Movie Review: ‘Red One’, Starring; Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, J.K. Simmons

It would be easy to rip apart Dwayne Johnson’s new, big-budget, Christmas movie, but being a huge fan of DJ’s, I’m trying to find more good than bad in the film.

I’m here to report that while not a great film, Red One isn’t as bad as it’s been reported to be.

First of all, the film, which is financed by Amazon, is reported to have cost upwards of $250 million. This is exactly what I have started to detest about Hollywood. There is no reason this film should have cost that much, much less even $150 million. These big-budget movies are always trying to build its own universe, set up sequels, or hawk some product. Well, Red One isn’t much different, but it’s still fun if you are in the right mood.

Perhaps it’s my love for enjoyable Christmas movies, no matter how hokie they may be, but I got some enjoyment out of Johnson’s new film.

Yes, it’s overblown and ridiculous. Yes, Johnson plays the same big, bad tough guy he has played in nearly every film. Yes, the effects are completely overdone. Yes, the love of Christmas flows all throughout the movie. Now, what is this big-budget, holiday film about?

Johnson plays Callum Drift, the head of North Pole’s E.L.F. unit, basically he’s the head security for Santa Claus, played by J.K. Simmons. Having worked together for centuries, Drift has grown tired of the lack of Christmas spirit that so many seem to have, so he has decided to retire after one last Christmas ride. But, before he can ride off into the sunset, uh, I mean snow drift, Santa is kidnapped by an evil witch Gryla, played by Kiernen Shipka. Cal reaches out to supernatural surveillance director, Zoe Harlow, played by Lucy Liu. Harlow figures out that Gryla was tipped off by a hacker named Jack O’Malley, played by Chris Evans.

Jack is pretty much a down and out loser with an ex-wife and son he never sees. He literally steals candy from a baby. When he meets Cal, he is informed he made Santa’s naughty list as a Level 4 Naughty Lister. Because of Jack’s intelligence when it comes to hacking and tracking, he is taken to the North Pole, where he is forced to work with Johnson, to find Santa. Basically, this becomes the same buddy-cop film we’ve seen Johnson in multiple times, however, throw in the Christmas element. Johnson battles gigantic snowmen, Krampus, and even transforms Hot Wheels into real-life cars. The film is completely ridiculous, yet kind of fun.

I was surprised to find out that Red One has a PG-13 rating, as I found it very PG. The film is definitely targeted towards 10-year-olds, which isn’t a bad thing. I’m guessing the PG-13 rating was because of a few seconds of profanity in the 2-hour film. This is the main problem the film will face. It’s targeted audience will likely not be able to see it because of the rating. That’s a problem for director Jake Kasdan.

Kasdan and Johnson have previously struck gold with the Jumanji films, which were quite good in their own rite. With Red One, I get the feeling that Kasdan had a different type of film in mind but wasn’t able to go there. It’s almost as if he just made the film based off his previous films with Johnson.

The biggest problem in the film is that there are good moments. Whether it be the interesting North Pole world, Evans’ bumbling through all the holiday mayhem, or Simmons Santa that fits perfectly in a Dwayne Johnson movie. Johnson himself isn’t even bad. The good parts or performances are just glossed over like a light snow on the ground. Instead, Kasdan and company opt to stick with the slap stick comedy routine that may be fun for children, and judging by the reaction of all the kids at the screening, they did enjoy it, but most adults will just roll their eyes and opt to skip this film in the theatre and unwrap it when it inevitably hits Amazon Prime.

Red One gets a C-.