Jake Kasdan’s Christmas/action film, Red One, was written by Chris Morgan from an original story by Hiram Garcia. In the movie, there is a secret treaty between humanity and all mythological creatures. The Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority (MORA) is the group charged with making sure the peace treaty runs smoothly without infractions. Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson) is the head of security charged with the protection of the all-time greatest mythological creature, Santa Claus (J. K. Simmons).
Buy Red One Blu-rayCallum is tired of seeing man’s inhumanity to man during the Christmas season and is terribly upset to discover that, for the first time in history, the naughty list is longer than the nice. He has been guarding Santa for centuries, but in the opening moments of the film, Callum tenders his resignation. Meanwhile, in the world of humans, Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) is juggling the dual life choices of being a computer hacker and an absentee father. For his latest commissioned gig, Jack has stolen the coordinates to the compound that basically serves as the North Pole; and the next thing we know, Santa Claus has been kidnapped on Christmas Eve.
MORA director Zoe Harlow (Lucy Liu) somehow figures out that Jack was the hacker who leaked the coordinates and brings him in for questioning. Jack reveals he doesn’t know who he sent the information to, and is hired to work alongside Callum to track down Santa. It is soon discovered that an ancient witch, Gryla (Kiernan Shipka) intends on ridding the world of naughtiness once and for all. She will harness Santa’s considerable power to create evil snow globes capable of capturing each naughty human and holding them captive. There is no discussion as to whether or not naughty mythological creatures will be punished, which is surprising since naughtiness seems to be what they are all about.
Red One refuses to break new ground: Callum and Jack don’t get along very well at first, then grow to respect each other, then are best buds. It also wants to be a buddy movie, but Evans and Johnson simply have no chemistry together. Sometimes they are the only two characters in a scene and it feels like they aren’t even noticing each other’s lines. It is obvious where the jokes are supposed to land, but they almost never do. You’ll also get to see the classic two-shoppers-tussle-over-the-last-present comedy bit.
There is still plenty of fun for the family. Everything about Red One is way over the top and often exciting. For Santa to be able to complete his yearly mission, the writer has given Santa, the reindeer, and a few nifty gadgets, some pretty interesting attributes that help explain how Santa completes his maniacal night of gift giving. On top of this, Santa is absolutely toned from delts to toenails and is one of the funniest, nicest, best Santa’s to hit the screen in a while. Unfortunately, he is only there for the heavy lifting with maybe 15 minutes of screen time. J. K. Simmons does his absolute best to carry the load, but when he isn’t there, Evans and Johnson, ironically, can’t lift a thing.
There are no bonus features.
