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Its not one of
those so-bad-it's-good sort of movies, but the script relies quite a bit on
chance and one of the plot twists, though quite fun and unpredictable, is a bit
on the implausible side. The likelihood of this situation panning itself out
the way it did here isn't very high, but the film works because of John
Frankenheimer's direction, the charismatic cast, and the dark humor.
From the opening scene featuring five dead Santas in the snow, Reindeer
Games had me riveted. It's a fine way to open the film, giving the feeling that
something disastrous has just occured, and it piqued my interest. Using the
flashback method in this film is effective, which may now be considered
tiresome in films overall, but it works here.
Rudy Duncan (Ben
Affleck), a car thief, and his cellmate and best friend Nick Cassidy (James
Frain) are two days away from being released from prison. Rudy just wants to
return home to his family, while Nick plans on meeting with his pen-pal
girlfriend, a beautiful woman named Ashley (Charlize Theron). Unfortunately, a
food fight breaks out in the prison cafeteria and Nick is killed, leaving Rudy
with a dilemma. When he's released, at the last moment, he decides to pose as
Nick to Ashley. |
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For the first few
days, this is Heaven for Rudy. He and Ashley click immediately, and they make
love in a motel. However, returning back to the motel from some shopping, he's
ambushed and beaten by Ashley's brother, Gabriel (Gary Sinise) and his men.
Having read Nick's letters and discovering he'd worked as a security guard at
the Tomahawk Casino, he plans to use Rudy (whom he thinks is Nick) to help him
rob the casino. Rudy has to now find a way to convince everyone he's Nick and
get out of this situation alive. I'll leave the rest for
you....
Reindeer Games tries to work as both action and suspense, and
for the most part, it succeeds. The action is refreshingly not over-the-top in
the "how do we top the next stunt" style seen in so many Jerry Bruckheimer or
Joel Silver blockbuster films. Frankenheimer injects tension into the gunplay,
fistfights, and chases, and these scenes work better than they probably could
have in another less talented director's hands. |
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| Director |
John
Frankenheimer |
Ben
Affleck |
Rudy Duncan
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| Producer |
Cary Granat
etc. |
Charlize
Theron |
Ashley
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| Writing |
Ehren Kruger
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James
Frain |
Nick Cassidy
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| Production |
Dimension
Films [us] |
Dana
Stubblefield |
The Alamo
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| Cert./Runtime |
15 /
104 |
Gary
Sinise |
Gabriel
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