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Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Smokin' Aces (1 Viewer)

Kevin EK

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SMOKIN’ ACES
 
Studio: Universal
Film Year: 2007
Film Length:  1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Action/Dark Comedy/Drama
 
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
 
BD Resolution: 1080p
BD Video Codec: VC-1 (@ an average 25 mbps)
Color/B&W: Color
 
Audio:
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (@ an average 3.5 mbps)
French DTS 5.1
Spanish DTS 5.1
English DVS 2.0 (Descriptive Visual Service)
 
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
 
 
Film Rating: R (Strong Bloody Violence, Pervasive Language, Nudity, Drug Use)
 
Release Date: January 19, 2010
 
Starring: Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Alicia Keys, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven and Ryan Reynolds
Written and Directed by: Joe Carnahan
 
Film Rating:    2 ½/5  
 
Quoting my review of the SD release from April 2007: “Smokin’ Aces is a seriously confused movie.   Clearly designed to emulate a combination of Midnight Run, Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects, the film initially attempts a tone of action comedy, as multiple teams of assassins close in on Buddy “Aces” Israel before he can snitch on the mob to the Feds. Somewhere along the way, the film loses its bearings and starts to take itself seriously. By the film’s close, the story has shifted into an overly dramatic mode, if not a melodramatic one. The film is Joe Carnahan’s third directorial effort (since 2002’s NARC, not to mention his debut film 4 years before that) and it shows signs of being his effort to get a lot of things out of his system. (He openly says this during one of the interviews on the disc). The problem here is that while Carnahan has assembled a cast that could easily pull off the tricky balancing act he is attempting, he hasn’t given them a script or a director that could pull it off.   The result is a film that works in fits and starts. Some sequences have a kinetic grace to them, while others fall completely flat. Ultimately, the viewer is left wondering what film they started out watching in the first place. There’s a lot of talent on display here, but I have to fall back to some basic theatre questions in the final analysis: What was Carnahan trying to accomplish, did he accomplish it, and was it worth it?    I personally didn’t come up with satisfactory answers.   Other viewers may have different responses, which I would encourage. For myself, I wouldn’t see this as an automatic purchase. It’s an interesting rental for the curious viewer, and perhaps a purchase for fans of Joe Carnahan or the cast.” In the 3 years since I originally saw this film, it hasn’t aged well for me. Thus, my evaluation of its merits has dropped another half point.
Smokin’ Aces has previously been released on both DVD and HD-DVD back in 2007. The new Blu-ray release upgrades the HD sound to a new DTS-HD MA sound transfer, while retaining the extra features found on the prior releases, including both the U-Control features from the HD-DVD. The timing of this release, which is simply a catch-up catalogue update to Blu, is clearly intended to help promote the new direct-to-video prequel, Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball.
 
 
VIDEO QUALITY   3 ½/5
Smokin’ Aces is presented in a 1080p VC-1 2.35:1 transfer that I believe is a port over from the HD-DVD release reviewed here by Sam Posten 3 years ago.   I found it to be an obvious step up from the SD release, but there were still areas where the intended grit in the image simply looked excessively grainy to me. I should note that I am watching the film on a 40” Sony XBR2 HDTV. If anyone is watching the film on a larger monitor and is having issues, please post them on this thread.
 
 
AUDIO QUALITY   4/5
Smokin’ Aces is presented in an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix in English, along with standard DTS 5.1 mixes in French and Spanish and a DVS track in English.   I had given the same rating to the SD mix, and it’s still appropriate with the new HD mix. This is a loud, aggressive mix, full of music and gunfire. Do not play this one at full volume after midnight.
 
SPECIAL FEATURES      2 ½/5
The Blu-Ray presentation of Smokin' Aces comes with the usual BD-Live connectivity and My Scenes functionality, along with the extras that have been available since 2008.  I have added a half point for the inclusion of the HD-DVD U-Control features, but my overall evaluation still applies here.
 
