies and the twisted "captive victims" pictures like "Hostel" or the "Saw" films. It's become so common we hardly pay attention anymore.

In Joe Carnahan's "Smokin' Aces" you not only will pay attention -- you'll be amazed by this writer/director's ability to shock us, but in a way that totally makes sense, in the seemingly continual litany of bloody killings in a world of organized crime where violence is the ultimate currency.

This is a film that works well because it stays true to the filmmaker's mission. It fulfills Carnahan's obvious intention to keep us riveted, horrified and yes, totally entertained for nearly two hours. A big part of this movie's success is the wonderful way the script interweaves funny moments smack dab in the middle of all the messy murdering.

Carnahan has said in several interviews that his inspiration for "Smokin' Aces" came from an idea that hit him several years ago: Build a story line on the long-rumored Mafia associations of the late Frank Sinatra and take it to the next level -- turn an entertainer into an actual mob kingpin.

That's the premise of this film -- with Jeremy Piven cast as Buddy "Aces" Israel, the five-time winner of "Las Vegas' most popular showman" honors for his ability to wow audiences with his skills as both a musician, jokester and card-trick magician.

Like Sinatra, Israel early on becomes a favorite of the gangsters who control Sin City's underworld. But unlike Ol' Blue Eyes, this fictional star yearns for more -- his own piece of the illegal action, and a hefty slice of it at that.

The first of several intriguing twists comes when Israel gets too big for his own boots and angers and betrays the very organization that launched his illicit activities. His former mentor, powerful mob boss Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin) now wants him dead -- putting a $1 million bounty on Israel's head to prevent him from turning state's evidence in a federal case that could largely destroy Mafia power in the Western United States.

The chase is then on as FBI deputy director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia) sends his best team of agents (Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds) to a posh Lake Tahoe resort to prevent the mob from getting at Israel, who is holed up with a team of armed bodyguards in the hotel's ritzy penthouse.

Carnahan quickly presents us with a carnival of killers -- all sociopaths and brutal assassins, but each with very distinct approaches to dispatching their victims. The bizarre group of killers heads to Lake Tahoe to eliminate Buddy -- and anyone else who gets in their way.

Making her big screen debut is Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys, who delivers a strong and convincing performance as a sexy siren of death -- backed up by her butch lesbian lover, played by Taraji Henson.

Then there's a trio of the sickest, neo-Nazi, perverted misfits, known as the Tremor brothers -- whose totally casual, amoral approach to butchering their victims would send tremors through anyone who was unlucky enough to cross the path of Darwin, Jeeves and Lester Tremor, played by Chris Pine, Kevin Durand and Maury Sterling, respectively.

Add to the mix, two international hit men -- torture specialist Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell) and king of disguises Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan) -- and you have quite the group of competitors, just as eager to wipe out their equally vicious fellow assassins as they are to get to the ultimate prize: Buddy Israel.

On top of all this, Ben Affleck plays a marginally successful Las Vegas bail bondsman named Jack Dupree, who is paid a $50,000 retainer by an attorney desperate to find the bail-jumping Buddy before the FBI nab him and he disappears for good into the witness protection program. Though only seen briefly in the film, Jason Bateman delivers a brilliant, over-the-top, manic performance.

Affleck continues to re-invigorate his career -- so nicely boosted last year by his terrific performance as TV Superman George Reeves in "Hollywoodland." His Dupree is right on target. An amazing "mute" moment (which I won't spoil by revealing here) that he creates along with one of those sicko Tremor brothers is priceless.

But the key performances in this ensemble danse macabre are those delivered by Piven in the title role and an important milestone piece of acting from Ryan Reynolds in what may be considered his first major dramatic performance.

Piven, who has shown us a different side of slime in his Emmy-winning role as Ari Gold on the HBO hit "Entourage," has ratcheted the concept of self-absorbed sleaziness into an entirely new realm in this film. He is perfect as Isreal, showcasing a man who can effortlessly slide from total charm to cold-blooded ruthlessness to deceitful back-stabber, all in the blink of an eye.

For Reynolds, whose career to date has mostly exhibited his ability to amuse us in lightweight comedies, proves here he has serious, dramatic acting chops.

With clear homages to the filmmaking styles of Quentin Tarantino in "Pulp Fiction" and "Resevoir Dogs," Guy Ritchie in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and even the Coen Brothers' "The Big Lebowski"-- Carnahan, who last wowed us with "Narc" (2002) -- has done it again.

This nonstop, brutal thriller, with a nice twist at the end, is a winner all the way.

bzwecker@suntimes.com

Director Joe Carnahan follows in the footsteps of Quentin Tarantino, a master of making violence make sense, in films such as:

A wild roller-coaster ride through a bizarre world populated by gangsters and victims, boxers and cops, dopey dames and goofy gunmen. It's violent comedy, orchestrated by Quentin Tarantino like a lurid anthology of action movie images. (R, 1994) Ebert

As a gang of bloodied bad guys assemble in a warehouse, they start fighting among themselves, and the movie leads to a ironic and funny conclusion. First-time writer director Quentin Tarantino has talent, but the movie is too much an exercise in style. (R, 1992) Roger Ebert