Pretty loosely connected to the first movie. Also much much worse. I know the original Smokin' Aces isn't exactly Citizen Kane, but it's a good time as far as I'm concerned. Assassin's Ball is not so much. It spends so much of its time imitating things people liked about the first movie, which only makes it more obvious that it's worse. You wouldn't have to worry about being called a pale imitation if you did more than just imitate. What's more, poorly. I guess the quote unquote twist at the end was a little bit better in this one than the last, but it was revealed in so much poorer a way that you don't really notice. There's still the guns and whatnot that I guess are most vital, so it's not like it's worthless, it's just poorly made. Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole.