{"id":8575,"date":"2024-11-16T19:20:43","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T00:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8575"},"modified":"2024-12-21T09:03:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T14:03:17","slug":"red-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/16\/red-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Red One"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Red One<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 MGM\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 123 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (action, some violence, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jake Kasdan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Morgan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Henry Jackman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Dan Mindel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 15, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J.K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Reinaldo Faberlle, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Wesley Kimmel, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Marc Evan Jackson.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0If you\u2019re a parent of small children and are thinking about taking them to see the holiday-themed action-comedy Red One<\/strong>, you might want to reconsider. It\u2019s not a light, whimsical movie in which Dwayne Johnson takes on some innocuous meanie out to spoil Christmas for everybody. This movie gets dark with its killer snowmen and the evil witch behind it all not to mention a few appearances by Krampus himself. The little ones will more likely be frightened than delighted by it. It more than earns its PG-13. Consider yourselves duly warned, Moms and Dads.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Red One<\/strong> has been getting a lot of hate from critics. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s as bad as all that. Oh, it has enough issues to stuff a couple of stockings, but its heart is in the right place. It\u2019s not a cynical, mean-spirited piece like Four Christmases. For that, I am eternally grateful to director Jake Kasdan who previously brought the last two Jumanji films to life. His intentions are good, but you know what they say about good intentions. There are times when Red One<\/strong> resembles a version of holiday hell, but it\u2019s all done in the spirit of fun which miraculously manages to come through.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Red One<\/strong> offers up a different version of Santa Claus and his whole operation. It\u2019s not just a matter of the jolly red one jumping in the sleigh and bringing toys to all the good children of the world. Santa and his North Pole crew spend 364 days meticulously planning for that one night. They have it all mapped out right down to the smallest detail. Also, this Santa looks nothing like the one we\u2019re used to. He\u2019s more fit than fat. He works out daily. He doesn\u2019t have a long white beard either. He looks more like an older middle-aged guy who spends his downtime at the gym.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Like I indicated earlier, there are protocols in place for everything including a worst case scenario-type situation like Santa (Simmons, Whiplash) being kidnapped. When that happens, MORA gets involved. MORA stands for Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority. They\u2019re like the FBI of the magical world. Everybody\u2019s in a panic. Santa must be found and quickly. It\u2019s less than 24 hours until go time. If he\u2019s not rescued by then, there will be no Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Agency director Zoe Harlow (Liu, Kill Bill: Vol. 1) demands to know how it happened. Her team discovers it\u2019s the fault of Jack O\u2019Malley (Evans, Captain America), a mercenary hacker whose specialty is finding people who don\u2019t want to be found. He unknowingly provides the means for the anonymous bad guys to locate the North Pole. He\u2019s picked up by MORA and brought in for questioning. He doesn\u2019t know who the buyers are, but he might be able to help track them down…. for a substantial fee, of course.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Jack is paired with Callum Drift (Johnson, the Fast & Furious films), the head of Santa\u2019s security team ELF (Enforcement Logistics and Fortification). This will be his last Christmas with Santa. He\u2019s resigning his position as he\u2019s grown disillusioned with humanity. He can no longer see the good in anybody, especially adults. He doesn\u2019t want to work with Jack. He doesn\u2019t trust him. Jack isn\u2019t so thrilled to be working with the behemoth either, especially after he has his partner rough him up in an effort to elicit information. Did I mention said partner is a talking polar bear? Well, he is.<\/p>\n

ANYWAY, the reluctant partners soon find out the one behind the kidnapping is Gryla (Shipka, Longlegs), a nasty witch with a plan to punish all the people on the naughty list by imprisoning them in snow globes. In order to accomplish this, she needs Santa\u2019s magic. It takes some doing for Callum and Jack to find out where she has Santa stashed. At one point, their investigation leads them to the secret lair of Krampus (Hivju, Game of Thrones), Santa\u2019s not so nice brother and Gryla\u2019s ex.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Red One<\/strong> is a strange one, that\u2019s for sure. Theoretically, it\u2019s a fun movie that completely embraces its silliness. It builds a world much like Marvel did with their cinematic universe. It\u2019s a world where the Headless Horseman is brought in for questioning because he\u2019s one of the usual suspects. It\u2019s a world where toy stores have magic portals that allow North Pole personnel to go anywhere in the world. It\u2019s a world where a toy Hot Wheels car can be magically enlarged and used for transportation. It sounds great and it would be if a pallor of darkness didn\u2019t hover over the proceedings.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The main problem with Red One<\/strong> is one of tone. Like I said before, this movie gets dark. It doesn\u2019t sink the movie, but it does weigh it down a little. The scene in Krampus\u2019 lair looks like something out of Clive Barker\u2019s Nightbreed. The dark stuff isn\u2019t a good fit with the movie\u2019s more fun aspects. The visuals aren\u2019t so great either. The CGI is mostly bad with just a hint of creepy like when Callum keeps changing body size during a fight scene. The action scenes are overedited to the point of confusion. Between that and the effects, there are few if any thrills to be had.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I couldn\u2019t help but notice Johnson looks bored in most scenes. Could it be he\u2019s finally had it with playing himself? He seems aloof as a guy questioning his faith in humanity after hundreds of years of serving them. It doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s really into it even in the scenes where he is into it. Evans fares a little better as a mean, selfish type who enjoys doing all kinds of bad things. In one scene, he literally takes candy from a baby. It should come as no surprise then that he doesn\u2019t have a close relationship with his angry preteen son (Kimmel, The Mandalorian). Predictably, the kid gets dragged into the mess his father\u2019s trying to help clean up.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As the big guy himself, Simmons is okay. It\u2019s hard to say because he\u2019s not in it all that much and he\u2019s unconscious for most of his screen time. When he\u2019s up and running, he\u2019s fine even though CGI does most of the work. Shipka appears to be having some fun as Gryla, but once again CGI does most of the work.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I kind of enjoyed Red One<\/strong>. It\u2019s diverting enough even if it\u2019s longer than it needs to be. I see why it\u2019s not going over with critics or audiences. Me, I like weird Christmas movies like 2010\u2019s The Nutcracker in 3D. That one is insane. So is Red One<\/strong>, but in a different way. It\u2019s a decent movie, but it\u2019s not going to be one of my annual go-to holiday movies.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Red One (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 MGM\/Action-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 123 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (action, some violence, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Jake Kasdan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Morgan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Henry Jackman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Dan Mindel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 15, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J.K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Reinaldo Faberlle, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Wesley Kimmel, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-holiday-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Red-One-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8575"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8581,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8575\/revisions\/8581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}