Reindeer Games

"Reindeer Games" may not go down as one of the best written or brilliant films ever made (and truth be told be it not for the fact that it was directed by the late, great John Frankenheimer, and starred Ben Affleck or Charlize Theron, it wouldn't have nearly been as noticed on this site as it is), but that doesn't mean it's without its merits. At heart, it's a simple story: prison convict Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck)and his cell mate Nick Cassidy (James Frain) are two days away from being released around the holidays when Nick is killed in a prison riot. Saddened and distraught, Rudy ends up being released but not without assuming Nick's identity when he steps out of the prison gates to impress the beautiful and hot Ashley (Charlize Theron) that Nick had been writing to and intending to shack up with. Rudy tells himself that it's only until after New Year's but unbeknownst to him, he gets a lot more than he bargained for when Ashley's brother, Gabriel (Gary Sinise with Lt. Dan's hippie hairstyle) and his crew of gun running thugs force him into robbing a Indian casino (disguised as, of all things, a group of Santa Clauses!) because they think him to be the actual Nick Cassidy, who, just happened to have worked for that very casino as a security guard. Gee, what are the odds! From there, it's a race against time as Rudy tries to stay one step ahead of the sadistic Gabriel and some how escape with his life in time for Christmas. But along the way, Rudy will see there are a couple of twists and turns and despite his best efforts, he may spend Christmas in the morgue. What makes "Reindeer Games" as watchable and decently entertaining as it is would primarily be the direction of the master thrill maker John Frankenheimer. With his eye for the camera, he's able to squeeze the most tension out of any performance or script, no matter how convoluted it might be and under his supervision, the atmosphere is tight, fast spaced, and the story never stalls. It also helps that the movie has decent performances, even from Ben Affleck himself. Though I can't say Ben Affleck is the greatest actor in the world, under the right set of circumstances, he is capable of doing good work, and under Frankenheimer's tutelage, he does pretty decent here. Also noteworthy is Charlize Theron as the seemingly innocent Ashley, Gary Sinise's performance as gun running truck driver turned robber Gabriel, who does a decent job of being the bad guy of the film - even if the character is one dimensional - as well as the fact that there are a couple of note worthy actors playing his henchmen, such as the always dependable Danny Trejo, the underrated but solid Clarence Williams III, and good old natured Donal Logue. Plus, you'll notice a few notable cameos like Isaac Hayes as a fellow convict, a really random one of Ashton Kutcher as a casino patron (huh?), and a small but noteworthy performance of the late Dennis Farina as a sleazy casino manager. "Reindeer Games" may not reinvent the wheel, but with Frankenheimer's direction (his final feature film), some good acting, decent action, and few decent plot twists here and there, it's not a bad way to waste some time. Merry Christmas!

I though REINDEER GAMES was a pretty good movie, especially compared to some other movies of the year 2000 so far, but I think there should have been a little more action than there actually was. There was quite a lot of buildup to the casino robbery, but when it finally got there, not much happened. The ending was very good. Just when you think you've identified all the twists, there's another one right there. Rudy (Ben Affleck), a car-thief, and his cellmate Nick (James Frain), a guy who killed another man while defending his girlfriend, are both about to be freed from jail when Nick is murdered during a lunch fight. Rudy decides to pretend to be him when his pen-pal-like girlfriend Ashley (Charlize Theron), who never met Nick before, comes to find him. The two really hit it off and things are going well, until Ashley's brother Gabriel (Gary Sinise) finds Rudy and threatens to kill him if he doesn't help them get into and rob a casino, which the real Nick previously worked at. The plot is actually pretty cool, but it's hard to believe that this bunch of idiot-thieves would really believe that this was the real Nick, even after he told them time after time that he wasn't. There are many great twists at the end which leads to an unpredictable, although somewhat unbelievable, ending. The characters are pretty cool, about half of which turn out to be different from whom you originally thought. Ben Affleck, new to the action genre, did a pretty good job. After proving himself to be able to play very different parts, like in Dogma, Armageddon and now this, I think he is really going places. Charlize Theron did an OK job as well as the mysterious girlfriend of Nick. Gary Sinise stole the show. I really like this guy. Boy can he act! He's played so many different characters very well. Gary doesn't do as well as the villain as he did in SNAKE EYES or RANSOM, but he still did a very good and believable job. The main flaw in this movie was the lack of action until the end. The casino robbery itself should've been more action-packed, like it seemed on the commercial. Even in the ending there was more irony and surprise than there was action. But the story and was action was there was still very well done. I'd recommend this movie over many of the movies out now.

