Smokin' Aces 2: Assassin's Ball


Smokin' Aces 2: Assassin's Ball

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Audience Score

User Ratings: 3,397
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Movie Info

The world's most resourceful assassins target an FBI desk jockey in this action-packed prequel. Hal Leuco wants FBI agent Walter Weed (Tom Berenger) dead, and he's got the connections to get the job done. When Hal offers a sizable bounty for the head of Agent Weed, the killers start to come out of the woodwork. Of course, the Tremor family is always game for a challenge, but with a lethal beauty (Martha Higareda), a maniacal driller killer (Vinnie Jones), and a stealth assassin (Tommy Flanagan) all gunning for the prize, too, it'll be a miracle if Agent Weed lives to see the next sunrise. Fortunately for Agent Weed, Agent Baker (Clayne Crawford) and his team of heavily armed operatives may have just enough firepower to beat this determined team of assassins at their own game.

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Ernie Hudson
as Anthony Vejar
Tom Berenger
as Walter Weed
Clayne Crawford
as Agent Baker
Martha Higareda
as Ariella Martinez
Michael Parks
as Fritz Tremor
Autumn Reeser
as Kaitlin 'Ak-47' Tremor
Vinnie Jones
as McTeague
Tommy Flanagan
as Lazlo Soot
Maury Sterling
as Lester Tremor
C. Ernst Harth
as Baby Boy Tremor
Christopher Holley
as Malcolm Little
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Critic Reviews for Smokin' Aces 2: Assassin's Ball

All Critics (4)

