Five favorite Gary Sinise roles

Posted by Melissa Locker on October 25th

Tonight at 10:30/9:30c we’re showing “Reindeer Games.” The film follows Rudy Duncan (Ben Affleck), a convict who impersonates his slain cellmate upon being released from prison in the hopes of getting lucky with the dead man’s gorgeous pen pal (Charlize Theron). However it turns out that even though the two attractive and consenting adults hook up, Theron isn’t just interested in his good looks. Instead, Theron’s psychotic criminal of a brother (Gary Sinise) has some plans of his own for Affleck. Specifically, he’s looking for someone to pull off a dangerous casino heist on Christmas Eve. Seems Sinise thinks that Rudy is actually the criminal mastermind his sister’s been writing to for months. What happens next is almost Shakespearean. Well if Shakespeare dressed his characters in Santa costumes and had them try to rob a casino. But as within a Shakespearean play, lies and treachery beget tragedy in this morality tale. Shakespeare would have been so lucky to have a supporting cast of genre veteran character actors, including Isaac Hayes, Dennis Farina, Danny Trejo and Clarence Williams III.

While it’s clear that Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron are meant to be the stars of the film, Gary Sinise steals the show as Theron’s creepy criminal of a brother. He’s slyly smarmy and manages to infuse each of his scenes with an intensity that makes you squirm, but also makes him absolutely riveting. It’s what we’ve come to expect from Sinise, though, during his decades-long career. Whatever role he’s playing on television or in the movies, Sinise delivers.

Here are five of our favorite Gary Sinise roles (so far):

5. Jim McConnell in “Mission to Mars”

4. Lt. Dan Taylor in “Forrest Gump”

3. George Milton in “Of Mice and Men”

2. Ken Mattingly in “Apollo 13”

Here are five of our favorite Gary Sinise roles (aside from his part in “Reindeer Games”)”

1. Burt Hammersmith in “The Green Mile”

Want the latest news from IFC? Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @ifctv.

“Reindeer Games” airs tonight at at 10:30 PM ET and Friday, Oct. 26 at 12:45 AM ET