Reindeer Games [Deception] *** (2000, Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron ) – Classic Movie Review 547

A well-cast Ben Affleck pleases as an ex-con car thief who impersonates his murdered cellmate (James Frain) to meet the man’s jail penfriend (Charlize Theron), who’s waiting at the prison gates. Affleck is then drawn into a web of blackmail, robbery, murder and dirty dealings when it turns out that Theron’s vicious brother (Gary Sinise) is a crook planning a casino robbery and wants the cellmate’s inside knowledge.

There’s no stopping director John Frankenheimer’s tense and pacy if impressively far-fetched 2000 crime thriller, with a neat line in cynical dark humour and a nasty line in sudden violence, which help to give it credibility. It’s no more than a refreshing, twisty old-style B-movie film noir, maybe, but it’s by no means too bad for all that.

The good cast helps. Theron makes a fine femme fatale and Sinise overplays his hand amusingly as the super-baddie in a bad long-haired wig. In a movie that starts with a dead Santa on the hood of a car, the Christmas-time setting is well used, both visually, story wise and on the soundtrack.

Frankenheimer boldly directs at a steady pace, taking his time to build atmosphere and tension. The movie’s not always taut but it is always tense and suspenseful. You wouldn’t think this film could be likeable, but, oddly, it is.

The satisfying full film Director’s Cut runs 124 minutes (‘It’s much sexier and much edgier,’ said Frankenheimer) and the cut version runs 104 minutes.

Donal Logue, Danny Trejo and Dennis Farina also co-star and Ashton Kutcher appears in an early role as a college kid.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 547

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