Movie Review: Red One Surprisingly Fun Christmas Fare

Keith
2 min readDec 15, 2024

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I started watching “Red One” with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised by a genuinely good Christmas movie. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars as the bodyguard for Santa Claus (aka “Red One”) and Commander of Enforcement, Logistics and Fortifications (ELF). His accidental sidekick is played by Christopher Evans, a Santa cynic since childhood and now a hacker at Level 4 (presumably the highest) on the Naughty List. Lucy Liu is head of Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority (MORA) which protects a variety of mythological creatures, including Santa Claus.

The storyline is objectively silly, but what makes the movie is the way Johnson and Evans play it all straight. Santa Claus is kidnapped and only Johnson and Evans can save him, while Johnson finds the goodness inside him that he never wanted.

To do so, they must overcome regenerating Snowmen monsters, Krampus (my German friends will love that), and the terrifying Icelandic shapeshifting troll/witch Grýla who seeks to make the world better by forever imprisoning everyone on the Naughty List in her “Glaskäfig” snow globes.

The show works because Johnson, Evans, and the others play their absurd parts so genuinely. While no one will confuse this with classic cinema, it is good Christmas fun. My favorite line: “To spread cheer, asshole.”

Still in theaters, though I watched it through Amazon Prime. Note: There is some language and intense scenes that may make this inappropriate for young children.

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Keith
Keith

Written by Keith

Retired lawyer & Army vet in The Villages of Florida. Lifelong: Republican (pre-Trump), Constitution buff, science nerd & dog lover. Twitter: @KeithDB80

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