Red One: The Rock’s Jingle Bell Rock

Hanging the Decorations

Do you see what I see? A new Christmas movie is out, starring some of the most well-known actors of our time! Red One has seen quite the journey to reach the theater, starting out as a straight-to-streaming movie slated for Amazon Prime Video. However, following delays from its original release date of December 2023, Amazon decided that the film was worthy enough to hit theaters nationwide. 

Unfortunately, this move is not looking good for the picture in the long run. Even with modern acting icon Dwayne Johnson, also known by his ring name The Rock, and comedic director Jake Kasdan–known for the recent Jumanji films and Bad Teacher–the success of those films has not extended to Red One. The film received generally negative reviews, particularly in regards to the screenplay. 

The film is looking even worse at the box office. On a budget of $250 million, it is currently sitting at $88 million worldwide; it needs to make at least $500 million in order to be considered profitable. Given the movie’s poor reception and competition from other upcoming films including Wicked, Gladiator II, and Moana 2, this picture is looking to be a massive underperformer financially. 

I went into Red One optimistically, since I find many of The Rock’s other action films highly entertaining, and wanted to see what his take on a Christmas adventure would be. Plus, I thought the trailers showcased a lot of creative ideas about holiday mythology, and I was curious to see how the movie would explore these concepts. Did it look silly? Definitely. But did I think it could be a fun time? Absolutely. 

So, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, I joined the Cyclone Chronicle’s Joe Hamway at Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas to give this movie a watch. Having now seen it, the question remains: is this film deserving of being on the nice list, or is it worth nothing more than a lump of coal?

Letting it Snow

Red One sees a team at the North Pole Complex, led by Santa Claus, preparing for the jolliest day of the year. However, just before Christmas Eve, Claus is kidnapped, leaving the holiday in jeopardy. This leaves Commander Callum Drift to team up with tracker Jack O’Malley to find Claus and return to the North Pole before it’s too late. The film stars The Rock in the leading role, where he is joined by Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons among others.

Right off the bat, I want to acknowledge the positive aspects of the film, because there is a decent amount of them. Namely, I do appreciate the takes on holiday mythology. Whether it be a comedic take on Krampus or the wide variety of species that assist the North Pole team, there is a lot of creativity in the feature. These are accompanied by bright visuals and energetic designs, keeping the engagement level high throughout most of the picture. It does not feel like just another run-of-the-mill holiday film, standing out from the massive crowd and providing something different for viewers.

I did also laugh at a few of the jokes in the movie. As to be expected from a director known for comedy, Kasdan lets his flair shine in the movie’s humor. While not every joke lands, the movie still offers plenty of chuckle-worthy moments, delivered by its all-star cast, who mostly do a solid job portraying their characters. 

These proved to be a highlight of the feature for me, primarily with the hyperactive portrayal of tracker Jack O’Malley by Evans and clever take on Santa Claus from Simmons. Both of these performances provided the most energy and humor of the ensemble, adding more to the film’s engagement.

Carolers at the Door

Despite Evans and Simmons doing their best with the material, the rest of the cast is rather forgettable and standard. Notably, The Rock’s performance as protagonist Callum Drift came off as one-note and dull. This is one of my biggest faults with Red One: Johnson is more or less playing the exact same type of character he plays in most of his other action movies. 

In this case, he plays a confident and determined man who finds himself in a perilous situation, fighting villains to save the day–a role he’s taken on in several of his other films like Rampage, Skyscraper, Black Adam, and more. 

As a result, Drift blends in with Johnson’s previous characters and fails to ride his own sleigh. The film relies on his chemistry with Evans, with the latter doing most of the heavy lifting to keep the plot engaging. This ultimately harms the movie too, since it fails to identify itself as something other than just another Johnson movie, with its biggest draw being the holiday theme. 

What does not help are the characters Drift and O’Malley are surrounded by. For example, Lucy Liu portrays Zoe Harlow, director of the North Pole Complex, in a monotone way. There is not much identity to her character, she mainly appears whenever the protagonists need to speak to someone. There isn’t much depth to Harlow, and she doesn’t have much to do throughout the film.

This is a problem seen with the other side characters, making them very easy to forget both during the film and after the credits roll. Specifically, you may have noticed a giant polar bear on the poster and trailers named Agent Garcia. While he does score a few laughs of his own, Garcia is not in the movie for longer than five minutes total, a massive shame since I thought he had a lot of potential. Even Simmons, who has one of the best performances in the film, has limited screen time. 

I understand that most of the movie focuses on Johnson and Evans’s chemistry and interactions to progress the plot, but since only the latter truly commits to his role, the movie feels dull throughout most of its runtime–a problem that could be fixed if the side characters had more time to shine.

Not Quite Nice

Remember when I said that Red One is really just another Johnson movie, just with a coat of Christmas paint over it? Well, that also translates to the screenplay, the movie’s biggest detriment. 

A lot of Johnson’s films follow the same type of formula that matches with whatever character he’s playing. Since his role is identical to a lot of his past works, the script coincides with this, making the core story way too predictable. Without spoiling the plot, I can say that many of the beats felt familiar, as if I’d seen them somewhere before. Even when the film tries to do something different, like a plot twist, it lacks impact, as I can already foresee the direction it’s heading and how it will turn out. 

There is also a family subplot in the movie, which I do not want to spoil much about. What I will say is that this side-story also comes off as generic and forgettable. In fact, it feels like the movie itself forgets about it too, only calling back to it at the most random points in the story. Even when the movie does remember it, the subplot is still plagued by forgettable characters and a predictable ending to the arc. 

The humor in the movie has its own fair share of misses. Though I do respect Kasdan’s vision and there were a few moments that got me to laugh, most of the jokes don’t leave any sort of impact. In fact, a lot of the funnier bits in the film are shown in the trailer. Other than them, I cannot pinpoint a single joke that stands out in this movie. Most of them, like Johnson’s characters, sort of blend in with each other, making for an ultimately unremarkable set of jokes.

A Merry Little “Meh”

Overall, while I can respect its unique concepts, visual style, and performances of Evans and Simmons, Red One is a standard yet forgettable picture bogged down by a generic story, forgettable characters, hit-or-miss humor, and an unremarkable performance from Johnson. While this is a very approachable and watchable film, it is nothing special in the grand scheme of most holiday films. If you’re a major fan of Johnson or Evans, or if you’re looking for something different to watch this Christmas, this is a serviceable movie to fit your quota. 

Otherwise, I’d say this movie is worth half the price of a standard ticket at most. So, it sure is a good thing that the Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas located near campus sells tickets at 50% off every Tuesday–I went on a Tuesday, so I didn’t have to pay full price! You can catch Red One there if you’re interested. If not, the movie will be streaming on Amazon Prime Video at some point in the near future, so keep an eye out if you want to Rock-ify your holidays!

It might be the most wonderful time of the year, but this is one sleigh ride I can’t quite figure out–whether it’s more naughty or nice. 

My Rating: