Movie review «Red One»

On November 7, cinemas started showing the Christmas adventure movie «Red «Red One» with a truly stellar cast — Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka and J.K. Simmons. If such a good company seems like an unconvincing reason to visit the cinema, you should know that the filmmakers spent $250 million on this blockbuster, so it promised to be at least a visually striking spectacle. But whether it is backed up by a really exciting and fun story — read the review below.

«Red One»

Genre Christmas action adventure, comedy
Director Jake Kasdan
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, J.K. Simmons, Christopher Hiew, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Wesley Kimmel, Nick Kroll, Bonnie Gant, Jenna Canell
Premiere movie theaters
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb

On Christmas Eve, unknown people kidnap Santa Claus. The head of security, Callum Drift, raises the alarm and tries to stop pagans who have trespassed on the holiday, but they manage to escape and hide. Now the unlucky guard has very little time to bring back the mythical grandfather and save Christmas.

Callum reluctantly takes on a mere mortal, Jack O’Malley, a small-time freelance criminal with questionable morals who is nevertheless capable of finding a needle in a haystack. By joining forces, the former Black Adam and Captain America embark on a perilous adventure to find ex-JJ Jameson and prevent the tragic consequences that are looming for naughty humanity. Oh, that problematic Christmas — it always needs to be saved! And it is customary to do so with this particular holiday. You won’t find movies where the characters are desperately trying to save Easter, or, for example, Agrarian Day (if you do, please write the name in the comments). The creators of the film «Red One» take as their basis the worn-out artistic trope of the long-suffering rescue, so it is logical to assume that we should not expect any creative ingenuity from this story. Unfortunately, this is the case.

Interestingly, director Jake Kasdan has previously worked on high-budget adventure films, and more or less sane ones, with two parts of the latest «Jumanji» with the same Rock. But this time, something clearly went wrong because the film is such a bland and unimaginative mediocrity that it’s a shame for the many missed opportunities.Apart from the fact that Santa Claus here is not the usual chubby-cheeked bumbler with his «ho-ho-ho», but a quite fit man (a big tip of the hat to 69-year-old J.K. Simmons), there are no more surprises. Well, yes, there is an action scene with a powerful avalanche rapidly overtaking the bald big man, but we’ve already seen this in the spy action movie «xXx». There is a good battle with snowmen endowed with the powers of Sub-Zero. There is a hint of a confrontation between the local Hellboy with unfriendly kaiju matsakas, but 20 years ago, del Toro worked out much better.

There is also an anthropomorphic and completely useless polar bear, which is of no use at all, and a witty joke about Wonder Woman. In the final act, we have another high-speed ride in the style of «Fast & Furious», although instead of tuned cars, we have fairy-tale deer. This is not surprising, given that the scriptwriters include a regular among the authors of the racing saga Chris Morgan. Basically, such a meager work is all that is offered for two hours of running time. This is catastrophically insufficient.

Dwayne Johnson, who has already not for the first time draws us to unabashedly expensive movies with the color red in the title, offers us all the familiar The Rock. The one you’ve seen in a million blockbusters before — steadfast, masculine, with a signature play of eyebrow folds. Chris Evans has already for the second time in a row gives off the wayward, irresponsible Johnny «Torch» Storm — no wonder he literally roasts one of the fierce snowmen on fire. J.K. Simmons’ acting task was to play a grandfather who slept through half the movie, an average night shift security guard. Lucy Liu and Kiernan Shipka are both beautiful, but they don’t have the opportunity to be remembered for anything.