Reindeer Games
review by Justin Meyers
Rated R
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Starring Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron, Gary Sinise
Studio: Disney
Written by Ehren Krueger
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Retail Price: 29.99
Features: Theatrical Trailer, Audio Commentary with
John Frakenenheimer,
Specs: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.33:1 Standard,
5.1 Dolby Digital English, French 5.1 Dolby Digital,
English Captions, Chapter Search
"Don't play no Reindeer Games with me"
Red-hot Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron
team up with Gary Sinise in this action-packed story of
high-stakes crime and deception! Upon release from a stint
in prison, Rudy (Affleck) impulsively decides to pose as his
old cell mate Nick in order to make time with Nick's
beautiful pen pal, Ashley (Theron). But Rudy's ruse blows up
when he realizes that Ashley was double-crossing NickÉand
now he's inescapably part of an armed robbery plot being
hatched by her dangerously evil brother (Sinise)! Also
featuring Clarence Williams III, Danny Trejo, and Dennis
Farina - don't miss this intensely entertaining, nonstop
movie thrill ride! (Editor's Note: Off the box
again, in case you were wondering.)
You haven't lived until you've seen Santa Claus firing a
gun and robbing a casino. This is a great movie that will
make you think and keep you on the edge of your seat. I'm
telling you if you like big blockbusters with lots of
action, this is the movie for you. It has gunfights,
explosions, prison riots, and lots of plot turns. This plot
is complicated! It takes one plot twist after another, and
each twist needs to be explained to the characters and even
to the audience.
In spite of that I think this movie was cleverly written
and stylishly directed. I am a huge fan of Ehren Kruger, who
has written Arlington Road and Scream 3. He has proven to be
a big asset to Dimension Films and proves that he has what
it takes to make it in Hollywood. The director John
Frankenheimer is a great director. He has made some of the
best crime films from the past 40 years and it looks like he
feels right at home here.
Gary Sinise is one of my all time favorite actors. With
Christopher Walken he makes the best bad guy. His style and
presence just makes any movie better. I'm not a big fan of
Ben Affleck but I seem to like every movie he's been in,
excluding that awful Good Will Hunting (my opinion of
course). The new Jack Ryan seems to be big right now and
seems to be picking the right scripts. Charlize Theron is
gorgeous is this film, and it looks like she likes to show
off her body. There is a sex scene in this movie, which is
just spectacular. Not to be too much of a pervert but if
that isn't a reason to pick up this movie, I don't know what
is.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment have given us a 16X9
enhanced widescreen transfer of Reindeer Games, and
presented the film in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The
disc also contains a full screen version that is heavily
cropped on all sides, why they would do this is unknown
since almost every DVD enthusiast loves widescreen and
widescreen alone, but I'm sure someone out there must like
pan and scan. The predominant color of this film is white,
since almost every scene involves snow, and it comes off
nicely.
This is caused by John Frankenheimer's design. He wanted
a dull, muted, and bleak look to the film. That's not to say
that it is dull looking but only that's the way it's
supposed to be. There is great color balance and excellent
contrasts. The whole transfer is very clean without any
smear, grain, or compression artifact. The detail found on
this transfer and the source print is beautiful. The picture
quality is perfect. It really shows how great a movie can
look when given the right care and time devoted to a new
DVD.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack for Reindeer Games
sounds great and is just as impressive as the video. It is
very active with good use of surrounds for sound effects and
directional movement, and gives you an aggressive movie
experience. The dialogue sounds great with movement and
clarity, it is never drowned with the gunfire or explosions
and is always understandable. The soundtrack really has a
natural quality and gives the film the realism it needs. The
sound really compliments the story and makes this DVD even
better. The best example of the sound is at 1:35:23, you
will know how great the sound of this movie is when you
listen to the big explosion.
There are a few great extras with this non-special
edition DVD of Reindeer Games. There is the ever popular
with me Theatrical Trailer. As soon as I saw this trailer I
knew this would be one great movie, that I would have to
see.
There is a 6-minute behind-the-scenes featurette that
doesn't give you too much information about the making of
the movie, as it does give you the cast's reaction to the
story and to the director. It is nice to see but isn't that
great of a featurette.
The best extra is the audio commentary by John
Frankenheimer, the director. He does pause quite a few times
but all together it's a pretty good commentary. He lets us
know about some of the plot points and how he filmed some of
the scenes. He did go on and on about the cast and about how
great it was to work with them. He gives a lot of insight
about this movie and I loved hearing about them. This
commentary makes this DVD even better. There is a forced
trailer for Scream 3, which was written by the same man who
wrote this film.
This is one great movie and a great DVD. I really liked
it and I hope you're able to buy it too. I didn't give it a
perfect score, due to some of the complete unexpected twists
and turns and they're a lot of inconsisties in this film.
Other then that, it is a top-notch movie that deserves to be
seen by someone, since it wasn't too big at the box office.
I'm sure you'll thank me later and have a lot of fun with
it.
 (4.5/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
(4/5)
 (2/5)
 (3.5/5, NOT an average)
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