Running Time: 123 minutes
This feature from Amazon MGM Studios opens exclusively at theaters on November 15th.
Back in the late 1980s, the holiday-themed comedy Scrooged opened with a fake trailer for a film that involved psychos seizing Santa’s headquarters, and a heavily-armed Lee Majors stepping in to take care of the threat. It was a hilarious parody of the era’s action films and one that made a lasting impression. Decades later, it’s hard to not see that bit as being inspiration for Red One, the action-adventure/comedy opening this weekend. But what worked brilliantly in a two-minute sketch struggles to maintain excitement and laughs over a two-hour running time.
The world has become more and more jaded over the past few decades. Up in the North Pole, Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) continues his work of bringing joy and happiness to families all over the world. But Commander Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), Santa’s head of security, has begun to lose hope in human kindness. After announcing his retirement, Drift is brought back into action when a team of sinister hoodlums locate and kidnap Santa Claus. Head of the Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority force Zoe Harlow (Lucy Liu) sends the protagonist on a mission to find hacker Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), who discovered Santa’s secret location and sold the details to the highest bidder. After confronting O’Malley, the unlikely pair team up and travel through Earthbound and fantastic worlds to rescue Santa.
This is a lavish production and the world of the North Pole (which itself almost looks like a snow-globe) is admittedly impressive to behold. When the supernatural villain is revealed, there are plenty of elaborate action scenes and elaborate digital effects featuring Drift and O’Malley fighting off various threats. One bit, involving the pair taking on a trio of threatening icy snow-creatures, features some fun quips and creative action.
The charismatic cast also offer a few amusing moments of bickering that do result in a chuckle or two. This includes an antagonistic conversation between a confused O’Malley, Harlow and Drift as they reveal their roles in the North Pole and state that plenty of seemingly fantastic beings from legend are quite real. There are a couple of funny interactions as O’Malley takes in some surreal sights, and when Drift attempts to pay his criminal partner a compliment for eventually doing something selfless.
But while there are a few laughs, more of the gags miss the mark than hit it and the overall tone isn’t quite right. With the exception of the beach battle, the exaggerated fights are played too seriously and rarely take advantage of the strangeness occurring. The movie’s heroic organization has a very militaristic feel, which feels off-putting in a family holiday feature. If the film had been poking more fun at the MORA and Drift’s defense tactics, it may have played more effectively. In truth, the makers would have been better served to embrace the outrageousness of the concept and/or go all the way over-the-top (perhaps even earning an R-rating), rather than play it in a more generic manner.
There are some odd tangents as well, as the leads find themselves in the underworld dealing with holiday-monster Krampus (Kristofer Hivju) for an extended period of time. Another ineffective twist occurs when O’Malley encounters his own son (Wesley Kimmel) in danger. The pair reunite and share an overly sentimental exchange completely out-of-place with the rest of the movie. Add in some underutilized supporting characters like Mrs. Claus (Bonnie Hunt) and a CGI polar bear who works with Drift, and the movie ends up having a chaotic feel.
There are elements of Red One that work reasonably well. It looks impressive and one can see how the general concept on paper might have seemed like a winner. Sadly, the movie doesn’t balance action, humor and sentiment effectively. The film needed to be sillier and more tongue-in-cheek (like that Scrooged parody), and thus this festive package doesn’t go over as well as hoped for.