Line #95 Film/SmokinAces


1	[[quoteright:329:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smokinacesposter7_4772.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:329:''"When do we get concerned?"'']]
3
4	->'''Richard Messner:''' You said someone came up to you as an FBI agent?\
5	'''Pimply Casino Employee:''' Yeah--\
6	'''Richard Messner:''' And then you saw him get on the elevator wearing a security guard outfit?\
7	'''Pimply Casino Employee:''' ''(stammering)'' Yeah?\
8	'''Richard Messner:''' And that didn't seem ''odd'' to you?
9
10	A 2006 action-comedy film, directed and written by Creator/JoeCarnahan, about the StageMagician, CasanovaWannabe, and newly turned [[TheInformant mob informant]] Buddy Israel -- a washed-up, bitter, narcissistic, alcoholic drug abuser of a stage magician -- who gets a million-dollar bounty on his head courtesy of mob lord Primo Sperazza. Naturally, HilarityEnsues!
11
12	A prequel, ''Film/SmokinAces2AssassinsBall'', was released in 2010.
13
14	Frequently compared to ''Film/ShootEmUp'', a similarly self-indulgent action movie released around the same time.
15	----
16	!!This film provides examples of:
17
18	* AdvertisedExtra: Ben Affleck as Jack Dupree. [[spoiler:He's listed first in the cast and was promoted in the film's marketing, making it seem as though he would be the main character. Dupree is killed off early in the film with very little fanfare, and it's actually Ryan Reynolds' Agent Messner who is the actual protagonist.]]
19	* AffablyEvil: Pasquale Acosta doesn't just kill you, [[CradlingYourKill he comforts you]] and waxes philosophy as you die.
20	* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:Agent Messner gets revenge on his boss tossing many people to the wolves to keep Sparazza alive by pulling the plug on him and Israel, killing them. Whatever Locke expected to obtain from negotiating with Sparazza is gone.]]
21	* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:And many of them do. Only five (possibly six) characters live to the end.]]
22	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: "My boy Dale is at the Reno Correctional Facility. He's got some clarity issues. Did some home invasion, sodomy-torture type stuff; wrote a lot of bad checks."
23	** When reading Sperazza's rap sheet, Messner notes that it contains multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, extortion, and a paternity suit. [[spoiler:That last one turns out to be a ChekhovsGun.]]
24	* AxCrazy: The Tremor Brothers, who use WWII weaponry, chainsaws, flamethrowers, and rare guns. Often prone to going Medieval on people (at the cost of a well planned hit - it's explained early in the film they were supposed to kill one guy. They wind up taking him out... and the rest of the club goers of the club he was in.)
25	* BecomingTheMask: An interesting inversion of this: [[spoiler:After FBI Agent Freeman Heller goes undercover as Mafia Hitman Primo Sparazza, the higher-ups at the FBI became wrongfully convinced that he had become the mask, and tried to have him murdered. Heller survived the assassination, and to retaliate against the Bureau that betrayed him, really did become the mask, eventually becoming the head Mafia Don.]]
26	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Agent Messner. [[spoiler:He is ultimately the one who ends up killing Sperazza and Israel by pulling their plugs when it becomes apparent in his eyes that his boss hadn't cared about tossing a couple of dozen people to the slaughterhouse in order to ''maybe'' get a high-powered informant.]]
27	* {{BFG}}:
28	** Sharice's "big mama" .50 caliber sniper rifle gets Alpha (Fe)male honors here, but the Tremors' armory makes up in quantity what it lacks in quality.
29	** Sir Ivy, Buddy's lieutenant, carries a S&W Model 500, very literally the largest revolver ever made.
30	* BigBadWannabe: Buddy Israel when hanging out with the Mafia. Unfortunately for him, his incompetence is what gets him into trouble.
31	* BlackLikeMe: Lazlo Soot's introduction scene involves him disguised as a handicapped African-American male with a LatexPerfection mask (complete with black dreadlock wig) and a motorized wheelchair.
32	* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Pasquale's palm dagger weapon.
33	* BlastOut: Several times, most notably the Tremors coming out of the elevator.
34	* BlindIdiotTranslation: Darwin Tremor's text tattoo is an opening line from 'Mein Kampf'. It is translated very poorly however (possibly by an automated translator) and 'Braunau-am-Inn' (Hitler's birthplace) is rendered as 'Braunau-auf-der Gasthaus' ('Gasthaus' is German for 'inn'). May be justified though, because Darwin might have done the translation himself.
