Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball (Video 2010)

Walter Weed is an unassuming desk jockey at the FBI when the Bureau uncovers a plot to assassinate him. A team of degenerate, psychotic assassins dispatched by mystery man Hal Leuco to win ... See full summary »

Director:

P.J. Pesce

Writers:

Olatunde Osunsanmi (screenplay), Olumide Odebunmi (screenplay),

Stars:

Tom Berenger, Clayne Crawford, Tommy Flanagan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Berenger	...	Walter Weed
Clayne Crawford	...	Agent Baker
Tommy Flanagan	...	Lazlo Soot
Maury Sterling	...	Lester Tremor
Martha Higareda	...	Ariella Martinez
Christopher Michael Holley	...	Malcolm Little
Ernie Hudson	...	Anthony Vejar
Michael Parks	...	Fritz Tremor
Autumn Reeser	...	Kaitlyn 'AK-47' Tremor
Vinnie Jones	...	Finbar McTeague
Hrothgar Mathews	...	Agent Redstone
Jared Keeso	...	Agent Nicholas
Jason Schombing	...	Agent Abrego
David Richmond-Peck	...	Agent Dominic Dumare
Grant Elliott	...	Agent Partch

Storyline

Walter Weed is an unassuming desk jockey at the FBI when the Bureau uncovers a plot to assassinate him. A team of degenerate, psychotic assassins dispatched by mystery man Hal Leuco to win a huge bounty includes a resourceful beauty who has a unique method of killing her prey, a power-tool wielding psychopath and a deadly master of disguise.

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Plot Keywords:

assassin | disguise | fbi | shot in the chest | explosion | 

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Taglines:

Prepare for Murder, Mayhem & Madness.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Universal [us]

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 January 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Smokin' Aces 2

Filming Locations:

Aja Tan Studios, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Working Title Films, Always Split Aces Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min 88 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lester Tremor says that he looks "like that dude, the one in Platoon, he's in Sniper". That "dude" is Tom Berenger, who plays Walter Weed in this film.

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Goofs

When Kaitlyn Tremor places the explosive device in the fuse/disconnect box, the disconnect handle is clearly in the off position. Blowing up this box would have no effect vs. in a later scene when the device explodes and power to the bunker goes out.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title Card: rather than dashing, gun-toting g-men, most FBI employees are information analysts, sifting through millions of telephone, email, and data transmissions to uncover threats of violent crime, terrorism, and espionage against the United States. / occasionally, bureau members themselves become the target of threats; these require extraordinary precautions, often including top-secret procedures outside the realm of normal protocol. / the unintended consequences of such secret activities...

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Connections

Featured in The Bunker Mentality: Designing the Set (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Little Unknown"
Performed by The Cory Weeds Quintet
Written by Cory Weeds
Courtesy of Cellar Live

User Reviews

A Heartless Trudge

In the world of straight to DVD movies, you have to really be careful. Sure, you'll sometimes run into something that wins you over, but more often than not that's not the case. The same can rarely be said for straight to DVD sequels of movies that played in theaters. While there have been exceptions (the sequels for "Undisputed" for example), what you normally get is a cynical cash grab and nothing more. So, does the sequel to "Smokin' Aces" fit into the cynical cash grab category? Answer: Yes. Yes it does.

Walter Weed (Tom Berenger) is a desk jockey without much going on in his life. That is, until the FBI finds out that there's a plot to assassinate him. Among them are sexy Ariella Martinez (Martha Higareda), who has a unique way of dispatching villains, the tough as nails Finbar McTeague (Vinnie Jones), and the Neo-Nazi family the Tremors. So, why are they after him? Or is all as it seems?

To be fair, "Smokin' Aces 2" does have a game cast whose up for anything. Sure, it's not the high profile case of the original, but it's the best the straight to DVD market can get. The problem though, is that many of them feel underused. Sure, Jones and Higareda do a good job, but we aren't given much time to learn anything about them other than they had a thing going on, and the plot twist nearing the end. Speaking of which, said twist is just terrible on so many levels. There were complaints about the twist in the original movie, but that was nothing compared to the head smacker we get here. Hell, they would have almost gotten away with it if there was something there to care about.

That's the films biggest problem. There's nothing there. I know, it's a direct to DVD sequel, but it doesn't do anything to justify it's existence. Hell, it's obvious because it tries so many attempts at being subversive and edgy, but it tries way to hard in that case. There's nothing I hate more than poor attempts at wackiness and edginess, and when that's all the movie has going for it, why should anybody care? The moment we got exploding circus clowns and a shootout set to the music of Evanescence, I just about gave up.

In the world of direct to DVD sequels, you can certainly do worse than this. That's no excuse for the movie though, which is nothing more than a heartless trudge of excess and pointlessness that offers very little to the table.