I'd never heard of the movie DECEPTION , possibly because it's known as REINDEER GAMES in America ( I really had a problem trying to track the title down at this site ) but what struck was the short synopsis given to it in the TV page of the newspaper : " An ex-con adopts his former cellmate's identity in order to meet the man's girlfriend . Thriller with Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron " . Instantly I thought I would be watching something similar to NIGHT OF THE HUNTER , yeah okay Ben Affleck sure ain't Robert Mitchum but the plot sounded very similar . Unfortunately what let's this movie down is the script along with the star So I should have guessed that Affleck wasn't going to play a bad guy , but let's face it he can't play good guys either - he is a very poor actor who only became famous because of his connection with Matt Damon which goes to prove it's not what you know , it's who you know that's the key to success . Pain , mortal fear , angst - Affleck is unable to portray any of these negative emotions and considering his character Rudy/Nick spends much of the movie getting beaten up and threatened this is a major draw back to the movie . Nice to know we won't be seeing him in too many movies in the future and if Matt Damon is looking for a new best friend I'd happily nominate myself . Let's do lunch Matt . Thankfully Gary Sinese and Danny Trejo ( Check out this guy's bio ) manage to carry the film with their performances The screenplay by Ehron Kruger doesn't play out like NIGHT OF THE HUNTER , the " Man stealing the identity of his dead cellmate " subplot is just used to set up the story and if anything resembles CLIFFHANGER with a bunch of bad ass gangsters holding their victim hostage to get what they want . There's lots of chases in the snow and the occasional passer by getting bumped off but there's some ridiculous plot holes . For example Rudy and his girlfriend are drowning under the ice so Rudy uses his gun to shoot his way out of a watery grave . What he can fire a gun under water ? And there's a scene where Rudy is shackled to a bed . He then manages to break free , go to a swimming pool to discover a plot twist , go back to the hotel room he is held hostage and dupe one of the bad guys into believing he's still shackled to the bed by having the bed rest on his foot , then the action cuts to the morning where Rudy is taken out to the villains' van . It's just that come the morning none of the baddies has noticed that Rudy has dismantled the bed to escape his shackles . Little things like this ruin the DECEPTION's thriller elements . I know in these type of movies you have to suspend disbelief sometimes but here you have to suspend it a little too much for the movie to be effective . And because it's John Frankenheimer's last movie many of the reviewers seem to slightly more forgiving about this thriller's faults than I am

The flaws in this movie are various, though for 2/3's of the movie they can be overlooked. One prime problem is that Afflick is just never convincing as a joint hardened car thief. When he is inside prison, he looks like a nice suburban kid acting like he is in prison. He is almost never convincing in this role. But ultimately, the problem with this movie is in the number of plot twists that Frankenheimer throws at the audience. Rather than build a plot, all too often when interest begins to lag, Frankenheimer introduces a double cross, a character who was already killed or some such nonsense. Eventually there are just too many turns to sell us on the results.

We checked this one out on video because `the little man' in the San Francisco Chronicle gave it top rating. Not sure what he was smoking that day because this one was truly bad. Not even a pretty good (not great, mind you) performance by Charlize Theron (Cider House Rules) could save this flick. The premise is bad: Gun-running bad guys decide they want in on the big money, so they decide to turn to armed robbery – their first job an out-of-the-way Indian casino in a remote part of Michigan in the middle of a snowy winter that for some reason has millions of dollars in its vaults when it has trouble attracting customers. The acting terrible: Ben Affleck proves he can't act – and this pretty boy can't get away with playing an ex-con. And a new low in incredibly dumb crooks: Gary Sinise snarls through the whole movie, playing a cold-blooded killer who could have put us all out of our misery if he had just put a bullet through Affleck's head in an early scene. Does he really fall for all of the bull that Affleck feeds him? Don't bother.

"Reindeer Games" finds Ben Affleck playing an ex-convict who is manoeuvred into robbing a casino by a sultry femme fatale, played by Charlize Theron. It's a lightweight plot, but veteran director John Frankenheimer directs with an assured hand, making good use of close ups, noirish dutch angles and much dark humour. Most appealing, though, is the film's festive atmosphere. The entire plot unfolds over the Christmas weekend, every scene filled with snow capped scenery, Christmas decorations and hot chocolate. This lends the film a cosy and somewhat funny ambiance, Frankenheimer's rather dark caper contrasting nicely with the homey holiday season. The film ends with a great sequence in which Affleck, dressed as Santa Claus, walks around town with a big bag of cash, distributing stolen loot amongst the local homes. Prior to this, though, is a silly scene in which the "real bad guy" is "shockingly" revealed to the audience. It's a needless twist that is wholly illogical. Still, if you overlook this narrative misstep, the film is lots of fun, and makes a good companion piece to "Fargo", "A Simple Plan" and "Bad Santa". Charlize Theron is sexy, Gary Sinese is scary and the usually intolerable Ben Affleck turns in a good performance. 8/10 – Frankenheimer made many excellent films over his long career – "Ronin", "Birdman of Alcatraz", "Manchurian Candidate", "Seven Days in May", "Black Sunday", "Seconds", "52 Pick Up", "The Train", "French Connection 2", "Gypsy Moths" – but largely spent the 90s making TV programs or hack films solely for the cash. "Reindeer Games" was chewed to death by critics, but its unrated cut is a fun crime film with some witty post-Tarantino one liners. Worth one viewing.

