The bad thing about movie critics... is they always put down the action films. I've never seen one pure action film that got good reviews. Movies like The Departed that have a healthy mix of plot and action coupled with heavyweight director like Martin Scorcese will always get rave reviews... Where as Smokin' Aces is, from what I've heard, a movie that's mostly smash'em action scenes and the like..... Plenty of great movies have gotten bad reviews simply because they don't meet certain critics criteria for the right amount of plot in an action movie.... I personally don't like action packed movies that are all about the explosions and special effects... but I do want to see Smokin' Aces just becuase it looks cool...... Kind of Pulp Fiction/Sin City/James Bond/Ocean's Eleven'ish.....

But for anyone who's looking for a killer flick to check out... I still highly recommend Green Street Hooligans...