I wanted to but couldn't!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Rudy Duncan and Nick Cassidy are cellmates who are both due to be released in a couple of days; Rudy talks of getting out and having a mug of hot chocolate while Nick talks of meeting up with his pen pal girlfriend, Ashley. Then Nick is stabbed and apparently killed during a riot. On his release Rudy goes up to Ashley, who hasn't seen Nick, and takes his cellmate's place. Rudy's luck doesn't last long; it turns out Ashley's psychotic brother, Gabriel, has learnt of her relationship with Nick... the problem is he expects 'Nick' to help him and his gang rob the casino he'd worked in. Rudy knows a few details that Nick had mentioned but not enough to confidently commit the robbery. He will have to think fast if he is to survive; especially after he learns so surprising facts.This film, retitled 'Deception' here in the UK, opens well with a shot of a number of people in Santa costumes lying dead in the snow before jumping back six days to show us what led up to this scene. There is plenty of solid action, a real sense of danger and more twists than I expected. The story itself is rather far-fetched but as it moves at a decent pace that isn't a huge problem. Ben Affleck is solid as Rudy, Charlize Theron is suitably sexy as Ashley and Gary Sinise is delightfully over-the-top as Gabriel. There are plenty of twists, perhaps a few too many, as it turns out much of what characters and the viewer think is true turns to be a deception. Overall this isn't a must see but it is worth checking out if you are a fan of the genre.

"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 needed to see Frankenheimer's final film. I was crushed. I have great difficulty understanding how the director of the subtle, lyrical thriller Ronin could have created and put his name to this mindless and miscast sequence of irrational plot twists and dull, meaningless physical beatings and chases. Plot twist is too nice a word for the unmotivated interminable reversals and red herrings. Viewers who don't always follow plot closely may easily lose track since it makes no sense.It tries and fails to be several things at once. It is primarily plot driven, but the plot is so ridiculous and full of holes and arbitrary reverses that one quickly ceases to bother predicting what will happen next. It's never surreal (might have helped) but it is so illogical. There is extensive brutality and gun play, but it is mostly of little consequence and seems more played for laughs. The entire climactic casino shootout seemed more comic than dramatic. Gary Sinese and his men's interminable beatings of Affleck have little dramatic impact after the initial one. The gun choreography is lazy with little sense of care or threat. There are moments meant to be comic, mostly Ben Affleck mugging, but virtually none of them work. There are multiple love affairs but these are just more red herrings to keep the plot tottering along--not one of them is convincing or deep.We're left with what I guess I'd call a dumb guy's popcorn heist movie along the lines of ; something that keeps us lurching forward with gunfire, the pounding score and the moving camera and letting us know that if we don't care about the current scene, something disconnected and brutal will be along in five minutes. CGI is missing; instead we get overacting. I cannot fathom how a script development process arrives at this conclusion. Nonstop unmotivated physical abuse is not interesting to most audiences. The lovers of cinematic mayhem will be so much happier with any Tarantino film or "The Raid" or even "Jack Reacher" where every fight means something and has a consequence. Here the violence just continues on repeat, with no one changing or learning or even dying for most of the picture.

