CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball

2010 film directed by P. J. Pesce

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ1768087
Source-derived summary

Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball is a 2010 action thriller film directed by P.J. Pesce and starring Tom Berenger, Vinnie Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Autumn Reeser, Keegan Connor Tracy, and Ernie Hudson. The film is a prequel to Joe Carnahan's 2006 film Smokin' Aces, centering on an FBI desk jockey who is targeted for murder by various hired assassins. It was produced by Working Title Films, and was released direct-to-video on January 19, 2010, by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

Plot

Walter Weed, an unassuming desk jockey at the FBI, is informed of an assassination threat against him from a mysterious figure called Hal Leuco. Weed will be assassinated on April 19 at precisely 3:00 am. Several assassins have taken the contract, including Ariella Martinez, a femme fatale who kills her victims with exotic poisons; Finbar McTeague, nicknamed "The Surgeon" for brutally torturing his victims; Fritz Tremor and his children Lester, Kaitlyn, and Baby Boy; and Lazlo Soot, a sadistic master of disguise.

An FBI unit led by Zane Baker secures Weed in a bunker beneath a safe house masquerading as a jazz bar. Weed is directly protected by Baker and his colleagues Nicholas and Redstone, whilst fellow Agent Malcolm Little oversees various FBI agents posing as bar staff and patrons. Outside the bunker, a team led by Agent Abrego protects the corridors between the bunker door and the bar. Supervisory Agent Dominic Dumare monitors the whole operation from an adjoining hotel.

Editorial summary

“Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball” enters the record as 2010 film directed by P. J. Pesce. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Smokin', Aces and Assassins' can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2010, 2006—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—2010-01-01, 2010-01-28—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Smokin', Aces and Assassins'.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Smokin', Aces and Assassins' provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1768087. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010 and 2006.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball primary sources, Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball archive and Smokin' research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.