And that's just the first deceit. Beneath the gloomy skies and desolate snow of winter, the characters slowly unveil an intricate web of lies and betrayal that keeps the audience guessing to the very end. Rudy has to figure out a way to convince his captors that he really has Nick's knowledge (even though he doesn't) while planning a way to escape. It's a dizzying tale of greed and deceit in which no character is free from suspicion. And yes, backs are stabbed left and right.

Frankenheimer proves once again why he's the master of the thriller. His urgent pacing keeps the action flowing and the adrenaline pumping, and his love of tight super-tight close-ups allows the audience to catch every suspicious eyebrow twitch and follow every devious glance. The dead Santa in the opening scene sets the gritty tone that pervades the film, and serves as a less-than-subtle reminder that violence and suspense-thrillers go hand in hand. Fittingly, action abounds throughout the course of the story, culminating in the climactic heist scene at the casino. The grittiness is enhanced by the hostile setting of northern Michigan in the dead of winter--the bitter coldness of the air is a reflection of the bitter coldness within the characters and their motivations. Even so, there's plenty of humor thrown into the script, creating an interesting mix of laughs, shocks and thrills.

These aren't your typical character types. Affleck portrays Rudy as the flawed protagonist--he's the "hero" that the audience roots for, but only because he's the lesser of several evils. In a movie in which first impressions can be deceiving and everybody is morally bankrupt, Rudy is, strangely enough, the honest one of the bunch. All he really wants to do is spend the holidays at home with his family--of course, his plans go awry when he and Ashley fall into the hands of Gabriel. His ability to counter-manipulate the manipulations of his captors illustrates a decent intelligence and his resourcefulness allows him to stay alive. Add to this a wisecracking sense of humor, and you end up with a fairly likable character. Even so, he's hardly a saint. After all, he lies to get in bed with Ashley, the sweet and innocent girl caught in the middle of her brother's machinations. Theron is disarmingly seductive in the role (as usual), using her feminine charms to win Rudy's trust, while Sinise is masterful in his villainous turn as Gabriel. The ruthlessness and cruelty conveyed through Sinise's performance accurately portrays a desparate man at the end of his rope, spurred to extreme measures by frustration and greed.

Expectations? Throw them out the window, because they'll probably turn out wrong. The only thing you can truly expect from Reindeer Games is the unexpected, and saying any more would be giving away too much. This is very much a thriller in the classic sense, in which the strong development of the characters and their relationships drive the plot along its winding path. As any good thriller should, it throws a surprise at the audience every few minutes and introduces doubt at every turn. Can we trust the characters we think we can trust? Who will end up betraying who? Will the heist succeed? Will Rudy make it home alive?

The answers may surprise you. But, after all, guessing is half the fun. A-