“Red One,” released November 15, 2024, centers around the character Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) a hacker and a struggling, semi-absent father who gets wrapped up (Christmas pun intended) with Saint Nick (J.K. Simmons) and his head E.L.F. (which stands for Enforcement Logistics and Fortification), Callum Drift (Dewayne Johnson) upon Santa’s kidnapping by his long-time enemy, the winter witch Gryla (Kiernan Shipka). This film includes witty banter, adventure, extreme character development, and the classic reuniting of families and making of friends.
The story itself includes lighthearted, clever commentary on the struggles of parenthood, as well as the duality between family members and friends. It does contain profanity and crude humor, but that is to be expected PG-13 movies, which are generally accurately rated. The dynamics between Johnson’s character Cal and Evans’s character Jack are comedic, with constant contradictions of one another and several jokes poking fun at the other. The script is written well and one can’t help but love the action-packed moments with the iconic Dewayne Johnson and Captain America actor Chris Evans. It’s a very fun movie for a young audience, with parental guidance.
In terms of acting, there was already a carefully and well-chosen cast, all of which are experienced and have been in the acting industry for a considerable amount of time. The CGI is used appropriately and the settings are diverse and well designed. The movie itself was in production from October 2022 to February 2023 with a budget of $200 million.
One of the most interesting aspects of the movie is how they paint their version of Santa Claus. Throughout the movie, Cal mainly refers to him as ‘Nick,’ coming from Saint Nick. Red One’s Nick is incredibly built, showing multiple scenes of him working out and training in order to be athletically ready for Christmas. This Santa doesn’t simply use magic to get to every house on Earth in one night, he uses all the strength and speed he’s built training, running and lifting, in order to meet his quota. He does have the classic Santa personality – kind, optimistic, insightful, and always sees the inner child and good in people – but he does not have your classic Santa build, which is typically considerably rotund. This version of Santa is fit and athletically inclined, despite his love for milk and cookies. This way, his speed is a lot more explicable and it certainly adds to the action-packed scenes.
Red One, while currently scoring 31% on the Rotten Tomato scale, it’s still being released in theaters for the Christmas season. It will become available for streaming on December 12 on Amazon Prime Video. Overall, I believe Red One is worth the watch if you’re a fan of comedy, action, festivity, and a few tear-jerking moments.
