On theme , it makes utter sense at this point in his career forDwayne “ The Rock ” Johnsonto headline a Christmas - theme action movie . The wrestler - turned - actor - turned - branding Jagannatha has , both for honest and for worse , spend the past 15 years of his vocation establish himself as a family - friendly action star . He has never had a pure track phonograph record , but for a few years there in the mid - to - late 2010s , The Rock was starring in enough inoffensively average action movies ( see : San Andreas , Central Intelligence , Jumanji : Welcome to the Jungle ) to gain his place as America ’s favored mid moving-picture show ace .
Things have n’t been with child for The Rock as of late , though . Jungle Cruise , Red Notice , andBlack Adamhave all been disastrous misfires that have disclose not only a sure sloth in the factual workmanship of The Rock ’s picture , but also an unwavering overreliance on appallingly uncollectible CGI . Both those revelations have thrown the legal action - star status he drop nearly a X endeavor to cultivate into inquiry . Red One , which commemorate a reunion between Johnson , Jumanjidirector Jake Kasdan , and longtime Fast & savage screenwriter Chris Morgan , is n’t the course correction that its star desperately require mighty now , either . On the opposite , it ’s one of the most thwarting misses of his career to engagement .
At the center ofRed One‘s story is Jack O’Malley ( Chris Evans ) , a world - class cyberpunk and bounteousness hunter who is n’t so much stuck in a oestrus of bad behavior as he is trapped on an island of selfishness that he build . He may carry himself like an arrogant , aloof Bad Guy , but his strained human relationship with his jejune Word , Dylan ( Wesley Kimmel ) , bring out the shrewish emptiness at the core of his existence . Red One , to its credit , has a lot of playfulness insert Evans ’ low - level criminal first as a oily tyke who make it his business ( literally ) to deter other kids from believe in Santa Claus and then later as an adult who makes stealing a successful scientist ’s business credentials seem as easy as swiping another somebody ’s coffee order .
The film is , in fact , at its best in its first act , which glide on the same implike , playful vibes as so many Christmas classics that have descend before it . This is even true forRed One‘s introduction of The Rock ’s Callum Drift , the no - nonsense caput of protection for the big guy himself , Santa Claus ( an overqualified J.K. Simmons ) . When we meet him at the start ofRed One , Callum is still as dedicated to protecting his boss as he ’s ever been . However , as he reveals in a truly affecting minute of reflection , he ’s lose the ability to see the trade good in everyone he meets . His disillusionment with the humanity , which Morgan ’s mostly mussy screenplay handgrip with a amazingly deft mix of lingua - in - impudence humor and sincerity , is the understanding why — much to Santa ’s letdown — Callum has settle to resign after the forthcoming Christmas holiday .
Callum ’s plans are upended when a sorceress named Grýla ( Kiernan Shipka ) use Jack ’s expert trailing skill to place Santa and snatch him from the North Pole just two days before Christmas . In response , Callum teams up with Zoe Harlow ( an underused Lucy Liu ) , the school principal of a military organisation dedicated to protecting the world ’s good - hearted mythic figure of speech and police its most dangerous ones , to find Simmons ’ Saint Nicholas and save him from Grýla . Zoe and Callum ’s investigation quickly lead them to Jack , who is forced to help Callum cover down Santa ’s villainous kidnapper . Along the mode , the two men form an unlikely friendship that at last holds the answer to both of their well - hidden personal issues .
Opposite each other , Evans and Johnson have shockingly potent chemistry together . Johnson actually gives one of his better carrying into action in days asRed One‘s horizontal surface - headed North Pole warrior by finding just the right notes of absurdist humor and earnest strength in the persona . Callum and Jack ’s story is , unfortunately , the sole strength of a film that never really comes together . Morgan ’s screenplay is too range and overlong , and whileRed One‘s interest in exploring some of the world ’s lesser - known Christmas myth break it a unique identity in the Holiday Movie Canon , it ’s also what leads it down its least rewarding path . These include a slip to jaw Santa ’s exiled minotaur - like brother , Krampus ( Game of Thronesstar Kristofer Hivju , buried under layers of make-up prosthetics ) , which culminates with Callum and him testing their specialty in a slap fight that finger wholly senseless in a movie that is already too unfocussed and tonally uneven .
cherry-red One‘s visit to Krampus ’ realm feature some of its most impressive practical efforts — Hivju and companionship are all believably transformed into diabolical - look monsters — but the sequence goes on far too long considering how unfunny it is . The scene is a originative swing that does n’t link up , and the same goes forRed One‘s villain . After afford one of the year ’s strangest and best one - shot performances inLonglegs , Kiernan Shipka stick to out like a sore pollex inRed One . Her molding as Grýla , an immortal witch hell - bended on imprisoning everyone on the Naughty List , makes little sense . DespiteRed One‘s half - hearted attack to explicate her youthful visual aspect aside , Shipka is just miscast in the theatrical role , and this result in her giving a operation that is too stiff and too over - the - top to make you respond with anything other than one long , free burning cringe .
As has been the case with most of Johnson ’s retiring few motion picture , the action scenes inRed Onerange from forgettable to visually unappealing . Its few North Pole - specify chases and fight sequences , in particular , rank high among the bad natural process set pieces of the year . These scenes seek to blend together digital environment , literal role player , and computer - generate tie-up - atomic number 49 in a personal manner that is not only completely unconvincing , but that also makes them reckon like chronological sequence rip out of a defective television secret plan . Red One , accordingly , only barely qualify as an action moving picture .
It is , in other dustup , another entry in The Rock ’s filmography that feel more like a mussy assortment of cobble - together pieces than one cohesive blockbuster . The best thing you could say aboutRed Oneis that it has centre , which have it at least well than 2021’sRed Notice . But heart alone does not a good film make . Callum Drift may have what it takes to save Christmas , butRed Onecan’t even spare itself .
Red Oneis now playing in theaters .
