Blood, guts, bullets and octane

Watching the heady madness explode across the screen in this trailer for Joe Carnahan’s gonzo follow-up to Narc, you can’t help but wonder what his vision of Mission: Impossible III would have been like. Would we be watching a pumped-up Ethan Hunt jump out of the way of exploding cars? Or would evil henchmen be spraying bullets everywhere? Oh, wait… That was sort of JJ Abrams’ take, too.

Still, Smokin’ Aces is what Carnahan opted to do when his chance to make M:i:III was hit with a Cruise missile of creative differences and it certainly looks like he exorcised all his action demons with this slick little crime thriller. It spins around a price put on the head of Buddy “Aces” Israel (Jeremy Piven), a hard-drinking low-life Vegas performer who is about to spill evidence that would put a mob boss away for good. So the FBI sends two agents (Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds) to protect Buddy from the hordes of hit men (including Ben Affleck and Peter Berg) headed his way…