35	* BlownAcrossTheRoom: A rather extreme example of ArtisticLicense. Unarmored FBI agents, versus a .50 caliber anti-materiel rifle. The effects are obvious.
36	* BoringButPractical: Sir Ivy manages to defeat the Tremor Brothers—wielding chainsaws, flamethrowers, and WWII sub-machine guns—with a guard's boring Beretta and a casual SIG-Sauer (or Glock).
37	* BossSubtitles: [[EstablishingCharacterMoment The introduction of all principal characters]] includes a still frame with a name tag.
38	* BottomlessMagazines:
39	** Ivy manages to fire about twelve shots from a revolver in one scene, all in quick succession. The director actually points this out quite gleefully on one commentary track.
40	** Sharice goes ''way'' over magazine capacity as she goes ham on the FBI agents.
41	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Ripley Reed, almost literal example because he has a bunny costume head in his room. He is shown as bumbling, disheveled alcoholic. Later he is also revealed to be sleeping in women's lingerie.
42	** Judging from the tissues and lotion on the bed, he was doing a lot more than sleeping in it.
43	* CardSharp: Buddy. Doesn't do any good for him.
44	** [[spoiler:Those same card tricks kept Sir Ivy from putting an extremely large slug in him, though.]]
45	* CarnivalOfKillers: And every single one of them is aiming for Israel.
46	* ChekhovsGun: Sparazza's paternity suit. [[spoiler:It's proof that Buddy Israel is his son.]]
47	* ChainsawGood: Jeeves Tremor. [[spoiler:It backfires, however. Ivy can't shoot through his body armor, but he can make him fall on his chainsaw, which shreds the armor]].
48	* ClimbingClimax: {{Exaggerated\|trope}}. ''Most of the film'' involves the various factions racing to the penthouse.
49	* ClusterFBomb: Dupree explaining who the Tremors are is full of cursing.
50	-->'''Dupree:''' They are mean as shit, they are dumber than hell and these motherfuckers will go megaton on drop of a hat.
51	* ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing: After his escort is killed, Sir Ivy uses a machete buried in the wall from his fight with the Tremors to cut through the zip-ties binding his hands.
52	* CouldntFindALighter: Darwin Tremor lights a cigarette off a road flare when the power goes out in the elevator.
53	* CradlingYourKill: Pasquale to Bill. Pasquale seems genuinely contrite about the necessity of killing Bill. Bill was just in the way, after all, and wasn't actually the target, and the two seemed to be getting along pretty well until Pasquale struck. Pasquale stayed with Bill until he died so the man wouldn't die alone.
54	** Note also that Pasquale is a professional torturer, but he kills Bill quickly and relatively painlessly (or at least taht's what he tells Bill while he's dying)
55	* CreatorCameo: Director Joe Carnahan as one of Israel's hired thieves during a flashback sequence.
56	* CreateYourOwnVillain: [[spoiler:The bureau's assassination attempt on Heller ended up with him climbing the mafia ladder and become a mob boss]].
57	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Jeeves gets shot and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard collapses on his chainsaw]].]]
58	* DeadGuyPuppet: Darwin Tremor murders [[spoiler:Jack Dupree]] which is followed up by a macabre human ventriloquist dummy action with Darwin manipulating the dead [[spoiler:Dupree]]'s mouth with his hand and thumb and throwing his voice so as if to have a conversation with the recently departed.
59	* DeadPersonImpersonation: Lazlo's specialty.
60	* DeathDealer: Buddy Israel can toss a card well enough to cut and distract his bodyguard, [[spoiler:who was about to kill him for being willing to sell him out.]]
61	* DecoyProtagonist[=/=]SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Ben Affleck's character who gets top billing but ultimately only gets to act as MrExposition before getting shot unceremoniously. By the end of the movie it's clear that the real protagonist is Agent Messner.]]
62	* DeepCoverAgent: [[spoiler:Primo Sparazza a.k.a. Freeman Heller, in deep cover since the 40s.]]
63	* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Agent Messner]] crosses one at the end of the movie.