John Frankenheimer follows up his great comeback film, "Ronin," with "Reindeer Games," a flawed but efficient thriller that recalls his earlier "52 Pick-Up." Freshly paroled ex-con Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) assumes the identity of his cellmate, Nick (who misses out on his parole when he is taken out during a prison riot), when Rudy falls for Nick's gorgeous pen-pal, Ashley (Charlize Theron). The ruse goes awry when he is also mistaken for Nick by a gang of thugs (headed by Gary Sinise) who recruit him in their planned heist of an Indian casino at which Nick had been employed. Like "52 Pick-Up," "Reindeer Games" has a central character whose flawed behavior puts him at the mercy of dangerous individuals who conceive a scheme that spins out of control. "52 Pick-Up" was successful because the entire cast, beginning with Roy Scheider as the trapped hero, was equal to the task of bringing the grittiness of the material to the screen. The one significant problem with "Reindeer Games" is the casting of squeaky-clean Affleck as its central character. Through no fault of his own, Affleck looks like a lightweight alongside a supporting cast that includes Sinise, Clarence Williams III, Danny Trejo, and Dennis Farina -- all actors who look like they have lived a little. Affleck cuts a profile similar to that of Scheider, but without the lived-in look that made him convincing as someone who would be able to go toe to toe with his tormentors. "Reindeer" is helped greatly by the performance of Theron, who, while also young, always has been able to project a more adult presence like the young Kathleen Turner. Credited more for her on- and off-screen glamour, Theron often is underrated as an actress. Here she conveys equal parts sweetness, intelligence, dismay, and ferocity. Of course, she also livens up her sensual scenes. For many actresses, nudity itself is the extent of their sexuality, but Theron generates heat simply by looking comfortable and bringing an unforced quality to the proceedings. The other major plus is Frankenheimer's direction, which turns an adequate screenplay into a solid thriller. He keeps the story moving and handles the action scenes economically, avoiding the excesses of Michael Bay, Simon West, and other directors of MTV-inspired fireball-fests. As in "Ronin," the action actually stays within the bounds of plausibility, which makes them more involving.

So after the bad guys are killed (in Santa Suits)...we have the "hero" WALK 15 miles toward home.....putting stolen money....in mailboxes (remember, its x-mas)...in broad daylight...in a SANTA SUIT....gee wouldnt the cops be looking out for that? Gee...wouldnt a guy who just spent 5 years of his life in prison DITCH that SUIT because he doesnt wanna go back to jail?.....Dont actors speak up when what they are shooting doesnt make sense to them?....do they CARE?....are they THAT DUMB to NOT see the plot holes?.... A VERY DUMB MOVIE...for VERY DUMB PEOPLE....

If you love movies with a bunch of twists, this is a wonderful movie. Up until the very end you are wondering what/who is what/who... It is a suspense filled movie with some well known actors and actresses, which is why I thought I would watch it. I had never heard of the movie, but was glad I watched it. I like Gary Sinise and he does a good job with his role in this movie. I like seeing the scenery and the casino, not sure if the movie was filmed on location, but it sure looked like it was. If you like fast paced action it is a good movie. If you are looking for something high brow, you may want to pass... It is just a good movie for the sake of a good movie. And I like the ending, and never saw it coming!

Every character in this film is excruciatingly stupid. The script, by the writer of Arlington Road (loved it) is painfully bad. If you are a bunch of would be robbers, would you stand in a parking lot in the middle of the day shouting your head off and passing big guns around? The plot twists don't work. When you get to a big surprise plot twist, think about stuff that the characters involved did earlier, and try to make sense of it. You won't succeed. The acting is lackluster. Sinise is good, but not given much to work with. Affleck is bland, flat, and just plain poor. Avoid this movie as if your life depended on it. If you must see it, do it drunk, or stoned, or something. Just make sure that your brain is not working when you see it. It's that stupid.