
In the heart of “Red One,” a Christmas-themed action-comedy featuring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, there comes a point where the movie seems to lose its spirit. The exact time? During a slapping competition on Krampusnacht, an alternative St. Nicholas Day, where several extras in monster masks from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” set gather to watch as Kristofer Hivju (the “Game of Thrones” actor portraying Krampus) and Johnson exchange face slaps. The energy dissipates, making everything that happened before this moment seem insignificant, swallowed up by poor computer graphics. The remainder of the film feels like a struggle to reach the end, not exactly a sprint from the start.