64	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Only Ivy, Georgia and Soot manage to get away (relatively) intact. Hollis, if he's lucky, probably will be an amputee for the rest of his life. Acosta, judging by his [[FingerTwitchingRevival arm-blade being activated]] on the stretcher, ''might'' live, but is likely to be incarcerated. Sharice gets caught, and presumably killed, by the FBI while watching her partner walk out on her. Messner will most likely lose his job and/or go to jail after pulling the life support plugs. Everybody else... [[EverybodysDeadDave well]]...]]
65	* DramatisPersonae: The opening credits show a list of all the major characters.
66	* DualWielding: Done constantly by the Tremor brothers.
67	* DumbMuscle: From the little we see of him, Israel's henchman Hugo (played by Creator/JoelEdgerton) acts like this.
68	* ElevatorActionSequence: ''Several'', considering the CarnivalOfKillers are racing each other to a hotel penthouse. First starts with Acosta and an actual FBI agent wounding each other - the FBI agent's mortally wounded, [[spoiler:which kicks off Messner's reason for revenge later on]]. Then Georgia is trapped in the elevator after investigating the open elevator and signals for Sharice to open up on the incoming FBI agents...
69	* ElevatorGoingDown: Referenced. One of the main characters—[[ItMakesSenseInContext who is dressed as a hooker]]—is waiting for an elevator. When the doors open, three heavily armed half-naked [[ThoseWackyNazis skinheads are struggling into their clothes]].
70	-->'''Georgia:''' ... I'm going down.\
71	'''Darwin Tremor:''' I'll bet you are!
72	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Acosta, who is infamous for his obscenely gruesome torture techniques, simply punctures Creator/MatthewFox's lung so he can die painlessly in his sleep.
73	* EyepatchOfPower: Sharice wears one to help sniping.
74	* FaceStealer: Assassin Laszlo Soot is a master at this, murdering people close to his target and then taking their place with perfect latex masks.
75	* {{Fingore}}: Hollis gets his left hand shot the hell up.
76	* FreezeFrameBonus: After his encounter with the Tremor brothers, Hollis is in the bathtub at Margie's house, while Warren harasses him with a karate routine ([[RagingStiffie and an erection]]). Cut to a shot of two prescription pill bottles, one of which is Warren's Ritalin. The other is a long-expired bottle of 40 hydrocodone tablets - these are the pills Margie then gives to Hollis (along with a .45 caliber pistol) mentioning that they "were left over from her hysterectomy."
77	* {{Gayngster}}: There's also a bisexual/lesbian couple of hitmen. Vague hints of {{Gayngst}} as well.
78	* GlasgowSmile: Lazlo, as he is played by Creator/TommyFlanagan, who sports these in RealLife.
79	* GroinAttack: There is a professional torturer, briefly shown applying some sort of welding torch to a twitching, naked man hanging upside down by his feet.
80	* GunsAkimbo: The AxCrazy, Redneck, Neo-Nazi Tremor brothers frequently use akimbo weapons. The most notable of these is when the biggest Tremor brother wields a chainsaw in one hand and a Street Sweeper revolving shotgun in the other.
81	* HookersAndBlow: Mobster and magician (no, seriously) Buddy "Aces" Israel, is shown ankle-deep in hookers and cocaine as he hides out in a Lake Tahoe hotel waiting for his lawyer to agree a deal with the authorities for Israel to inform on other Mafiosi in exchange for his freedom. WordOfGod has it that the character was inspired by Frank Sinatra's dealings with the Mafia, so it may be that Israel's lifestyle was informed by Sinatra's, which featured lots of hookers (but no blow).
82	* ICallItVera: Shanice's 50 cal. sniper rifle is nicknamed 'Big Mama'.
83	* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Both Acosta and Darwin Tremor pretend to be FBI agents to infiltrate and get away from the hotel. In the former's case, Agent Messner calls out the Pimpled Employee for failing to notice something off about it, providing the page quote above. [[spoiler:In the latter's case, he almost manages to escape unscathed before Hollis—[[TheDogBitesBack one of his victims who managed to survive]]—catches up with him and puts a few bullets [[InTheBack in his back]]]].
84	* InsigniaRipOffRitual: At the very end of the film, [[spoiler:Agent Messner pulls the plug on both Buddy Israel and Primo Sparazza after he learns that his partner and dozens of other agents were sacrificed for the faint hope that Sparazza would turn informant.]] He then disarms himself and takes out his badge, placing both on the floor in front of him, symbolically resigning from the FBI. Either way, he is going to be fired and sent to prison.
85	* InstantDeathBullet: Averted. A lot.
