David Farnor | On 26, Dec 2024

Director: Jake Kasdan
Cast: Chris Evans, Dwayne Johnson, JK Simmons, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka
Certificate: 12

Santa. A kidnapping. A mismatched odd couple. A parent reconnecting with their child. Red One ticks all the boxes that you could wish for in a Christmas blockbuster, while also making you wonder whether we need such a thing as another Christmas blockbuster in the first place.

Christmas movies have, over the years, lurched from family comedies to corny romance with live-action fantastical romps in between – and the latter are perhaps the most inconsistent of the lot, ranging from the brilliant (Elf) and the entertaining (The Christmas Chronicles) to the forgettable (Santa Claus: The Movie) and the woeful (The Christmas Chronicles 2, all of The Santa Clause sequels). Red One is a jumble of all the above, mostly veering towards the latter.

Chris Evans stars as Jack, a mercenary thief with an estranged son who is hired to help get back a stolen Santa (JK Simmons) – after he unwittingly gave Santa’s secret location away on a previous job. Working with Jack is Santa’s very protective bodyguard, Callum (Dwayne Johnson), who is starting to get too jaded to see the nice in a naughty world. The naughty-nice list is the cornerstone of the plot, as evil witch Gryla (Kiernan Shipka) plans to punish all the naughty kids for eternity – whereas Santa is hopefully looks for redemption and good in others.

What ensues is an overly complicated caper that takes a rather neat premise and stuffs it with way too much stuff. The cast are charming enough: Evans is having playing a roguish rascal and Johnson’s earnest stoicism is overshadowed by JK Simmons’ enjoyably gruff Santa. Kiernan Shipka, meanwhile, threatens to steal the whole show with her gleefully villainous turn. But none of them get the opportunity to sell the sentimental plotting or the playful humour, and the modern tech take on Santa’s magic – which recalls the more successful and coherent animation Arthur Christmas – is buried and lost beneath glossy special effects.

The result has some good moments and nifty ideas, but isn’t confident enough in those to let them speak for themselves and enchant viewers. What could have been a thrilling or memorable ride becomes weighed down by calculated convolutions. There’s nothing wrong with a film that ticks all the boxes – if only the end product didn’t feel like such a spreadsheet.

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