"Red One" is better than expected but still a mixed bag

Red One (2024)

When you explain it to friends, a big-budget, all-star action-fantasy-comedy Christmas extravaganza like "Red One" might not sound like a real movie. It could have just been an overblown fake movie playing next door to “Sack Lunch” (if you know, you know). And yet, with a little more quick-wittedness and imagination sprinkled throughout, this counts as something of a pleasant surprise, but let’s be clear: it’s still a strange, goofy hodgepodge of stuff—a modern superhero tentpole meets an old-school nightmare movie for kids—that’s about as nutritious as a plate of Christmas cookies. 

Dwayne Johnson plays Callum Drift, a loyal, built-like-a-brick-shithouse elf who’s really just Santa’s bodyguard at the North Pole. Saint Nicholas (a jacked J.K. Simmons), himself, has the most important job in the world, even if it’s only one night out of the year, but Drift is ready to resign after losing faith in so many naughty adults. That same night, eyes are lost on the jolly man, who gets kidnapped by wicked witch/ogre Gryla (Kiernan Shipka) and her team of commandos. Meanwhile, in the natural world, roguish gambler and for-hire hacker Jack “The Wolf” O’Malley (Chris Evans) is a “Level 4 Naughty Lister” who could probably be of some assistance to save Santa and foil Gryla’s nefarious plan to imprison all of the so-called naughty listers in snow globes. Can Drift and Jack save Santa and, hence, save Christmas? Yes, you’re not high; you read that right. 

Director Jake Kasdan (the "Jumanji" reboot and sequel) and screenwriter Chris Morgan have a whole mythology lined up for three movies and just enough cartoonishly imaginative world-building. We just take it as read that the Clauses have a security team of talking polar bears. There’s also a later throwaway detail in what happens if Santa steps on and crushes a Christmas light on a roof during his big night. When "Red One" is being a mismatched-buddy comedy on this globe-trotting adventure, it largely gets carried by the likable banter between a deadpan Dwayne Johnson and a smirking Chris Evans. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com

Grade: C +

Amazon MGM released "Red One" (123 min.) in theaters on November 15, 2024.