86	* IronicEcho: Overlaps with the DespairEventHorizon above. When [[spoiler:Agent Messner]] is grieving after [[spoiler:Agent Carruthers]] is killed in the hotel, he takes revenge by [[spoiler:apparently killing a FBI DeepCoverAgent]].
87	* TheLastThingYouEverSee: Played with. Acosta kills [[spoiler:the casino's chief of security]], but comforts him in his dying moments. He tells him to close his eyes so that his face won't be the last thing the guy will ever see, because ([[GratuitousSpanish switching to Spanish]]) "Heaven may hold it against you".
88	* LatexPerfection: Lazlo Soot heavily relies on death masks taken from victims to disguise himself.
89	* LeftForDead: Hollis is shot by the Tremor brothers and then tossed into the lake alongside his partners. He later crawled his way out of the lake and comes looking for revenge. [[spoiler: He partially succeeds when he runs into Darwin, whom he ultimately shoots after pretending to let him leave.]]
90	* MasterOfDisguise: Lazlo Soot. Played with in that his disguises are shown to take a lot of time and effort to create and voice disguising is something he's not totally perfect at even when he has an idea of the voice he has to imitate, which forces him to improvise [[spoiler:when he shoots one of Buddy's henchmen and he has no idea of how he sounds like because he didn't heard him talk. Fortunately for him, said henchman was pretty much TheSilentBob of the crew]].
91	* MoleInCharge: [[spoiler:It's revealed that the leader of the mob is an FBI agent who was burned by his handlers and had to become a criminal for real to survive, eventually rising up the ranks to the top position]].
92	* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: [[spoiler:The Swede is a surgeon instead of a hitman; however, he is hired to perform a heart transplant with an unwilling and alive donor.]]
93	* MuggedForDisguise: Lazlo murders Hugo and steals his tracksuit to infiltrate the penthouse (combined with LatexPerfection).
94	* MutualKill: [[spoiler:FBI Agent Carruthers]] and [[spoiler:hitman Pasquale Acosta]] shoot each other to death in an elevator when the agent realizes the hitman's identity. [[spoiler:It's hinted at the end that the hitman survived, though.]]
95	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "The Plague."
96	* NothingUpMySleeve: Torture-expert and PsychoForHire Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell) utilizes a long stiletto hidden in his sleeve that is activated with a special device.
97	* NumberedSequels: With OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo.
98	* ObfuscatingDisability: [[spoiler:Lazlo Soot]]'s introductory scene.
99	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The Tremors taking out the hotel security at the top floor. We only get to see the aftermath with them and Ivy.
100	* OhCrap: When the security detail and Sir Ivy see smoke coming out from an elevator that is going up despite the shutdown.
101	* OnceMoreWithClarity: The UrbanLegend regarding Freeman Heller and the fact Sperazza killed him is finally cleared up ([[spoiler:Sparazza ''is'' Freeman Heller, and the FBI tried to kill him because they thought that he had done a FaceHeelTurn]]), as well as why Israel has become a target ([[spoiler:not because he's an informant, but because Heller/Sparazza needs a heart transplant (and Israel [[LukeIAmYourFather is Heller's illegitimate son, so he's the best chance for the transplant]]), and people on both the FBI and the Mafia mistook the talk regarding The Swede as that of an incoming hitman... well, everybody but Deputy Director Locke, who simply decided not to tell anybody.]])
102	* PainToTheAss: [[spoiler:Jeeves Tremor is killed when Sir Ivy forces him to sit down on his running chainsaw.]]
103	* APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy: Buddy Israel's penthouse apartment is obviously showing signs that the party held the night before the movie starts was one of these. Naked women abound, furniture is knocked over, and Buddy gets really, really pissed off that someone somehow got "human ejaculate" on his best suede jacket.
104	* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Tremor Bros.
105	* RedBaron: The Swede. [[spoiler:Everyone mistakes him as a hitman, due to his title. He's really an accomplished heart surgeon who was to be brought in after Lazlo got Buddy comatose and ready for the heart operation.]]
106	* RescueRomance: One starts between Ivy and Georgia.
107	* RiseAndFallGangsterArc: The whole film takes place during the final, [[CarnivalOfKillers absurdly bloody]] (and plainly absurd) final hours of Buddy Israel's fall, with the "rise" supplied in an InfoDump at the beginning of the film.
