I remember watching the trailer for Red One and thinking how awful it looked just like most people did. A superhero movie with Santa and the rock. Beyond terrible, the marketing came and went and the movie didn’t perform well and well a couple of weeks later it was avaiable on streaming just in time for Christmas. Wanting to watching something dumb but also Xmas related I thought why not, it literally just came out not even a month ago. Little did I know that I was going into not only one of the best Christmas movies in recent years but a new all around Xmas Classic. Red one will become a cult hit.
I can’t say Dwayne The Rock Johnson is an actor I like, but generally I can be ok with him if the movie fits his role. This is oen of those movies as I love how dead on the Rock is through out it. He is part of the body guard secret service agency meant called ELF and well Santa Claus is kidnapped so it’s up to Cal and an unlikely ally, an expert thief Jack O’Malley. We get the likes of Gryla and Krampus. The movie has a lot stars. Chris Evans, JK Simmons and others. The film also doesn’t feel cheap, it feels like a high budget movie with a decent production, this isn’t some b-movie despite it’s story.
This is such a ludicrous concept that you you’d think it would suck and yet it works. It’s basically a self aware MCU movie with arguably better CG. The movie is completely self-aware and absurd but it plays it straght at the same time. This is difficult mix to get right, and many movies fail at it hard. They either go overly cheesy or “nudge nudge wink wink”. This movie has the perfect blend and that’s rare. Better than any MCU cookie cutter film. As much as I enjoyed the movie as a kid I would’ve absolutely loved it even more as a kid and easily better than mosts Santa Fighter movies.
The Nintendo Switch is mentioned and we do get some quick scenes with toy aisles. These are always great when rewatching the movies decades later and seeing how much the toy aisle has changed even if it’s just advertisement today. The movie is just awesome. The fights are well done, we get enforcement logistics. And tons of Satna Close mythology and lore all in one movie. We get a nice Xmas message int he end. Even the villain is surprisingly decent. Is there anything this movie lacks?
I do think they messed up not having Agent Garcia a fighting talking anthropomorphic polar bear, his scenes were too few and he needed to be part of the adventure. Have I mentioend they basically fight Bad Mr. Frosty as snow henchmen? There’s also more than just a few cusswords the movie which threw me off for what is a kids movie but I’m not really complaining either. And they use the stereotypical “santa is not real” angle for a bit in the movie but they don’t lean on it too much.
Overall I can say this is one of my favorite Christmas movies in a long time and can already see myself putting it in the rotating Xmas movie list. It’s a story that doesn’t need a sequel so it’s fine that it likely will never get one, hopefully it does become a cult classic as others see what I see. Although I won’t lie, I think the concept is good enough that we could’ve had a sequel or two and I would’ve enjoyed them as well.