Warner Bros. Pictures kicked off the holiday festivities with its Christmas film “Red One” on Nov. 15, showcasing a fantastical and mythological interpretation of the classic “saving Christmas” cliche. Ranking among the most expensive films in recent years, “Red One” was given a staggering 250 million dollar budget, partially due to a cast that flaunts more stars than a North Pole sky. Actors J.K. Simmons, Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson reject audience typecasting to instead unite and form a Christmas superteam. In a strangely charming fashion, the superhero legacies of the actors linger, as “Red One” is one bizarre convergence of a superhero blockbuster and a stock-standard Hallmark Christmas movie.
The film reimagines Santa Claus as a bench-pressing, cookie-loving Christmas demigod (Simmons) as he is kidnapped from the North Pole by the Christmas Witch (Kiernan Shipka), who wants to imprison and punish all on the naughty list. Jack O’Malley (Evans), a reluctant hacker and bounty hunter, is forced to work with Callum Drift (Johnson), the head of North Pole security, to rescue St. Nick in time for Christmas Eve. Though Santa Claus and his trusty crew are determined to deliver presents to the world, audiences clearly didn’t receive one with this movie.
Despite the cast, especially the male leads, being actors with years of experience, their performances in this film were underwhelming. As with many of his previous roles, Johnson certainly lived up to his nickname with an emotional delivery that was about as engaging as a rock. Simmons’s performance as St. Nick was also wholeheartedly inexcusable. While “Red One” takes a unique approach to the traditional Santa Claus, the character should never be lifeless — Simmons breathes more passion into his five minutes as a news editor in Spiderman than as the jolly old St. Nick. It gets to a point where the audience begins to question the true allegiance of St. Nick, because the juxtaposition between the character’s lines — filled with love for the world and children — and Simmons’s uninterested tone calls into question the true intentions of Santa himself. Under these circumstances, Evans easily stood out with his usual charisma and was thankfully able to rescue some otherwise unbearable scenes.
Regardless, the performances wouldn’t make a difference considering the film’s banal and monotone script. “Red One” offers little to no emotion or stakes by not giving enough backstory or context for any of the characters. As per any other stereotypical Christmas film, moral-of-the-story moments are forcefully shoved down the audience’s throat with all the subtlety of a snowplow. O’Malley learning to overcome his struggle with being an absent father is not satisfying when viewers are not given enough time to care about him or his son. “Red One” does eventually save itself towards the end, where the partnership between Johnson and Evans hits a good stride and the ending, though somewhat predictable, brings a sweet full-circle moment.
But there are more issues than just plot and delivery. For a movie that markets itself as an “action-comedy Christmas flick,” both the action and comedy unfortunately fall flat. The movie tries to lean heavily into its action side to distinguish itself from a generic holiday film, but it doesn’t help when action sequences are painfully hard to follow. Often chaotically shot with poor lighting, the audience feels as if they are riding on a sleigh ride driven by a group of sugar-high reindeer. Instead, it’s the simpler action scenes, such as when Drift and Krampus, Santa’s evil brother, engage in a slap-off, that provide the most engaging moments.
On top of that, the humor throughout the movie feels forced and only ironically hilarious. It’s often the awkward pauses after each joke that really trigger a laugh. “Red One” tries so hard to include jokes that cater to younger audiences — an eccentric man tells O’Malley that he needs to get two young ladies “boba tea” out of all possible drinks on a Hawaiian beach shore — but it comes off as a bunch of middle-aged writers failing to understand Gen Z humor.
Nonetheless, “Red One” understands its place as a dumb and playful Christmas movie and plays into it wonderfully. Unlike many films that painfully parade their pseudo-intellectualism, “Red One” focuses on simple world-building and uses the growing chemistry between Evans and Johnson to keep itself enjoyable. The movie creatively imagines the concept of a mythological world, and audiences are constantly shown cool weapons and characters — O’Malley and Drift engage in combat with giant snowmen at one point in the movie. Most importantly, however, a Christmas movie demands a jovial mood, and despite everything that the film lacks, “Red One” leaves viewers with a warm feeling when the end credits roll out.
At its core, “Red One” is simply a 2024 take of a holiday tale with an action twist. It’s fairly self-aware and embraces its ridiculous side. While there are some things to appreciate, such as the world-building complemented by grandiose visuals, as well as the occasional heartfelt moment, the drab performances and droning script make it hard for the audience to find much to care about. “Red One” is not an amazing film by most metrics, but it perfectly captures the essence of an average holiday movie to put on around Christmas, and in a sense, that’s how it should be enjoyed. After his abduction, St. Nick spends pretty much the rest of the movie in an unconscious state, as his power is slowly drained by the Christmas Witch. Perhaps the audience needs to follow in Santa’s footsteps — in an unconscious state with their brains turned off, the sounds of gifts unwrapping and family chatting in the background — in order to fully appreciate the movie’s Christmas charm.
RATING: 2.5/5