108	* RuleOfCool: ''TheMovie''
109	* SaveTheVillain: A rather unintentional example given the circumstances. [[spoiler: After Georgia takes cover in the elevator and engages in a mini-shootout with Agent Messner, a NotQuiteDead Acosta injures her. However, Carruthers manages to pull out his back-up gun and shoot him dead before succumbing to his own wounds.]]
110	* ShaggyDogStory: At the end of the movie when everything is revealed and it transpires that [[spoiler:the hit was one big mistake resulting from a mis-overheard conversation; Lazlo Soot was the only one actually hired and that was not to kill Israel but to abduct him. The Bureau then decided it only wanted Israel for his heart to save his Mob boss father and all the dead FBI agents died because they weren't told. As a result, Agent Messner is so upset that his partner died just to save the life of the Mob boss (who he doesn't think will give up any useful information) that he pulls the plug on both him and Israel, making ''everything'' that happened for nothing.]]
111	* SmallGirlBigGun: Sharice and her aforementioned {{BFG}}.
112	* SmugSnake:
113	** Buddy 'Aces' Israel, in the backstory and first act of the film, was one of these, thinking that his Mafia connections (and then selling them to the cops) would provide him with an easy life. The movie then goes on to [[HumiliationConga shove humiliation down his throat like there was no tomorrow.]]
114	** FBI Deputy Director Stanley Locke. [[BadBoss The man tosses a dozen people, including various loyal FBI agents, to the wolves]] and manipulates events from behind the scenes [[spoiler:so Buddy Israel becomes an unwilling heart donor for Sperazza, who may (and that is a big ''may'') provide information to the Bureau as a result]]. All while remaining totally unapologetic. [[spoiler:He ultimately undergoes a VillainousBreakdown when a vengeful Agent Messner pulls the plugs on both Israel and Sperazza.]]
115	* SpiesInAVan: The expository opening scene features FBI agents in a van.
116	* SuddenDownerEnding: Anyone who thought they were watching a Creator/GuyRitchie-esque [[CarnivalOfKillers wacky-hitmen movie]] will [[MoodWhiplash be pretty surprised]] by the dark tone the eventual [[OnceMoreWithClarity exposition scene]] takes.
117	* ThrowingYourGunAtTheEnemy: Agent Messner resorts to throwing his pistol when he runs out of bullets during another barrage of gunfire from the ColdSniper. This is clearly out of sheer frustration, since the shooter is in another hotel building nearly a mile away.
118	* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler:Subverted for Darwin Tremor. Darwin ''looks'' like he's about to get away, but then he runs into Hollis on the way to his car. He apologizes for what happened to Hollis and his friends and gives him the keys to his car. Just as it looks like they'll part ways peacefully, Hollis decides to shoot Darwin anyway]].
119	* VillainousBreakdown: Buddy Israel's character arc for most of the film is this happening to him. This is most notable in the scene in which he stares at himself in the mirror in his hotel room's bathroom and starts to cry.
120	** [[spoiler:Agent Locke was fully willing to throw his own agents to the wolves if it meant keeping an "important" FBI informant in the form of Primo Sperazza alive, even refusing to accept responsibility when one of his own agents calls him out for it. As such, he undergoes this when that same agent pulls the plug of him and his son—the chosen for his heart transplant—in an act of vengeance.]]
121	* VillainsNeverLie: Georgia becomes incredibly honest by the end of the film, likely tired of the blood and not-so-clever plans going in smoke.
122	* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler:The final scene, in which Messner calls bullshit on his boss Locke for getting a lot of people killed (including his partner Carruthers) in the very faint hope that Sparazza will be grateful for the FBI helping with his heart transplant operation by "becoming the Rosetta Stone" for the Mafia. When Locke remains unapologetic and tells Messner to get a grip, Messner retaliates by pulling the plug on Sparazza ''and'' Israel.]]
123	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Lazlo Soot at the end, when he manages to get Israel all alone, the latter not even aware of the danger he's in, but puts his gun down and starts carefully setting up what appears to be a bunch of torture instruments, and a needle. [[spoiler:DoubleSubverted. He was actually hired to knock him out and abduct him so doctors could steal his heart for a transplant; however, Soot still wastes too much time, and doesn't notice that Israel nearly commits suicide while he's doing so. On the ''other'' hand, however, at least it makes it easier for him to escape when the FBI comes in.]]
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Context Film / SmokinAces