Dwayne Johnson, right, and Kristofer Hivju in a scene from Red One.Frank Masi/The Associated Press
Red One
Directed by Jake Kasdan
Written by Chris Morgan and Hiram Garcia
Starring Chris Evans, Dwayne Johnson, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, J.K. Simmons
Classification PG; 122 minutes
Opens in theatres Nov. 15
Cashing in on Christmas is nothing new. But the corporate synergy built into Red One is so perversely cynical that I grudgingly respect it. Here’s a clunky holiday action comedy from Amazon MGM Studios in which Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson play a 48 Hours-ish odd couple trying to rescue Santa Claus so he can deliver all his packages on time.
Is the movie – which is rolling into theatres Friday before it eventually appears on Amazon’s Prime Video – an ad for Amazon Prime delivery? Not explicitly.
But perhaps there’s something subversive to whatever the movie’s schlepping (aside from the Mattel product placements and the merchandising partnerships on the film’s Prime Video page). What should we make of this North Pole’s magical backdoor passageways, which give Santa’s elves access to supply closets at every brick-and-mortar toy store across the globe? When Johnson’s Extremely Large and Formidable (ELF) operative passes through these portals and helps himself to whatever goods these tiny shops have on their shelves, you have to wonder whether the filmmakers are elbowing us in the ribs, reminding of Amazon’s craven business model: mom-and-pop shops rely on the e-commerce service to reach customers, only to be undercut when their products do well.
Even the villain’s plot, which involves hacking into Santa’s naughty list, nods to the security concerns we may have around big tech and private consumer data.
Is this more thought than a callously pandering movie repackaging holiday clichés for the algorithms deserves? Sure. But what else is the mind to do?
Dwayne Johnson, left, and Chris Evans in a scene from Red One.Frank Masi/The Associated Press
The thing is, for all its built-in cynicism and tired tropes, Red One is not as insufferable as you’d expect. At the least you can count on Evans and Johnson committing to the bit and selling all the broad gags they can, which should be enough to win over the elves in your family.
Evans is here as a grinch of sorts. His Jack is a smirking deadbeat dad who works for the highest bidder as the world’s pre-eminent bounty hunter. His most recent assignment, for a customer he cares to know nothing about, leads the film’s villain Gryla to the North Pole. She’s a witch, played by Kiernan Shipka, who is known for playing a kinder and more captivating witch in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She hijacks Christmas by abducting J.K. Simmons’s jacked St. Nick, and it falls on Johnson’s Calum, head of North Pole security, to recruit Evans’s Jack and save the holiday. It’s the Fast & Furious take on The Santa Clause.
Red One is actually co-written by F&F scribe Chris Morgan and directed by Jake Kasdan of Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle fame. And though they’re not working with much – and are stuck with the most hideous CGI renderings of giant reindeers, killer snowmen and big action set pieces – they can’t really be accused of phoning it in. The filmmakers find fun gags wherever possible, and make the most of Johnson and Evans.
The former’s whole self-serious vibe tends to be an asset when he’s playing an oversized elf who can be rather ornery about his job. Evans’s presence here is especially fascinating. In interviews, he presents himself as the reluctant movie star, the one who was hesitant about becoming Captain America and kept his eye out for the off-ramp from both Marvel and Hollywood as a whole. And yet after a decade making franchise sausage, he finds himself here, as if he just threw up his hands, defeated.
Again, the vibe works for his character, who has to be browbeat into action. That Evans still manages to charm in the role – and even works up some genuinely warm moments opposite Wesley Kimmel (nephew to Jimmy), who plays his neglected son – speaks to why he’s stuck being a star. Let’s just hope he doesn’t get stuck with another franchise. Red Two would just be depressing.
In the interest of consistency across all critics’ reviews, The Globe has eliminated its star-rating system in film and theatre to align with coverage of music, books, visual arts and dance. Instead, works of excellence will be noted with a critic’s pick designation across all coverage. (Television reviews, typically based on an incomplete season, are exempt.)