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In the North Pole, Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson) is the commander of ELF (Enforcement Logistics and Fortification), a security detail for Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons), providing protection as Father Christmas carries out his annual duties. After over five hundred years with ELF, Callum prepares to retire due to his growing disillusionment with humanity as the Naughty List continues to grow, but he agrees to serve Santa for one last Christmas. Mere days before December 25th, a black ops unit infiltrates the North Pole and abducts Santa, prompting the response of a clandestine military organisation known as M.O.R.A. (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority), headed by Director Zoe Harlow (Lucy Lui). Discovering that the North Pole's location was compromised by a talented hacker (and notorious naughty lister) named Jack O'Malley (Chris Evans), Zoe's team tracks him down for questioning. With Jack unaware of his client's identity, he and Callum reluctantly team up to find out who kidnapped Santa and where Father Christmas is being held captive. The trail leads them to the Christmas witch, Grýla (Kiernan Shipka), who wants to punish everybody she deems worthy of the Naughty List, sparking a race against time to save the festive season.
Red One is another Christmas movie to portray a badass Santa in an action movie setting, following the likes of 2020's Fatman and 2022's Violent Night. However, Kasdan's vision is decidedly more family-friendly, with the picture carrying a PG-13 rating for maximum box office returns. (Ironically, the film was a massive bomb regardless.) Although Morgan's screenplay displays creativity in its intriguing vision of the North Pole and Santa's operations, it deploys eye-rolling story clichés by the dozen, with Jack portrayed as an absentee father (whose son becomes a target) while Callum prepares to leave Santa's crew after five centuries (but the events of the story might change his mind). Although the characters do change throughout the narrative, everything seems so perfunctory and formulaic instead of uplifting or emotionally impactful. Still, Evans is deliciously engaging as the cynical black-hat hacker, and Callum is a good fit for Johnson's deadpan brand of action hero. They are an enjoyable screen pairing, while a ripped J.K. Simmons offers a fun take on jolly old Saint Nick, and Kristofer Hivju (Tormund from Game of Thrones) is an authoritative and intimidating Krampus. Kiernan Shipka is less successful as Grýla, struggling to create a memorably villainous antagonist.
To the credit of Kasdan and cinematographer Dan Mindel (a regular J.J. Abrams collaborator), the action is smooth and easily comprehensible, without any headache-inducing shaky cam to turn the battles into indecipherable blurs. Red One is at its best when Kasdan leans into the material's inherent cheesiness and absurdity, from Santa lifting heavy weights to Callum removing a snowman henchman's carrot nose to defeat it. The flick goes bonkers with colourful mythological characters, including an anthropomorphic polar bear (played by Puerto Rican actor Reinaldo Faberlle), bulky snowmen henchmen, dog monsters, Krampus and his hellish minions, and even the Headless Horseman. Although Kasdan executes most of the creatures with motion capture and digital effects, Krampus is a miraculous, practically realised creation, with prosthetics convincingly bringing the character to life. However, the CGI excess sometimes gets a bit much, robbing set pieces of tension as the superpowered Callum never seems to be in danger, making several sequences seem like rote recreations of the pre-production previz. In other words, the action has no spontaneity, rendering it enjoyable but hollow. In scenes like Callum's initial pursuit of Grýla's minions at the North Pole, Red One looks more like a video game.
Falling short of becoming an instant holiday classic, Red One will probably play best for teenagers and young adults who enjoy CGI-laden blockbusters of this ilk, especially if comic book movies appeal to them. More discerning viewers unable to take the picture in its intended spirit will have less fun. Defending the movie is not to imply that 21st-century audiences do not deserve more thoughtful blockbusters, but at least Red One is a technically proficient ride with a mostly fun cast, and it is undeniably unique in the realm of Christmas movies, providing a welcome reprieve from the hundreds of trashy Yuletide rom-coms that invade streamers on an annual basis.
6.6/10
