Man, talk about two Hollywood actors whose star power has diminished in just the Last five Years. You won’t get better examples than Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Chris Evans.

Five years ago,  The Rock was the most popular actor in Hollywood and one of the highest-paid.  Around the same time, Chris Evans was Captain America for the biggest film franchise in cinematic history. You would figure that with both guys at such Heights not long ago, they would be doing much better projects than the latest film from Amazon MGM Studios entitled ‘Red One’.

There’s no better example to show that Jeff Bezos has too much money to spend than Amazon awarding a film about an elf looking for a kidnapped Santa Claus with a 250 million dollar production budget. One would have to think a large part of the budget went to paying The Rock and Chris Evans but the question should be are either actor is worth the cost.

On his best day, The Rock being a leading man of a film that’s not an already established franchise is good for about 400 million dollars worldwide.  Despite this box office reality, Rock cost this film 100 million dollars.  Yes, you heard that right 100 million dollars.  How?  Not only was Rock paid 50 million dollars for his investment in the film which included production credits for him and his film studio Seven Bucks.  Some questionable behavior behind the scenes cost the film major delays and another 50 million dollars. 

On the flip side, Chris Evans will take anything he can get since the last time he was in a film backed by a streaming service, it was last year’s Ghosted with Ana De Armas, one of the worst films of the entire year.  With The Rock betting his reputation on the success of this movie,  even going as far as to compare it to Oppenheimer in IMAX,  the question is was all the effort worth it?

The short answer is no.

‘Red One’ is a story about Jolly Old Saint Nick himself. But this Santa isn’t the Jolly Fat Man who loves eating cookies but is rather played by JK Simmons who is gearing up for another year of Christmas cheer. His head of security Callum Drift played by The Rock is retiring as he feels like people are becoming more and more naughty every day taking away from the joy of Christmas. 

Right before Santa is set to make his run around the world, he is kidnapped by a group of rogue shapeshifters who take him to an undisclosed location. A criminal tracker named Jack O’Malley played by Chris Evans was hired to find Santa Claus before the kidnapping, and now he’s being hired again to find where he was taken.

Hollywood is run by nepotism and it’s not a shocking Revelation to discover that this film was crafted by the ex-brother-law of The Rock. ‘Red One’ is a generic action film that is painted by the numbers from start to finish.  Red One gives you the illusion that this is a family film you can take the whole family to see but, it’s not.

For anyone likening this film to something like Tim Allen’s The Santa Claus, this may not be something you want to take the kids to due to the language and odd Pagan horror elements of the movie. Even if you argue it’s not a family film, you still have to look at it from the lens of an action movie yet there isn’t much. ‘Red One’ boasts a massive budget including CGI monsters making it a spectacle on a blue screen.

 The film tries to acknowledge its ridiculousness by trying to get you to buy into the premise from the perspective of An adult who believes in Santa and the North Pole operating as if it’s the Pentagon. The film brings the life of trolls, snowmen, and polar bears that talk, yet the world isn’t as magical as it comes to. Taking a page out of Black Panther’s book reveals the North Pole as a secret secluded paradise that is hidden from the rest of humanity. While the North Pole looks like a snowy version of Wakanda you don’t spend much time exploring the universe as the plot takes the central focus for better or worse.

Uninspiring is the best way to describe this however with all of its faults it’s not a terrible movie.  Chris Evans tries to charm his way throughout most of the film and while he doesn’t do much from a character perspective, he also doesn’t wear out as welcome.  The Rock is just a presence as you won’t see him laying the smackdown too much from a character perspective. At its core, this feels like the idea of a family member from outside the business who pitched a film without flushing out how everything would work.

‘Red One’ will not help the career aspects of The Rock and Chris Evans who struggle to prove themselves outside of the big franchises they’re attached to.  Overall, ‘Red One’ will be a win for some who are just desperate for mindless entertainment with no strings attached. For most, it will be difficult to sell them a reason why they have to go to the movie theaters and watch this film in the first place. 

You’re better off waiting for this film to hit Amazon Prime which will probably happen within 3 weeks of the theatrical release.

2/5

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