Quoting my April 2007 review:
 
Smokin’ Aces comes with a pretty decent package of special features, but they only scratch the surface on what was clearly a difficult shoot in a limited time.   The viewer is provided with two commentaries and over 40 minutes of featurettes and deleted scenes, but the overall effect is more of a celebration of Joe Carnahan than a serious examination of the film and its production. 
Commentaries – Two audio commentaries are included on the disc. The first is with Joe Carnahan and his editor Robert Frazen. The second has Joe Carnahan along with three non-lead cast members – Common and Christopher Hilley (who play the muscle behind Buddy Israel) and Zach Cumer, a teenager who features in one sequence later in the film. The discussion with the editor reveals a little more information, as Carnahan and Frazen drink beer while they watch the movie. The conversation with the cast really doesn’t reveal much, although there are occasional gems – such as Carnahan talking about how he added CGI onto the translate to make the backdrop seem real. The viewer is left with the impression that Carnahan is very pleased with the film – but not that he has learned anything about it from watching it with us.
Deleted Scenes – (9:24 total) Four deleted and/or extended versions of scenes are included. All are non-anamorphic, but have an optional English subtitle available. All are fairly expendable scenes that add a little character flavoring but don’t really move the story forward. In other words, these were good cuts.
Cowboy Ending – (1:05) An non-anamorphic alternate ending is presented, which doesn’t change the content of the ending other than to drastically shorten it. As it turns out, the ending used in the film makes more sense. 
Outtakes – (9:29 total) A collection of non-anamorphic gag reel material is presented, most of which shows the cast goofing off after blowing a line or move here or there. On the other hand, the gaffes with Ray Liotta have a bit more teeth to them – he doesn’t seem to be responding as happily to Carnahan jumping in on the walkie talkie during his scenework.
The Lineup – (12:56 total) A series of brief anamorphic introductions to the various characters is presented here through interviews with the cast played out over footage of their characters. (It is notable that Ryan Reynolds provides all the commentary about the FBI characters, but there is no comment from either Ray Liotta or Andy Garcia) There isn’t a lot of deep material here. But it does become obvious that one team of assassins, the “Tremor Brothers”, owe more than a small debt to the legendary “Hansen Brothers” from Slap Shot.
Big Gun – (11:53) An abbreviated anamorphic featurette centered on Joe Carnahan, this crosscuts between an interview with Carnahan and snippets of on-set video shot during production. Both the interview and the set video spotlight Carnahan at his best. The one crucial element of this documentary is Carnahan’s admission that the film was shot in 40 days – meaning that the production schedule was limited and intense. There are no indications in this documentary of how this affected the cast or crew. If the viewer is looking for a warts-and-all view of the shoot, they will not find it here. 
Shoot ‘Em Up: Stunts & Effects – (4:52) The final anamorphic featurette features a little information about how the cast dealt with the massive amount of gunfire in the film. There’s a little video footage of Ray Liotta rehearsing with the guns, and a few interviews with the rest of the cast heard over footage from the set and the film. The primary note of the featurette is that Joe Carnahan prefers setups where you can see the gunfire and squibs and bullet hits erupt within the same shot.   He’s absolutely right on this count – it definitely helps to try to get all the elements to play within a single shot – otherwise you wind up with the typical TV show basketball game – shot of actor shooting the ball, cut to insert of ball going through hoop.   Getting it all within the master of the scene is more time consuming, but there’s nothing that will convince an audience with more authority of the realism of the scene.”
U-Control – Two U-Control features are carried over from the HD-DVD. The first is a series of Picture-in-Picture video interviews with Joe Carnahan and the cast which can be accessed during various scenes as indicated on the chapter menu. The interviews are fairly candid, and if you’re a fan of Carnahan or the movie, you will likely find yourself learning a bit more than you might expect. The second feature is an “Assassin Tracker” that provides location information about where the various assassins can be found at various points during the story, as indicated on the chapter menu. For myself, I wasn’t particularly wowed by either of these features, but it’s nice that they were carried over from the earlier release.
 
BD-Live - The more general BD-Live screen is accessible via the menu, which makes various online materials available, including tickers, trailers and special events.
 
My Scenes - The usual bookmarking feature is included here.
 
When you first put the disc in the player, you’ll randomly be presented with various trailers for NBC’s 2010 Winter Olympics coverage, for the Universal Blu-ray slate, and for various current Blu-ray releases, particularly the new video prequel, Smokin’ Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball. Or you may just go straight to the main menu.   The usual promotional ticker is present on the main menu, but can be toggled off at your discretion. The film and the special features are subtitled in English, Spanish and French.
 
 
IN THE END...
Smokin’ Aces hasn’t aged all that well, but it still boasts a talented cast and some aggressive style choices. For myself, I find it too reminiscent of Tarantino’s work, albeit without the higher level of ability that comes with Tarantino’s better efforts, such as Kill Bill, Volume 2 or Inglourious Basterds. If you’re already a fan of this movie (and it certainly has done well on home video), you’ll want to at least rent this to see if you need the upgrade to Blu.
 
Kevin Koster
January 27, 2010.

 

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