Synopsis: After Santa Claus – Code Name: RED ONE – is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.
What We Thought:
After the credits started rolling a fellow press member leaned over to me and said he was wondering who this movie was for. I told him I sat through Red One asking myself the same thing. It’s not kid oriented enough to be family friendly like Elf or The Santa Clause. It’s not adult oriented enough to be for an older crowd like Bad Santa or Violent Night. I genuinely have no idea who will see this. Let me clarify that, parents will most likely take kids to see it not realizing it is rated PG-13 so I guess the question to ask is, who is going to enjoy this?
The worst part is, the concept is fantastic. Santa Clause (JK Simmons) is kidnapped and Dwayne Johnson and his security team are tasked to find St. Nicholas. They track down a cyber criminal played by Chris Evans, the man who figured out where Santa was located and who accidentally got him kidnapped. There are cool gadgets running on Christmas magic and mythical holiday creatures so the concept should 100% work.
Unfortunately there are too many swear words in it. There are no F-bombs, but I have a 6 year old great-nephew, I don’t want him in a theater with his friends hearing someone being called a dickhead. It’s one thing for him to hear suck or hell, but there are some words I don’t think are appropriate for a theater full of children. If you’re streaming it at home where parents can control the volume or talk over it, maybe that’s fine, but this is a theatrically released movie. Plus there’s the beach sequence with Nick Kroll and women in bikinis that doesn’t exactly scream family Christmas classic. And Kiernan Shipka wears some questionable dominatrix style outfits that the kiddos shouldn’t be seeing.
Yet despite the swears it’s not adult enough for an older audience. I can’t see too many people in their 20s running out to see this like they did for Bad Santa or a Christmas horror flick. There is some action with The Rock and Captain America fighting people and mythical creatures, but I’d rewatch Violent Night or Silent Night (the Joel Kinnaman film) over this any day of the week.
Red One has a great concept, but the film is too mismatched for its own good. It’s not family friendly enough for a six year old nor is it adult enough for an 18 year old. I guess split the difference and hope 12 year olds make it a hit? Cut some swears and tone down a little bit of the violence and it could be a family friendly must-see. The ending with the toys being delivered is one of the best Santa Claus/Christmas sequences I’ve seen in years and it genuinely put me in the Christmas spirit, I just wish the rest of the movie was that wholesome and delightful.
Directed by: Jake Kasdan
Story by: Hiram Garcia
Screenplay by: Chris Morgan
Produced by: Hiram Garcia, p.g.a., Dwayne Johnson, p.g.a., Dany Garcia, Chris Morgan, p.g.a., Jake Kasdan p.g.a, Melvin Mar
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Wesley Kimmel and J.K. Simmons
The Nerds Templar 