Red One
When Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped the ELF team of the North Pole steps in to save Christmas. Heading up the security detail is Santa’s most trusted advisor, Callum Drift (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), the beefiest mythological protector aside from a polar bear. But, tracking Santa’s captor will take some special skills, to that end, world hacker and bounty hunter Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) finds himself called in to action. It’s naughty vs. nice and the clock is ticking, will hope prevail?
Written by Chris Morgan and Hiram Garcia and Directed by Jake Kasdan this globe trotting action adventure for the holidays delivers surprisingly decent action set pieces and clever adventure premise in a surprisingly touching and feel good way, a careful dichotomy tightrope act that once again proves Johnson’s charisma and humor seems to have a magic ability to thread success in the face of what could be utter flop or failure, left in the hands of someone less adept and the “magic” of Red One might not be so magical at all. Meanwhile efforts from Evans, Simmons, Lucy Liu, Bonny Hunt, Kiernan Shipka, and Kristofer Hivju add more fun and flair to the mix. Surely this won’t go down in history along side other family favorites such as Miracle on 34th Street or A Christmas Story, but for creativity in weaving folklore, action, and fun, this may be one of the better Holiday offerings we’ve seen in some time, albeit irreverent, but fun. And, with production design and CGI that stays consistent, it’s all about the look and the feel, it must be Christmas. Running just a little longer than necessary at 2 hours and three minutes, Red One is Rated PG-13.