The big new holiday action comedy fantasy starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, Red One is streaming now on Prime Video. Dominic Corry celebrates the twelve days of Christmas with twelve fun things to find in Red One.
1. The story feels like a child came up with it – in a good way
In Red One, Santa Claus (played by JK Simmons) is kidnapped and his head of security (Dwayne Johnson) teams up with a tracker named Jack (Chris Evans), who almost happens to be something of a deadbeat dad, to find him.
There’s a Home Alone-evoking wish-fulfillment quality to the proceedings enhanced by introducing Jack as a non-believing child going out of his way to prove to his cousins that Santa doesn’t really exist. The film makes much hay from seeing this grinch come face to face with an unbelievable reality.
2. Dwayne Johnson plays an elf – sort of
Johnson’s character, Callum Drift (which is the best movie name this side of Stacker Pentecost from Pacific Rim), is the head of the E.L.F. which stands for Enforcement Logistics and Fortification (which is the worst movie acronym this side of S.P.E.C.T.R.E), and although the the movie doesn’t come right and say he’s an elf, it’s implied that this centuries-old man-mountain is what constitutes an elf in the mythological lore set up by the movie. Which is quite funny. Dudley Moore, this fellow is not.
3. Mythological creatures are real
That aforementioned mythological lore is a bit more involved that the trailers might suggest, with the film introducing M.O.R.A., the Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority (better acronym work here), an organisation that overseas mythological characters. A broader, franchise-friendly universe filled with such creatures is hinted at, and we even get to see The Headless Horseman, which is fun. And suggests that Ichabod Crane is running around out there somewhere. Or, was…
4. Lucy Liu
Lucy Liu plays the head of M.O.R.A. and it is a joy to see her front and centre in a big movie. Well, front and slightly to the side. As a culture, we really let her down. She deserves to be a much bigger star. She still can be.
5. The North Pole is a giant snow globe
A highly secure city under a big dome, Santa’s home base looks like a Star Wars planet, and his sleigh looks like a Star Wars spaceship.
6. There are slides there
This megalopolis is criss-crossed by big present-distributing shoots that resemble dry waterslides. In one of the films many action sequences, Johnson’s Cal slips and slides between all the chutes and it’s heaps of fun. I like slides.
7. Krampus
A horned figure from European Christmas folklore, Krampus was a full-on force for evil in the 2015 Christmas horror Krampus (which was shot in Wellington), but in Red One he is Santa’s ornery, potentially evil estranged brother. Who looks like a demon. Played under Tim Curry-in-Legend-evoking make-up by Norwegian star Kristofer Hivju (celebrated as Tormund Giantsbane in Game of Thrones), he is one of the coolest parts of the movie.
8. Toys become real things
In another of the film’s wish fulfilment qualities, Cal has a special ray gun wrist thing that can turn a toy into a lifesize, usable version of what it is. So he can throw a Hot Wheels car down and be driving it moments later. Although it’s disappointing that he didn’t use his special ray gun wrist thing on the Slinky he picks up at one stage, it was fun to see some actual Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots sent into battle.
9. Nick Kroll is in it
An increasingly reliable comedic supporting player, Kroll has been especially delightful in recent years, and it was a treat to see him show up here as an underworld slimeball on a beach.
10. Santa is jacked
J.K. Simmons appears to be having a ball playing a weight-lifting Santa, and although he is off screen for much of the movie, he lives up to the story’s stated intentions surrounding the spreading of good cheer, and should be entered into the canon of the great movie Santas.
11. It answers fundamental questions about the practicality of Santa’s Christmas Eve duties
So many movies feature characters that like to point out how impossible it would be for one guy to deliver that many presents to that many homes in one night. But it’s that Red One actually follows through with a thought-out system that perhaps doesn’t make complete and total sense, but is closer to workable logistics than simply attributing the feat to “magic”, as most movies do. I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s rather delightful, and may or may not involve the fact that Santa is a gym beast.
12. It references Die Hard
It’s not an overt reference, and it’s rather late in the film. But it’s absolutely there.
