Director: Jake Kasdan
Writers: Chris Morgan, Hiram Garcia
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu
Synopsis: After Santa Claus is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.
It’s hard to understand the appeal of Dwayne Johnson anymore. Yes, he is a movie star, but he’s not an actor anymore. He was at one time a performer who varied his roles, who had small, very small, risks he took and it was fun to see him have fun. Watching Dwayne Johnson as The Rock was a blast because at least in the ring he had a personality. Maybe it’s because he is a brand rather than a person and he is shepherding his own projects to the screen without much thought beyond that his name will sell tickets that he just doesn’t have a spark anymore. A Christmas movie with no spark is antithetical to all that secular Christmas is supposed to be about.
It may be because the script by Chris Morgan and Hiram Garcia is so dense with lore and universe building that it bogs the plain, but passable, story down entirely. There didn’t need to be a Santa security detail and a mythological CIA. There didn’t need to be Krampus and Gryla, the Icelandic witch who takes naughty children. At times the overwhelming nature of this world we’re thrust into makes you wonder if it was first pitched as a Marvel movie and when Marvel said no they changed all of the acronyms and made their super being into Santa.
It’s so obvious that all involved want Red One to be a franchise. They leave tiny little presents for the viewers. A short glimpse of The Headless Horseman (Red One: Sleepy Hollow), a potential sibling rivalry between Santa and Krampus (Red One: Home for the Howlidays), and a grander world of mythological beings that need to be kept secret (Red One: The Easter Egg of Destiny) prove there is potential for many more banal and unappetizing adventures to come. So much of Red One focuses on the bigger picture that the small details fall too far by the wayside.
Though, what the filmmakers didn’t fail with is the very unique look of the film. Yes, some of the creatures are CGI, but just as many are rendered in terrific reality by makeup artists. Creature designer Daniel Carrasco and the special makeup effects team did so much incredible work on these creatures. Every one of them that is in Krampus’ home is so uniquely crafted and incredibly well put together. Krampus himself is a masterpiece of design. The molding to the actors features and the way the costume and makeup move smoothly when the actor moves are a sight to behold. This is also true of production designer Bill Brzeski’s work. The details of the North Pole were wonderful and the terrifying snowman assassin’s ice cream truck was a work of genius.
It’s also true that as a Christmas movie, Red One may grow some Grinchy hearts. Beneath the exhausting trappings of E.L.F. (Enforcement, Logistics, Fortification) and M.O.R.A (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority) nonsense is classic Christmas magic. There is a good arc of super thief and unrepentant naughty lister, Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) finding a way to understand his son Dylan’s (Wesley Kimmel) need for love and fatherly attention. There’s also a nice button on Callum Drift’s (Dwayne Johnson) growing dissatisfaction with the work. The more piled on top of it, the harder it is to really feel like it’s earned, but the Christmas miracle, secularly speaking, is there if you’re willing to dig.
Red One isn’t really a naughty movie, but it never fully makes it to the nice list either. It takes an interesting, if extremely unoriginal, Christmas story and takes a lot of the joy out of it. Red One wants so badly to think it’s the newest hottest toy, but really it’s an ugly two sizes too big sweater without a gift receipt in the box. There’s little charm and even less enjoyment, but it looks really good on the screen.
