Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (left) and Chris Evans star in “Red One” (Photo Credit: Karen Neal).
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(“Red One” trailer courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios)
When the genre of greatest Christmas movies comes up, films like “The Holdovers,” “The Best Man Holiday” and “This Christmas” should get consideration.
Unfortunately, Christmas movies can become very cliché.
Thankfully, very few moviegoers will call “Red One” cliché or typical after they exit the theater over the holiday season.
In fact, Christmas movies enter uncharted waters with “Red One.”
And although “Red One” contains some cheesy and corny moments, “Red One” deserves props for breaking all the rules, creating a hybrid-type Christmas movie that has no precedent.
In “Red One,” young Jack (Wyatt Hunt) does not believe in Santa Claus.
In fact, he is so convinced that St. Nick is not real, that he has done his own research on his elders and their shopping habits during the closing months of the year.
He shows his cousins a stash of hidden Christmas gifts that the elders will probably say Santa brought for them when they wake up on Dec. 25.
Young Jack tells his cousins that he has a gift to find anyone and anything.
That is why he has proven, in his mind, that Christmas is just one big con or hustle.
Although Jack is proud of his investigation and espionage skills, one of his cousins wonders why he has not been able to find his own father if he really can find anyone or anything.
Be that as it may, Jack (Chris Evans) continues his hustling ways well into adulthood.
Although Jack has a gambling problem, he makes good money on the dark web by finding and stealing classified information and selling it to the highest bidder.
However, when he steals some information from another unknown source, he might have just put his life in danger.
Regardless of Jack’s shenanigans, the world has bigger issues.
The Christmas season is quickly approaching.
Therefore, Santa and all his little (or big) helpers are working diligently to make sure that they can get to billions of homes across the globe in one night to spread some holiday cheer.
In the meantime, and in between time, Santa must make his prerequisite trips to shopping malls around the world so that he can take photos with kids.
Furthermore, the mall appearances will give children the opportunity to tell St. Nick what they want up and close and personal, just in case their Christmas list got lost in the mail somehow.
However, “Red One” will blow moviegoers minds because Santa Claus is not what many were taught growing up.
He is not fat, but fit.
Santa has his own Secret Service-like detail.
And he has his own staff that resembles an Amazon workshop and not some primitive mom-and-pop operation.
His guards carry earpieces so that they can talk to other guards.
And the North Pole is fortified like it is Wakanda or at least the White House.
No one can get in or out without surveillance capturing them.
So, when old Nick (J.K. Simmons) comes up missing on Christmas Eve, it is obvious that a very sophisticated syndicate pulled off the bold caper.
Regardless of who pulled off the heist, if Santa’s head security officer Callum Drift (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) does not figure out who kidnaped Santa and get him back on his sled in time, billions of children will wake up the next morning disappointed and completely Christmas gift-less.
It is hard to classify this new Christmas movie, which also stars Lucy Liu as Zoe.
“Red One” is like a holiday/comedy/science fiction/adventure/children’s movie rolled into two hours of screen time.
While hybrid motion pictures are not unique to 2024, there might not have ever been one that combined so many elements into one movie, especially a Christmas movie.
“Red One” basically gives fans of certain movie genres just enough to satisfy their appetite without upsetting those that are not fans of that genre.
It starts out for the kids.
Then it gives spy movie fans something to whet their appetite.
And then it goes the adventure “Hobbit” movie type route.
Then it ends as a tender family movie, typical of films around this time of year.
The whole time, the movie is funny too.
With so much going, it is difficult to not rate “Red One” as a good one.
But maybe that is the problem.
It is still enjoyable, but not fantastic.
Except for holiday movies like “The Holdovers,” great acting performances are not typical of Christmas movies.
Thankfully, certified movie stars like Johnson know their limits.
Johnson knows he is box office.
However, he also does not take his talents too seriously by aiming for award-winning type movies.
His movies are simply escapes from reality and that might be what people need in a world that is so serious that more serious movies become unnecessary.
Despite the frivolity of “Red One,” the movie does touch on a timely subject matter.
With so much hate and anger in the world, most people would find themselves on the naughty list this Christmas.
It is harder to find kindness in the world.
It is difficult to find tolerance.
It is difficult to find morality and ethics in the world.
And it is hard to find love in the world.
Therefore, does anyone deserve to be on Santa’s nice list as in past years?
Probably not.
As a result, maybe Christmas should be canceled this year unless something miraculous happens that causes the world to stop and think about the negative route they are traveling on and how that might lead to total destruction and upheaval.
Or maybe the latest Christmas movie can save the day before it becomes too late.
REGAL RATINGS
FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT
THREE CROWNS=GOOD
TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE
ONE CROWN=POOR
