In Michigan, the car thief Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck) and his cellmate Nick Cassidy (James Frain), who killed a man protecting his girlfriend Millie Bobeck, are to be released in a couple of days. Nick is in love with his pen-pal Ashley Mercer (Charlize Theron) that he never personally met and has known her through a magazine, letters, and photos. He expects to spend the next days locked in a motel room making love with Ashley while Rudy expects to return home and drink hot chocolate with his family celebrating Christmas. During a riot in the messroom, Nick is stabbed and murdered by a dangerous inmate trying to protect Rudy. When he is released, Rudy sees Ashley alone trying to find Nick and he poses to be his dead friend. They go to the motel, but Rudy is surprised by Asley's brother Gabriel (Gary Sinise) and his four-men gang. Soon he learns that Gabriel has read Nick's letters to Ashley and knows that he had worked as security guard in the Tomahawk Casino managed by Jack Bangs (Dennis Farina). Gabriel and his gang are arms traffickers and truck drivers with no experience in heists and they force Rudy to plot the robbery of the casino based on his previous experience in the Tomahawk. What will Rudy do? If he confesses that he is not Nick, he will be expendable and killed by the criminals.
The underrated "Reindeer Games" is the last feature directed by the great John Frankenheimer, with a plot with many deception, twists and betrayals. The final plot point is totally unexpected and surprises the viewers. The twenty-five-year-old Charlize Theron still struggling to be known by the audiences after the successful "The Devil's Advocate" is extremely hot and beautiful in this film. The plot is enjoyable, despite the corny and moralist conclusion, with the car thief Rudy distributing the untraceable stolen money and not keeping any amount for him after serving six years in prison and not being a young man anymore. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Jogo Duro" ("Hard Game")
The underrated "Reindeer Games" is the last feature directed by the great John Frankenheimer, with a plot with many deception, twists and betrayals. The final plot point is totally unexpected and surprises the viewers. The twenty-five-year-old Charlize Theron still struggling to be known by the audiences after the successful "The Devil's Advocate" is extremely hot and beautiful in this film. The plot is enjoyable, despite the corny and moralist conclusion, with the car thief Rudy distributing the untraceable stolen money and not keeping any amount for him after serving six years in prison and not being a young man anymore. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Jogo Duro" ("Hard Game")