Red One is passable festive fare but if you’re making a christmas movie list, you won’t check twice if its missing.
Santa Claus has been kidnapped, and it’s up to Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), the North Pole’s head of security, and Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), a tech-savvy but cynical tracker for hire, to save Christmas. Directed by Jake Kasdan, Red One is yet another attempt to merge holiday magic with blockbuster action, but its festive sparkle occasionally gets overwhelmed by its over-reliance on CGI and an overbearing obligation to massage Johnson’s ego.
As festive world-building goes, Red One teases more than it reveals, a very modern filmmaking practice that more often than not hints at ambitions of kicking off a new cinematic franchise and there’s fertile ground to be explored within the remit of M.O.R.A (the Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority), although they’re somewhat tangential to this particular story because the head of Santa’s security detail (ELF – Enforcement Logistics and Fortification) is determined to solve this case solo, or at least mano a mano with Chris Evans’ help. We do get a fairly good look at the North Pole though, which from humble beginnings has expanded into something of a sprawling industrial nightmare, hidden Wakanda-style at the North Pole. But when security is breached in a suitably bombastic action sequence, it looks like Christmas may be cancelled once and for all.
In many ways, Red One tries too hard too much of the time to really succeed. It wants you to love it, of course, but it also carries with it an air of entitlement to your adoration that’s about as subtle as the people’s eyebrow. There’s fun to be had, for sure, but it spends a little too much time and effort on crafting its action and comedy set pieces and not quite enough time fleshing out its characters and their backstories – certainly not enough to land the emotional payload it wants to by the end.
Red One’s undeniably star-studded ensemble is part of the film’s appeal but it’s also a big part of its problem. There’s a gross imbalance between the protagonists and the movie’s big bad, played by Kiernan Shipka and as effective as she is, her character feels too lightweight to go up against the combined forces of The Rock, Captain America and J K Simmons’ impossibly jacked Santa Claus, especially when you factor in Kristofer Hivju’s gloriously Klingon-esque Krampus who steals the film out from under all of them.
At its best, Red One embraces the absurdity of its premise, delivering toy-inspired gadgetry, reindeer-powered action scenes, and a tongue-in-cheek approach to Christmas lore. Johnson’s waning charisma still has big screen pulling power and Chris Evans seems to be settling in to a comfortable likeable rogue rut and they make a likeable if unremarkable odd-couple pairing. Lucy Liu is all business as the head of M.O.R.A. and there’s a great CGI Polar Bear ELF operative who gets far too little screen time.
The action sequences are polished and energetic, with Kasdan injecting a playful sense of fun into the set pieces although, the relentless pace and reliance on digital effects often leave the movie feeling like it’s running on holiday autopilot and in its quieter moments it’s revealed to be as hollow as a chocolate Santa. The villain’s motivations are intriguing but she’s underdeveloped and disappointingly generic in her actions, and despite the wealth of talent and ideas at its disposal, Red One really doesn’t give us much that we haven’t seen before, and done better, in the likes of The Santa Claus, Arthur Christmas or Fred Claus.
But while Red One doesn’t reinvent the sleigh, it’s a passably entertaining romp that offers enough laughs and spectacle for a holiday diversion. Why the powers that be at Amazon decided that the best time to release this very Christmassy film was in the middle of November just before Gladiator II and Wicked were released I’ll never know. Five years ago, this would have been the seasonal blockbuster. Now, it feels like a festive footnote, a mild amuse bouche before the real holidays begin.