If John Frankenheimer's Reindeer Games provided me with any sort of advice, it's not to neglect nineties/early-2000's action cinema. During that time, many action films were released, boasting names like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Steven Seagal and usually served as nothing more than cinematic timekillers or blatant star vehicles for muscular men catering to an audience that beared heavy testosterone levels. From my very limited acquaintance with the genre, it seems the attractiveness of these films was their inanity and their craziness, along with their often far-fetched plot-points, far-from-realistic instances, and technical and aesthetic imperfections that are now widely different from the glossy, overly-polished action filmmaking techniques we're used to today.But who would've thought the actor to jump on this train would be Ben Affleck and the director to capture this moment be John Frankenheimer? This, unfortunately, marked a sour time in Affleck's career, as nearly every mainstream effort he did seemed to garner nothing but negativity, and was Frankenheimer's final directorial effort before his death in 2002. This isn't necessarily the best film to conclude a career like his on (he directed the original Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May). It's quite possible that if I saw this back when it was out, given the director's list of renowned films, I would've hated it. But if there's anything that has changed about me in recent years, I'm beginning to love a silly, completely ridiculous thriller or action film. Preferably, but not restricted to, those starring Ben Affleck.Reindeer Games takes the cake for being one of the most asinine films I've seen this year in terms of plot, twists, and character motives. Characters possess unrealistic, confused ideas, for being such confident criminals, the storyline in itself is a muddle of complete buffoonery, and don't get me started on the twist ending, which is convoluted and almost too ambitious. I'm aware this sounds like the making of a negative review, but damn, I'd be telling an unforgivable lie if I didn't say I got some weird, B-level entertainment out of Reindeer Games. Here's a little diamond in the rough boasting A-list actors, an intriguing little premise, and several settings there are at the mercy of their actors in terms of the way they're utilized.Ben Affleck plays Rudy Duncan, a car-thief currently serving time with Nick Cassidy (Nick Frain), his cellmate. Nick has been writing letters to a woman named Ashley, who is the only person that seems to bring Nick any kind of happiness in life, unlike Rudy who has nothing but basic middle class life to look forward to upon his release. A day before Rudy and Nick's release, a prison uprising results in Nick's death, and realizing that Ashley will now be left alone, he decides to assume the identity of Nick in order to at least have some affectionate love, a caring soul, and some great, if violent, sex upon his release.Arming himself with the knowledge he has gained from Nick's letters to Ashley, Rudy exits prison with the adopted personality of his former cellmate and meets Ashley (Charlize Theron). It turns out, Ashley's brother Gabriel (Gary Sinise) and three of his friends planned to rob the casino Nick used to work at and utilize him as a source for information regarding the building and the whereabouts of the casino's safe. Ashley confesses to Nick (Rudy) that she wrote to him with this in mind, and despite Rudy imploring that he isn't Nick and faked this entire thing to earn the company of Ashley, he is forced to go along with the robbery at hand.For starters, Gabriel and his thugs are some of the most listless robbers in movie history. They have a vague plan, they have little intelligence on their side, and they are often blocked by their own pitiful ineptitude. This is noticeable immediately after Rudy confesses he is not Nick. They don't believe him but threaten to kill him. Then Rudy says he is Nick. Then he isn't Nick. This goes back and forth for about five minutes in a confusing manner, so that we can't even be truly certain how the robbers plan to justify that he is Nick (or isn't).But such things like this become in the back of our minds when we see the craziness the film continues to release. Consider what Rudy looks forward to upon getting out of prison (six months of eating nothing but leftovers among other things he states in a corny monologue the film begins with and ends with). But when he agrees to help Gabriel and his band of goons, what does he request? "Some goddamn hot chocolate and some pecan f****** pie." You couldn't find a better line in this film (although Gabriel referring to Rudy's stalling as "reindeer games" comes pretty close).Besides the film utilizing intriguing settings, such as a large hotel and a spacious casino, with a nice sense of placement and activity, the film can be known for having some at least above average performances, particularly from Gary Sinise. Sinise works as a menacing villain, somewhat reminiscent of a Steve Buscemi kind of character with the straggly hair and the intimidating grimace. Affleck and Theron, for a brief time at least, have solid chemistry, even if their sex is more violence than sensual. Then there's appearances by Isaac Hayes (in a role stranger than the sex-obsessed, dirty-minded chef in a school cafeteria) and Danny Trejo that can guilty bring a smile to someone's face.Reindeer Games is pure entertainment, briskly-paced, constantly moving, and very active in the suspense department. There are noticeable restraints on the material, given the crudely-strung together subject matter and purely ridiculous plot-points in some cases, but there's fun in the film waiting to be had for an absurdly optimistic viewer looking for a supremely different kind of Christmas picture. Come all ye faithful, I suppose.