Red One
Directed by Jake Kasdan
Written by Chris Morgan
Starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Chris Evans, J.K Simmons, Lucy Liu, and Kiernan Shipka
Release Date November 15th, 2024
Published November 15th, 2024
Red One exists in the space between an eye roll and a groan. It’s an elderly screenplay that creaks with the tropes of a late 90s to early 2000s buddy comedy/action movies. It’s also a family Christmas movie so it’s forcefully benign, as such movies are when they are intended to live forever in the background of family gatherings playing on a loop on the Superstation or the USA Network. I understand if you assume that I hate Red One but I don’t. I can barely remember having experienced Red One. It’s a dim and dying memory mere hours after seeing it.
Red One stars Dwayne The Rock Johnson as Callum Drift, head of security for E.L.F, Santa Claus’ personal security team. They’re like the secret service but for Santa. Santa is played by J.K Simmons as a mischievous sort who likes to go to a mall in the days before Christmas to speak to kids as if he weren’t the real Santa Claus. It’s on these trips to the mall where Callum has begun to lose the magic of Christmas. Watching adults argue and bicker and steal and fight over gift items has taken a toll on Callum who has decided to resign as Santa’s top guy.
Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here.
