May the best hitman win.
Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven) is a Vegas card sharp cum gangster and former member of the La Cosa Nostra (LCN), one of the largest criminal organisations in the United States. In exchange for a vanishing act with Witness Protection, Israel has agreed to testify against his former mentor, Primo Sparazza, and the LCN.
When the terminally ill Sparazza takes out a $1 million contract on Israel's life, word quickly spreads through the underground crime world. The catch: Sparazza wants Israel's heart. FBI agents Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds) and Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta) learn that Sparazza has hired "a specialist" to do the job and that rogue LCN members Serna and Padiche are also recruiting someone to take Israel out. Realizing that it is only a matter of time before the rest of the world is hipped to Israel's whereabouts and seeks to cash in on the contract, FBI director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia) dispatches Messner and Carruthers to Lake Tahoe to secure their key witness.
Simultaneously, bail bondsman Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) and ex-cops Hollis Elmore (Martin Henderson) and Pete Deeks (Pete Berg) are hired by Israel's lawyers - who were left holding the bag when Israel skipped bail - and sent to Tahoe to pick him up and return him to Vegas.
Meanwhile, Serna and Padiche's recruits: diva assassins Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys) and Sharice Watters (Taraji Henson), master of disguise: Lazlo Soot, torture extremist: Pasquale Acosta and neo-Nazis The Tremor Brothers all make their descent on Lake Tahoe with the same intention - take out Israel by any means necessary.
Chaos ensues as hit men and FBI converge on the penthouse of The Nomad - bullets fly, loyalties shift and lives end - and shocking secrets are revealed involving FBI cover-ups, hidden motives and true identities.
Special Agent Matti
*
R 18+ (High level violence)
* minutes (* hours)
Film: 8 February 2007
