Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball

In Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball, Walter Weed (Berenger) is an unassuming, low-level desk jockey at the FBI, when the Bureau uncovers a plot to assassinate him. A team of degenerate, psychotic assassins dispatched by mystery man Hal Leuco (Fred Henderson), to win a huge $3 million bounty, includes a resourceful beauty who has a unique method of killing her prey (Higareda), a power-tool wielding psychopath (Jones), and a deadly master of disguise (Flanagan). The other assassins are the Tremor family from the original film, featuring nymphomaniacal gun-nut (Reeser) and her lethal kinfolk (Sterling, Parks, and Harth). Baker (Crawford), the agent in charge of the operation, puts himself and his team in the line of fire to protect Weed, but it's not until the smoke clears on the film's explosive climax that the surprising identity of the plot's mastermind is revealed. (Gary Reber)

The disc contains both the R-rated version (01:26:02) and the unrated version (01:28:02). Special features include commentary with Executive Producer Joe Carnahan and Director P.J. Pesce; (SD 10:01), behind the scenes with Caranhan (HD 06:30); a gag reel (SD 06:32); four featurettes Confessions Of An Assassin (HD 29:59), Ready, Aim, Fire: The Weapons of Smokin' Aces 2 (HD 04:17), Cue The Clown (HD 02:57), and The Bunkier Mentality: Designing The Set (HD 03:35); D-BOX Motion Code™; and BD-Live functionality.

The 1080p VC-1 picture appears to have been shot in 35 mm, and the imagery is crisp and sharp, with excellent resolution that reveals very fine facial and object features. Fine details in clothing and buildings, both exterior and interior, are perfectly resolved, for an impressive sharp picture. The picture lacks the cinematic look that film can deliver, but still the picture is impressive. The color palette is nicely balanced, but hues are just on the edge of full saturation. Yet colors appear vibrant and naturally rendered. Contrast is good, with deep blacks and revealing shadow delineation. Black framing in split frames is solid, and the imagery is pristine, with no distracting noise or other artifacts. The imagery is effectively dimensional as well. This is a visually explicit, violent movie. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is well produced, with a great dynamic orchestral and jazz score. A major part of the movie takes place in a Chicago jazz club, and the sound is at times inconsistent in terms of surround envelopment, but generally surround is aggressively active and directionalized when engaged. Often, though, the sound collapses to a frontal soundstage, with a monaural focus, which ignores the obvious opportunity for defining the visual space sonically. But then there are plenty of scenes that do project a holosonic® soundfield. Bass extension, at times, is deep and powerful, especially with .1 LFE engagement. In intense gunfire scenes the D-BOX Motion Code tracking is effectively active, with impressive vibrational jolts and movement. Bullets whizz by in every direction within the soundfield, for an exciting sonic trip. This is one of the most intense extended shootouts ever and is wonderfully aggressively holosonic and dynamic sounding. Unexpectedly, dialogue sounds convincingly realistic and is spatially integrated. This is a wild and crazy soundtrack that will push your adrenaline to intensity. (Gary Reber)