At first glance it would appear that the crew for Red One is made up of folks who have had long associations with Dwayne Johnson, from director Jack Kasdan, who also directed two of the Jumanji films, to writer Chris Morgan, who wrote many of The Fast And Furious films including the Johnson-led spin-off Hobbs And Shaw. He also wrote the last Shazam film, which led to Johnson’s spin-off black hole Black Adam. It’s a working environment friendly to the actor. But the rumors from this set are loaded with tales of Johnson blowing off work and/or showing up late and unprepared. It’s honestly not his usual vibe, and when you consider his divorce from Fast And The Furious’s Vin Diesel revolved around Johnson throwing the same kind of shade on that actor’s behavior, I was curious if the on-set issues and also word of a ballooning budget would show up on the finished product. I’m happy to report there doesn’t appear to be any disrupted chemistry on the film, and it became easy to dismiss all of that with just a few minutes on the Red One ride. It’s nearing Christmas, and every year a film or two vies for that potential future classic position that I don’t honestly think has been achieved since the 1980’s and A Christmas Story. I’d say the next most recent might be the Dickens romp The Man Who Invented Christmas. In any case. I won’t be adjusting my traditional holiday viewing to accommodate Red One. That doesn’t mean there isn’t some fun to be had.
We first meet Jack, played by Captain America himself, Chris Evans, as a guy who is definitely ending up on the “naughty” list. This is the kind of lowlife who takes candy from babies … literally. There’s nothing but coal slated for this guy’s stocking. He’s a good tracker and bounty hunter, and part of what makes him so good is that he doesn’t care what he has to do to bring in his guy. On the other side of the equation we have J.K. Simmons, playing a typical mall Santa. It’s Simmons’ second time playing jolly St. Nick. He voiced him in the 2019 animated feature Klaus. This mall Santa ain’t no typical Santa, it turns out. He’s got a huge bodyguard team that looks and acts like the Secret Service (just not when they’re guarding Donald Trump). It’s a well-oiled machine, and at its head is Callum Drift, played by Johnson. Turns out this is the real St. Nick, codenamed Red One, and he happens to enjoy getting out there with the real people during the holiday season. This is going to be Callum’s last Christmas in charge. He has just lost that Christmas spirit, and the dickens of the thing is he’s just not having fun anymore. He sees that “naughty” list grow and has kind of lost faith in humanity himself. Nick tries to talk him out of it, but that show has closed. It’s a normal everyday Christmas prep back at the North Pole until someone breaches the security dome that protects and hides the magical land that brings Christmas to the hopeful boys and girls every year. They grabbed Nick, and now he’s got to be found before Christmas rounds begin. And this doesn’t do a lot to strengthen Callum’s faith in humanity a lot, either. Neither will his future partner.
It’s time to call in for outside help, and they pretty much do a kidnapping of their own. They grab Jack and give him the old “you’re our only hope” routine. From here Callum introduces the cynical tracker to the secret world of Christmas. There are certainly a lot of surprises coming. Toy stores have special portals that act as the Santa transportation network. Callum also has a handy wrist device that can enlarge or shrink stuff. Think Ant Man without the suit. It can enlarge a Hot Wheels car to real size, plus a little extra magic in the tank also makes it work like a real car. It doesn’t work on everything, and not on living things, so Jack’s hopes for a Wonder Woman action figure are dashed for the moment.
This is very much a redemption story for Jack, particularly when he discovers he was unwittingly a part of getting Nick grabbed, and a redemption of spirit for Callum. The two actors have almost instant chemistry, so right there I lost all interest in the bad-behavior stories. True or not, I guess only Santa Claus knows for sure. We also get quite a strong supporting cast. Lucy Liu is pretty much in charge of the rescue operation and appears to be the big-boss liason between Santa’s world and the feds, who know about Santa and even run stealth jet escorts for him when he’s on his rounds. Gryla (Shipka) is a pretty wicked witch who has always wanted to put an end to Santa’s holiday gift-giving run. The real weak link in the film is that Shipka’s performance is flat. She’s up against a cast of heavy hitters, and she just can’t carry the weight of such a big bad character. She’s pretty much lost in the shuffle, and the most entertaining part of the film is Callum introducing Jack to the various magical creatures and elements of Santa’s world. It’s like a miniature Harry Potter universe, and Jack fills in for the fish-out-of-water and Grinch character whose heart grows three sizes that day.
This might be the biggest budget yet for a Christmas story. The f/x that create this magical place are truly magical in their own right. These are massive set pieces and amusing creatures, including good ol’ Krampus himself. Like Jack, it’s all about starting to believe and less about the James-Bond-like organizations at war here complete with gadgets and exotic locations. These just so happen to be imaginary. The film takes you on an amusement park ride and doesn’t slow down for a minute. Simmons doesn’t get to have the screen time he deserves. That’s the way it is when you’re kidnapped for most of the movie. But this Santa is no jolly old elf. He’s a tough guy who doesn’t break under torture. Seriously. Gryla/Shipka never had a chance, and I’m not talking about the story’s conclusion. There’s too much stacked on one side here, and this thinkg really needed a super villain. Where’s Boris Karloff when you need him?
The film hints at a potential franchise here, and there are so many elements of this world that are just hinted at here. If there’s enough bucks in the box office, I suspect we might meet these guys again, and I hope they have a better big bad to go up against this time. I wonder if that abominable guy from Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer is free? Watch it and let me know. “Do you see what I see?”