Audience Reviews for Smokin' Aces 2: Assassin's Ball

  • Aug 09, 2018
    I watched the original Smokin' Aces, I'm assuming, over a decade ago. Back at the time, being 19, I was probably far stupider than I am now. Not that I'm saying that everything I thought about certain movies at the age of 19 is wrong now that I'm 30. I'm just saying that as I get older, the perception of certain movies is gonna change. I might hate what I liked before. That's just the way life is. The most recent example of this I can think of is 300, which, at the time, I thought was great. As more time went on, however, I started to pick up on its flaws and, while I still enjoyed it, I no longer thought it was a great movie. Though, to be fair, I reached this point with 300 considerably sooner. Like, maybe, a few years afterwards. The reason I bring this up is because, at the time, I gave a favorable review to the original Smokin' Aces. That's not to suggest that I will instantly hate the movie now, it just means that I would definitely need to watch it again and see if my opinion of it has changed. Having said that, I don't know who, one thing I do remember about the original, if this makes sense, is the fact that it wasn't memorable enough to warrant a prequel. To me, at least. I'm certain there's some people who love the original Smokin' Aces and might even consider it one of their favorite movies. I, of course, am not one of those people. I may have enjoyed the original at the time, but I'm assuming my praise didn't go beyond just saying that it was pretty good. Joe Carnahan, writer and director of the original, developed the sequel's story and produced it. So, for some reason, he felt that there was a lot more mileage in his universe. As far as this sequel is concerned, however, eh, I've seen considerably better. I've also seen considerably worse, to be sure. But, and this might be something that the original movie could have gotten away with more due to it having a larger budget, this prequel is the very definition of style over substance. And, again, you can make the same claim for the original. But at least the film had enough clever tricks up its sleeves to disguise that, it also had the visual flare to, again, disguise the fact that it's as shallow as a puddle. This one, on the other hand, doesn't have any of that to rely on so, naturally, it all ends up feeling so much worse. Another thing is the fact that the characters leave a lot to be desired. Well, then again, I guess I just mean the Tremor family. The Tremor family, IN MY OPINION, is a complete and shameless ripoff of The Firefly Family from House of 1000 Corpses/Devil's Rejects. The only difference is that the Tremor family has an additional member. Baby Boy Tremor, I believe he's called, and he's this big, fat simpleton who, also, happens to be a murderous psychopath. Other than that, everything about the Tremor family is designed to make you think of the Fireflys and, honestly, say what you will about House of 1000 Corpses (which I didn't like) and The Devil's Rejects (which I did very much enjoy), at the very least, they feel like original creations. I'm certain that Zombie was inspired by characters in other films (like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre family, for the most part) in his conception of the Fireflys, but there's still enough that Zombie contributed to them on his own that, again, they feel like truly original characters. The Tremors, on the other hand, don't have an original bone in their body. So I absolutely hated that and I like Michael Parks (he's the patriarch of the Tremors). Though I will admit that the Tremors are part of the funniest moment of the movie. They steal this circus cannon along with kidnapping two circus performers (both with dwarfism). When the shit hits the fan, the Tremors proceed to shoot both of these circus performers, wrapped in dynamite, out of the cannon and into the jazz club (where their assassination target is being kept safe by the CIA in an underground shelter) where they proceed to explode. There's one of them that you shoots out of the cannon and you follow his journey and, honestly, the effects don't look great, but it still made me laugh. Nobody else really stands out as a character in any way whatsoever to be worthy of mentioning. Vinnie Jones plays Vinnie Jones and Vinnie Jones has made his career out of playing Vinnie Jones. So one might say Vinnie Jones is good at being Vinnie Jones. I like the guy, but I feel that someone like him deserves better than this movie. But, again, no one else stands out in the slightest so I'm not even gonna bother. The narrative is a predictable mess. Hal Leuco, whose face is never seen, hires assassins to murder Walter Weed by a specific date and time. If it's any later or before that time, the contract is null and void for some reason. You know who Hal Leuco is almost immediately and that makes everything kind of a chore to sit through, because you know what the endgame is gonna be eventually. It's not an interesting story and it involves some real-life terrorist acts being performed by the assassins hired to kill Weed in order to create opposition to the Iraq War. There's this True Patriot right-wing group and, honestly, I don't really know or care how it all fits together, because the movie does a terrible job at connecting its own dots. I don't understand why Leuco, who ends up being Walter Weed, ends up going through the trouble that he did. Is it to erase his own guilt of hiring these assassins to carry out these acts? I don't know, I guess that seems to be the most logical explanation. But, again, the movie handles this as if it was a hot potato, except instead of juggling it, they let it drop to the floor every time. That's this movie's narrative in a nutshell and I guess I'm looking for narrative in a movie that wasn't meant to have one. But, at the same time, I'm just trying to find something to like. And I didn't like the story in the slightest, I can't see how anyone did. The action is fine, I guess, but it's nothing to write home about. The effects are practical and there's a lot of squib usage and quite a bit of blood, to the point that it's unbelievable, so I have to give them props for that. They didn't go the route that would be cheapest for them. At the same time, all of this is service of a movie that just isn't that good. This isn't a Tarantino movie like Django Unchained though, obviously, it's patterned after a Tarantino movie, a very cheaply produced one at that. I did like the ending, where you think the bad guy is eventually gonna escape and get away with it, but Baker steps in front of his car, immediately shoots him and walks away. That was pretty cool. Pretty cool in relation to everything else that sucked about this movie, sure, but pretty cool nonetheless. I'll take the positives where I can find them, ok? I suppose I don't have much else to say about this movie. This is quite a bad movie, but I'll get over it fairly quickly. It's not offensively terrible or anything. I still wouldn't recommend it, there's other movies on Netflix that are worthier of your time. Like Cargo, you should watch that instead. Yes, that will do nicely.
    Jesse O Super Reviewer
  • Dec 04, 2012
    Straight to DVD sequel is a pretty decent film with nothing ever remarkable that happens on-screen. The idea is good, but it lacks the fun and intensity of the first Smokin' Aces, which was not a perfect film, but managed to overcome its flaws with a good cast, effective dialogue and well developed characters. At times, there's still elements of sharp, witty overtones from the first that comes out over in this sequel. As far as I'm concerned, the film would have been much better if the film would have had a few rewrites and it would have been under a different title. As it is, Smokin' Aces didn't need a sequel and it's a low-budget affair that never does take off. The film is a decent on e at best and there are a few effective moments to please action buffs, but overall, this is a forgettable sequel to a good film. This one had potential of being something very good and if the script would never have been rushed, and it feels like it has, this one could have been just as much fun as the original. Decent, but ultimately forgettable in the long run, Smokin' Aces 2 is a film that relied on an interesting undeveloped concept. This is one worth seeing at least once just to kill an hour and a half of your time if you have nothing else better to do. Fans may be disappointed with this one, and with good reason. The material for a great follow-up is here, but it focuses more on the fact that it's a low-budget, straight to DVD film that the filmmakers seem to not give the chance of a good story to be told. Decent, and it could have been much better, but as far as Straight to DVD films are concerned, this is much better than most.
    Alex r Super Reviewer
  • Jan 11, 2012
    It's clearly low-budget and frequently low-minded, but there's certainly some fun to be found.
    Roy G Super Reviewer
  • Dec 29, 2011
    What is the plot??? It's kinda campy+cheesy, characters only changed slighty, are essentially the redesign from the first movie. A lot of pointless actions, making it feel like a gore equipped low budget film.
    Sylvester K Super Reviewer

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