Red One Review: Tepid Action Comedy Saved By Christmas Cheer

In a recent interview with GQ, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson described his work on the upcoming Benny Safdie sports drama "The Smashing Machine" as a challenge for himself to see what he can do with "deeper, richer material." The unspoken comparison to the cookie cutter nature of every other Dwayne Johnson movie suggests that maybe he's gone as far in one direction for 20 years as any performer conceivably can. It sounds like he wants to do something new and special with the exorbitantly priced screen time he gifts to the masses.

Notably, "Red One" was made before this professional revelation. As such, there is nothing particularly new or special about it. In the months leading up to its release, a narrative formed around its huge budget, Johnson's own alleged tardiness, and the general likelihood of it being doomed to failure. It didn't help that all the film's promotional materials made it look like the kind of lifeless, streamer-first vaporware slop audiences are treated to with increasingly regularity. 

But rather than being the kind of explosive catastrophe that box office prognosticators envisioned, "Red One" is simply fine. It's a mechanically functioning, intermittently humorous amusement park attraction whose greatest sin is that it never rises to its hidden potential. While there's no schadenfreude to be had at rubbernecking a colossal flop, there's scant to be truly inspired by. And what little real heart there is feels all the more frustrating because of how deep you have to dig to get at it.

There's a sturdy foundation under the house "Red One" builds. The film's core premise surrounds Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), the head of security for Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons). This Christmas, only days away, is set to be his last, as Cal plans to retire from his post. He just can't see the good in the world anymore and he takes Santa's mission too seriously to half-ass his end of the operation. But when Santa is kidnapped on Christmas Eve, he must stop at nothing to save the holiday.

Now, on its own that sounds a little hack, right? It wouldn't be out of place in a ranking of Hallmark Christmas movies. But the key to why it works is the presentation. With this element of the plot, "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" director Jake Kasdan and "Fast & Furious" veteran screenwriter Chris Morgan take the proceedings deathly serious. Cal and his mission are utterly indistinguishable from Gerard Butler's president-saving in the "Has Fallen" films, or any number of other gritty, tough-guy action flicks from the '90s and early 2000s. 

It's genuinely a delight to watch Johnson play it fully straight for a change, not relying on his thinly veiled personal brand as an ass-kicking girl dad who breathes in oxygen and exhales catchphrases. The inherent comedic power of treating a siege on the North Pole like it's a terrorist attack is hilarious enough on its own and if adhered to, could have produced the action equivalent to something like "Elf," mining laughs from earnestness rather than Ryan Reynolds-ian snark.

But the rest of the film tacks on too many diverging styles and tones that muddy the waters. Chris Evans is Jack O'Malley, the co-lead hacker-slash-ne'er do-well who is both a deadbeat dad and a Christmas Atheist. He sort of stands in for the Kevin Hart little buddy-type Johnson loves to play off of, but performance wise he seems to slip into some of the lazy typecasting of his pre-MCU career. He's also meant to be the audience's entry point into this fantastical world, but this doesn't feel like a movie that needed a stubbly rogue emoting at the camera with unfunny cracks about the absurdity of it all. The absurdity is kind of the point!

Add in Lucy Liu as the head of a government agency that deals with mythological creatures in the background mugging for a spin-off that'll never come and a variety of other overlong bits with diminishing returns, and you've got a busy and middling affair that could have been something really special.

Over the years, we've been treated to a variety of big-screen Santas, from the wholesome (Kurt Russell in "The Christmas Chronicles), to the badass (David Harbour in "Violent Night"), and the bewildering (Mel Gibson in "Fatman"). But it's J.K. Simmons' svelte, yoked Santa who feels the most exciting in ages. Initially, the Christmas kingdom he presides over is a hodgepodge of North Poles past, notably borrowing the most liberally from "The Santa Clause." As it gets fleshed out in the first act, however, there's something timely and honest about its extrapolation of a corporatized Christmas regime. Santa, with his snickerdoodle carb-loading and getting a pump in between checking his lists, more closely resembles grind-set billionaires like Jeff Bezos, with the storybook trappings of yuletide tales grafted onto the KPI's and supply chain discussions of modern business. 

Rather than shying away from the sad ways capitalism strikes at the very heart of Christmas cheer, the film presents a Santa and his right hand man whose job gets harder and more complex every year, but whose goals remain the same over the course of centuries. It may be schmaltzy and it may be laughably sincere, but Simmons and Dwayne Johnson are at their best in this film when they're battling cynicism and a darkening shroud around the world with love and joy, and remembering the good-hearted kid inside even the naughtiest of grown-ups. 

There's a tender, wholesome story buried underneath all the unoriginal repetition, and it could have been a welcome balm for audiences living in murky times. Instead, we have one of the most expensive movies ever made that obfuscates its affecting, molten core with a disheartening amount of mediocrity.

"Red One" dashes into theaters on November 15.