3. Smokin Aces (2006)
When trailers for Smokin Aces first started popping up online, Ill admit that I was very excited. It looked like the modern crime film to end all modern crime films. It had big name stars and the appearance of a relentless action thriller infused with just enough crazy to really shake things up, but still deliver a serious story. The plot was fairly straight forward: several different types of assassins all make a play towards taking out the same target. Let the bullet storm begin! Then the movie came out, and I watched it. When it ended I couldnt help but feel confused, betrayed, conflicted, and most of all, disappointed. Too many things were going on and Joe Carnahan decided to include a brand of dark humor that did the film no favors. Each of the main characters was rightly insane, but at times felt too insane. There was so much absurdity going on that when the final twist was revealed at the end of the film, all the drama and seriousness has been completely drained out. Its a shame too, because the final scene of the film featuring a moving score by Clint Mansell was so beautiful you wouldve thought you were in a different movie. This would be a trickier endeavor to make into a television show, but it can be done in a few ways. Have the entire series focus on the one target, and branch out from that story in subsequent seasons. Some episodes can even be reserved to explore the back stories of each assassin, because it anything, the movie proves each of them are interesting enough on their own. Or, each season can be a different target and can feature a revolving rogues gallery of assassins vying for the cash prize. If anything, writers of a show like this can take inspiration from the show that made being lost on an island last 6 seasons, or the show that made breaking out of prison last 4 seasons. A show like this would be a refreshing addition to a lineup of a network like FX. Either way, a much better product wouldve resulted if this was made into a television show, instead of the convoluted mess of the film that now sits on my DVD shelf. Even better, the god-awful straight to DVD sequel wouldnt exist either.