The last film in the career of a renowned film maker is usually not among the best. John Frankenheimer, director known for 1960s classic thriller, wasn’t an exception, as least judging by Reindeer Games, 2000 heist film which was his last feature.
The plot begins shortly before Christmas in Iron Mountain, maximum security prison. Rudy Duncan (played by Ben Affleck) and Nick Cassidy (played by James Frain) are two cellmates and best friends who are about to be released. While Rudy looks forward to reuniting with family and enjoying warm chocolate, Nick expects even brighter future in the form of Ashley Mercer (played by Charlize Theron), attractive woman who started pen pal exchange with a convict only to fall in love with him. Shortly before release Nick dies in a fight and Rudy, aroused by Ashley’s letters, decides to take Nick’s identity in order to spend few days with beautiful woman. Unfortunately, his identity also happens to be mistaken by other, more sinister characters, which include Ashley’s brother Gabriel (played by Gary Sinise) who take interest in “Nick”. Real Nick used to work as security guard in Indian reservation casino, so Rudy gets abducted in order to help Gabriel and his gang to rob it. Rudy, however, doesn’t have a clue about location of safe and other details, but he nevertheless uses all of his ingenuity to convince Gabriel that he is indeed Nick and that he can help them with the heist.
Ben Affleck, main star of Reindeer Games, apparently went above and beyond the line of duty in order to prepare for his role. He spent some time in real prison talking to real prisoners, while having to answer some uncomfortable question about his sex life. Later at the set he was injured during the shooting of a fight scene. Affleck’s sacrifice was, however, in vain, mostly thanks to awful script by Ehren Kruger. What could have been an interesting mix of heist film, Christmas film and Tarantinoesque black comedy is ruined by Kruger’s decision to play it straight. With lack of humour, audience is forced to take some of rather implausible plot twists seriously and same goes for characters with lack of basic intelligence. Everything culminates in “surprise” plot twist at the end that confirms film’s failure. While the cast does what it can, its efforts are limited by poorly written and stereotypical characters. Gary Sinise again plays psychopathic villain, Charlize Theron again shows her breasts and the trio of formidable character actors – Clarence Williams III, Donal Logue and Danny Trejo – simply can’t make their characters memorable. Semi-ironic finale that tries to bring spirit of Christmas to dark and violent crime thriller comes too little to save Reindeer Games. Frankenheimer, however, managed to end his career on a positive note thanks to Path to War, semi-prophetic cable television film released shortly before his death.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
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