REINDEER GAMES ** (out of four stars) A review by Jamey Hughton
Starring-Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron, Gary Sinise, James Frain, Dennis Farina, Danny Trejo, Clarence Williams III and Donal Logue Director-John Frankenheimer Canadian Rating-14A
MOVIE VIEWS by Jamey Hughton http://Welcome.to/MovieViews
Is it somehow bending the rules of screenwriting not to insert the intended title of your project into a script nowadays? We witnessed it just last week in `The Whole Nine Yards', in which a certain character's vocabulary stumbled over the phrase, even though it didn't necessarily apply. It's a similar case with `Reindeer Games', a limp new heist thriller utterly devoid of the kinetic energy and stimulating action that it requires to heat up the cineplex during the snowy season. The villain, a shaggy, long-haired trucker named Gabriel (Gary Sinise, channeling Lieutenant Dan from `Forrest Gump') stands over our protagonist Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) with gun in hand. In a moment of questioning Rudy's honesty, Gabriel threatens him by incorporating Rudolph & Co. into the conversation: `Don't you play no reindeer games with me.' Now, what exactly are ‘reindeer games'? The term is fairly vague. Originally, I thought it was a catchy title for a Christmas-oriented action/adventure, but having a character utter it so deliberately is just plain goofy.
Granted, there are bigger problems with `Reindeer Games' and its overly trite, fatigue-ridden script (written by flavor-of-the-month Ehren Kruger, the `Scream 3' scribe). After a striking opening collage of snow-covered imagery, we cut to a Michigan prison environment. In for auto theft, Rudy and his cellmate Nick (James Frain) are eagerly anticipating their release in a mere two days - Nick in particular, who has been carrying on a steamy postal relationship with a beautiful pen-pal named Ashley Mercer (Charlize Theron). But in the aftermath of a violent cafeteria scuffle, Nick is stabbed to death. This leaves Rudy in a certain dilemma of conscience: once he sees Ashley outside the prison, should he explain the tragic situation or walk on by? Ignoring those options, Rudy does something really absurd... he poses as Nick. Having never seen a photo of the real Nick, Ashley will not be able to identify the impostor, leaving the cute couple with a sexy Christmas holiday for roasting chestnuts on the open fire.
The situation, however, is complicated by Gabriel - Ashley's criminal brother. Gabriel and his elite team of gun-runner underlings (Danny Trejo, Clarence Williams III and Donal Logue) want to take down The Tomahawk, a wealthy casino built on an Indian reservation. To do this, they require Nick's expertise of the structure and the security, some knowledge he would have attained from working at The Tomahawk a few years back. Unfortunately, Gabriel and his goons don't have Nick.... they have Rudy posing as Nick. Kruger proceeds to complicate matters even further, tossing in a few 360 degree twists and thickening the mixture drastically as the casino robbery nears execution. It may read like a made-for-cable plotline, but Kruger's premise is both a clever and promising set-up for high-wire action/adventure. Imagine my disappointment when I realized how sluggish and unexciting `Reindeer Games' actually was. It's a thriller of perplexing tedium, limply directed by aging legend John Frankheimer (`The Manchurian Candidate'), which is a surprising pratfall given his last film was the rousing chase film `Ronin'. The fact that `Reindeer Games' is thoroughly lacking visual flair and animation coupled with the detached presentation of a few action sequences makes for... well, a rather ho-hum experience.
The proverbial nail in the coffin, however, was an insipid move that Kruger could now label his trademark punch: the final twist. It worked marvelously for him in the terrorist thriller `Arlington Road', but here Kruger indulges to the point of idiocy. No one will be able to foresee such a doozy of a twist, but that doesn't mean it's clever - a better choice of words would be ludicrous and illogical. Kruger does have the talent to make a name for himself in the screenwriting underworld of Hollywood. His script for `Reindeer Games' is not a total loss, with a pair of genuinely funny one-liners and a handful of inventive moments sprinkled with humor and suspense. He just underestimates the intelligence of the audience too often.
‘Tis a shame, because Frankenheimer does coax a few enjoyable performances from Sinise (taking the villainous grunge look to new extremes) and Theron (beautiful and light-footed wherever her travels take her). Affleck has trouble convincing us that he's an ex-con, but he does alright. While not totally defective in the suspense department, `Reindeer Games' doesn't succeed at much anything. It's a mediocre mystery, a lazy action film and a decidedly unfestive Christmas movie. Let the `Games' begin.... at your own risk, of course.
(C) 2000, Jamey Hughton
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