Hollywood superstar Dwayne Johnson teams up with director Jake Kasdan for the third time in “Red One” from Amazon MGM Studios. Chris Morgan pens the film’s script from a story by Hiram Garcia. Callum Drift (Johnson) has spent the last few centuries guarding Nick, a.k.a Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons), as the North Pole’s Head of Security. Due to the selfishness in the world, Callum has become disillusioned with the holiday and is ready to retire.
Meanwhile, master hacker/bounty Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) has just finished his latest job of providing coordinates to a secret location for a mysterious benefactor. Jack’s newest client is a centuries-old witch named Gryla (Kiernan Shipka), who wants to put everyone on the naughty list and ensure Christmas is no more. Callum’s boss, Zoe Harlow (Lucy Liu), suggests that Callum and Jack save the holiday. Along the way, the relucent duo runs into Krampus (Kristofer Hivju) and tries to repair Jack’s relationship with his son Dylan (Wesley Kimmel).
I remember hearing back the initial pitch a few years back as a high-concept holiday action flick, and that’s what the film is. Johnson and Evans easily lean into their roles and provide the typical performances you would expect from a buddy film. Johnson focuses more on the physical aspects, while Evans gets more of the one-liners. The two have solid chemistry, which is the film’s selling point. It’s always a joy to see Lucy Liu on screen, particularly in a position of authority.
However, the real MVP of the film is J.K. Simmons, who has a great time portraying Saint Nick. What I appreciated about Simmons’s take on the character is that his Santa is in shape, and we get a viable explanation of how he can achieve his goals in one night. Simmons also has a great with Bonnie Hunt, who portrays Mrs. Claus.
Sadly, Kiernan Shipka doesn’t make for a good villain. Fresh off a solid performance in this past summer’s “Longlegs,” her role here screams of paycheck performance. Her character motivation is bland, and she comes across as a “Karen” more than a convincing anatomist. I also didn’t care about the dropped backstory of Evan’s character. “Red One’s” opening touches on abandonment issues with his parents, but the idea is never fleshed out.
Nevertheless though, the creative team behind team “Red One” knows the film they set out to make, a family film with jokes and action sequences out of the MCU playbook, and in that regard, they succeed,
Final Grade: B-
“Red One” is in theaters now.
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