“Up the chimney he rose!”
Despite poor reviews and lukewarm receipts, don’t be surprised if Red One quietly climbs “to the top of the wall” as a new Christmas classic.
Several weeks past, having noted its dismal rating at Rotten Tomatoes — and its slender box-office take — I decided against seeing this new action-comedy.
But in the meantime, friends assured me Red One was actually quite good; so some of them were kind enough to stream it with us after Christmas dinner — even though they’d already seen it the previous evening.
What a blast we all had! I really should have paid more attention to that 90% audience-approval at RT — in contrast to 30% with critics. I try not to read reviews before penning my own, but I can hardly imagine what they objected to.
This movie does just about everything right.
The wonderful J. K. Simmons — who snagged a well-deserved Oscar for Whiplash and also voiced Santa in the sadly neglected Klaus — plays a buff and lovable Claus who gets kidnapped by … well, let’s keep that under wraps, as it were.
Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans co-star as, respectively, Nick’s staunchest sideman and a self-centered cynic who himself gets hijacked (watch for a nifty pun on that!) into finding the jolly old elf.
I’m not alone in suggesting that Red One is a Santa Claus story for Marvel fans. It’s got laughs and exciting action — and it never takes itself too seriously; yet the story certainly pulls on your heartstrings — as any worthwhile Christmas movie must. Indeed, its dual family-redemption subplot works so beautifully that I actually got choked up at the end.
Some critics called it predictable; but I completely failed to foresee any of the plot twists — not even the film’s clever explanation about how St. Nicholas delivers all those presents in a single night … via chimney, no less. (And while we’re on the Santa mythology: Red One happily nods to the current internet hype over the fact that male reindeer shed their antlers in winter; so Santa’s sleigh must be driven by ladies!)
Written by Chris Morgan (of the Fast and Furious franchise) and directed by Jake Kasdan (son of Hollywood legend Lawrence), Red One features a sensational, pulse-pounding score. Its excellent supporting cast includes Lucy Liu, Bonnie Hunt and two young standouts: newcomer Wesley Kimmel as the son of Evans’s Jack; and Kiernan Shipka as a certain she-who-must-not-be-named. (Mad Men mavens might recognize the now-grown-up Shipka from her earlier role as a Draper daughter.)
As noted earlier, the friends I streamed it with on 12/25 had already watched it on the night before Christmas. And all through the house, I think they enjoyed it even more the second time.
I suppose the film is not quite as clever as critics would have liked. In any case, except for the terrific line about Wonder Woman (which the previews spoiled, ack), it’s not super-hilarious like a lot of other seasonal fare — say Home Alone, Christmas Story or Elf.
But I laughed when I saw it, in spite of myself.
