Review: When Santa Claus goes missing, an action film struggles to connect in ‘Red One’

As a movie enthusiast who has spent countless hours immersed in the silver screen, I must confess that “Red One” left me feeling more like a lump of coal than a shiny diamond this holiday season. The film, which stars the mighty Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, seemed to lose its way somewhere between the Krampusnacht slap contest and the buff Father Christmas with biceps provided by J.K. Simmons.

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.

Instead of asking “But is it sinewy? Yes.”, you could rephrase it as “Is it muscular? Indeed.

For over a century, Cal has protected Santa Claus, and on the night before his well-deserved retirement during Christmas, an enigmatic high-tech group abducts Santa from the North Pole. With no other option left, Cal must join forces with Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), a sarcastic hacker for hire who had previously pinpointed Santa’s workshop but never truly believed in the magic of Christmas.

Under the direction of Jake Kasdan and the creative writing of Chris Morgan, the film titled “Red One” aims to present an unusual pairing in a buddy comedy format, amidst a backdrop filled with holiday-themed humor and grotesque creatures. However, it seems that Dwayne Johnson and Sebastian Stan lack the on-screen chemistry required for this type of partnership. The image of a colossal, muscular snowman awkwardly reattaching his body to his legs is an unsettling memory that lingers in my nightmares, I must admit.

As a die-hard cinema enthusiast, I can’t help but admire Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s knack for embodying charisma in every role he takes on. He truly shines when he plays tough guys, like his iconic roles in the “Fast and Furious” series, or when he steps out of his comfort zone, as seen in movies like “Jumanji” and “Central Intelligence”. However, in “Red One”, he transcends these roles, embodying a character who is both a tough guy (Cal) yet not entirely of this world. There’s an Amelia Bedelia-like quality to Cal where he takes Jack’s sarcastic jabs literally, providing comedic moments that unfortunately fall flat. Johnson and Evans struggle to find their rhythm together, and while Evans’ Boston-accented portrayal of a deadbeat cad seems routine for him at this stage, Johnson appears lost, failing to nail down a consistent tone.

But this is splitting hairs when everything else swirling around them is so utterly dreadful. The jokes don’t land, the action sequences are shockingly awful (all due respect to the indubitably overtaxed VFX artists) and none of these celebrities seem to be having fun with one another. Simmons’ role isn’t much more than a cameo, as he spends most of the movie asleep in a fishbowl, trapped there by Kiernan Shipka’s “Christmas witch” Gryla. Lucy Liu is at least adept at playing the stern director of the organization for controlling mythological entities and creatures. They’re going for a kind of holiday-themed “Mission: Impossible” or “Jason Bourne” vibe, which is lightly amusing for all of five minutes.

The essence doesn’t require further exploration: “Red One” is a puzzling production that seems to target everyone (yet it has an oddly childish tone while also appearing geared towards adults), and it’s so poorly done that it effectively appeals to no one. The most entertaining aspect is when Evans, as Jack, endeavors to clarify the whole debacle to his son, only to inadvertently describe the bizarre and absurd plot in a humorous, monotonous manner. Take these holiday cookies out of the oven, because “Red One” has been overbaked.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

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2024-11-13 23:31