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75May not reinvent the wheel, but its expertly delivered thrills would hit the spot at any time of year.
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75Some movie-goers will be more annoyed than surprised by the finale.
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75One of the smartest action thrillers to come along in the past few years. It's also one of the freshest.
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67He's (Affleck) vaguely likable, but he's outshone by his co-stars and never particularly believable in his role.
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63This new heist movie by the great thriller director John Frankenheimer flails around like its own dysfunctional gang of casino robbers.
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60The plot's preposterous and Affleck is way too callow for a role that would have fit Robert Mitchum like a second-hand suit.
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60A cleverly plotted, cleanly crafted matinee item -- pure entertainment on a romping continuum with Frankenheimer's "Ronin."
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60It bristles with the brute force he brought to 1986's underrated "52 Pick-Up."
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50The material here, written by Ehren Kruger, is beneath banal, and the three leads are so miscast that it's like watching a dress charade.
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50The best and worst of old school -- retro but stale. Frankenheimer, along with Ben Affleck, donates what cool there is.
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50The end is a long time coming in Reindeer Games and the dialogue is mostly slush.
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50The out-of-control plot doesn't unfold gracefully or organically; it simply speeds along with no regard for anything other then getting to the next plot twist.
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50Displays no ambition to be anything more than a synthetic sense-jolt conveyor of the week.
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50In this beautifully devious, exceptionally well-made entertainment, Mr. John Frankenheimer does it all, and more, with the assurance of an old master.
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50Comes across as a deceptively streamlined comic-drama; an unnervingly violent, gritty film noir with a wink.
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44The picture, a would-be thriller, is a mechanical exercise from the get-go, one that positively defies suspension of disbelief with each succeeding twist of a plot no one would ever hatch in real life.
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40Punishing, visceral violence is the key element.
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40Its twisty film noir world of down-on-their-luck men and unfathomable women is vintage B-picture material, but, in the grand B tradition, the games it plays are more ambitious than successful.
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40The movie is staged like a pit stop -- Reindeer Games goes from being fun to being laughable.
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40The picture is an empty parlor trick, but it's carried out with a master's concentration.
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38The first All Talking Killer picture. After the setup, it consists mostly of characters explaining their actions to one another.
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38As late Christmas presents go, Reindeer Games is best left unwrapped.
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30By the time the closing credits roll, you're wondering if anyone else noticed that nothing made much sense.
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30About an hour after you've seen it, you'll already be fuzzy on just who was screwing who, and why
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30With a far-fetched script that might barely have passed muster at the B units in the old studio days, this Dimension release will command a certain up-front attention due to cast topliners.
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25A director of Frankenheimer's stature deserves less sensationalistic material, and so does his audience.
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25Without any believable characters or situations, Reindeer Games is about as appealing as leftover Christmas fruitcake.
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25Affleck simply wasn't meant to play action heroes or tough guys. He's about as tough as tapioca pudding.
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20Ben Affleck provides a charismatic star turn, but John Frankenheimer's out-of-season heist thriller is dead on arrival.
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20The foreboding, dark camera-work is effective in setting the mood for this sinister, eye- popping, frequently ridiculous thriller.
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20Here's a film that so merrily thumbs its nose at propriety in exchange for visceral thrills, and at probability in exchange for the really cool plot twist, that it checks in as the guiltiest pleasure since "The 13th Warrior."
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20I had a pretty good time with this until the end, when I felt so soiled by the filmmakers' cynicism and the characters' gratuitous viciousness that I wanted to take a bath.
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8While you may like comedies and you make like thrillers, this film does neither of the above with any pizazz.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 1 out of 4
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Mixed: 1 out of 4
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Negative: 2 out of 4
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NinaM.10Director's Cut- Huge improvement over the original. Adds alot more character development along with even more action.