My list of holiday movies that I truly want to try and enjoy seems to keep growing after decades of it being just a few. A couple of years ago, I thought Violent Night (which we are apparently getting a sequel to) should be added to that list due to its absolute absurdity and over-the-top action, and this year we may have another nomination.
With Red One, Jake Kasdan takes a script written by Chris Morgan and Hiram Garcia (yep, you read that right) and puts on screen the story of Jake O’Malley (Chris Evans), a guy who has a knack for finding people. He is a cult hero on the dark web known as “The Wolf,” and does his best to pay the bills by using his hacking skills to enhance his natural abilities. When one of his jobs ends up leading to the kidnapping of Santa Claus himself (J.K. Simmons), he ends up having to help Santa’s head of security, Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), right the wrong he has caused before the annual Christmas Eve gift run begins in just a number of hours.
When I gave my notes to our vendor at the screening, I started with the words “silly fun,” and that about sums it up. This is simply a fun holiday movie that pulls in themes of family and belief alongside comedy and action-adventure that delivers in a way that this cast expected to (which also includes Lucy Liu, Bonnie Hunt, Nick Kroll, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Kristofer Hivju). There really isn’t anything new brought to the table here, but does there really have to be for a holiday movie?
If there is any criticism here, it lies simply two things. The first would be the run time: Red One clocks in clearing the two-hour mark, and there is definitely some fat that could be trimmed for pacing and just keeping the story tight. Secondly would be the language: there seems to be some “adult words” thar are shoehorned in there for really no other reason than shock value. I also said in my comments to the vendor that Prime Video (which will be its eventual destination) could be served well with a more “family-friendly” cut that either dubs or takes completely out those words because this really is a film that the entire family could potentially enjoy.
This is nowhere near the category of the aforementioned Violent Night, but it is definitely one that I could put in my holiday rotation for a couple of hours of cheer and adventure with a group of friends that simply wants to kick back, light the fireplace, grab some hot chocolate, and enjoy the evening away. I’m not saying not to see it in a theater (we saw it in IMAX, which was fun), but I’m also not saying seeing it at home is a bad idea either.
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