RED ONE MOVIE REVIEW – A Festive Surprise, blending Action, Comedy, and Heart

While the film delivers plenty of laughs and action, it’s the heartwarming moments that truly shine. Johnson’s portrayal of a father figure struggling to balance work and family adds depth to the story. Unfortunately, Lucy Liu’s character feels underutilized.

JK Simmons’ Santa Claus is a delightful departure from the traditional image. His portrayal is both powerful and comedic, adding a unique twist to the holiday legend. Henry Jackman’s score perfectly captures the festive spirit, elevating the film’s emotional impact.

Overall, “Red One” is a fun, family-friendly Christmas adventure that will leave you feeling warm and fuzz!

Reviewed by Shamoon Saeed – Pop Culture/Entertainment Editor

ABOUT THE STORY

The electrifying action comedy “Red One” takes audiences on a whirlwind trip into a hidden world of
mythology and magic, long hidden from prying eyes. Action superstars Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans
lead a star-studded cast on an unforgettable action-packed adventure into the mythological world, liberally seasoned with holiday laughs.

For the first time in history, the unthinkable has happened: Santa’s (J.K. Simmons) legendary North Pole
outpost has been breached and the man himself has been kidnapped. Callum Drift (Johnson), Commander of the E.L.F. and head of security for RED ONE (Santa’s code name), springs into action along with Jack O’Malley (Evans), the world’s best tracker and the man responsible for unwittingly revealing Santa’s secret location. As the mismatched duo crisscrosses the globe to bring Santa home in time for his legendary annual run, they will have to confront the most treacherous of Yuletide dangers, from Christmas villains Krampus (Kristofer Hivju) and Grýla (Kiernan Shipka) to a trio of sinister snowmen.

Directed by Jake Kasdan (“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”) and written by producer Chris Morgan
(“Fast & Furious” franchise) from an original story by producer Hiram Garcia (“Black Adam”), “Red One”
reinvents the Christmas story with an epic, cross-cultural thrill ride through a magical world.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

“I’ve always had this dream of making a kick-ass Christmas movie,” laughs Hiram Garcia, producer and
president of production at Seven Bucks Productions, founded by Dany Garcia and Dwayne Johnson. “It
sounds crazy, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Try and tell an action-packed Christmas story
with heart and humor while also approaching holiday mythology in a realistic way. And then one day, I had an idea about how we could do it.”

“We love all holiday films,” says Johnson, “the classics like ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful
Life,’ as well as the contemporary favorites like ‘Elf’ and ‘Bad Santa.’ We all love them for the same
reason: they bring us back to that warm feeling of being with friends and family, the time of year when life slows down for a minute. And there’s nothing better than watching a great Christmas movie with the people you love.”

So, while Garcia and Johnson were keen to capture that feeling in a holiday film of their own, they also knew they wanted to try something new. Garcia says, “We knew that if we were going to make a holiday film, it had to big and bold and capture something about the holidays that had never been portrayed on screen. We wanted a Christmas movie that portrayed holiday lore in a grounded way while packing it with action on a grand scale. And once Dany, Dwayne and I started talking about it… we couldn’t stop, and the ideas started flowing.”

Longtime collaborator producer/writer Chris Morgan was also instantly taken with the story. Garcia
remembers, “I had been playing with the concept for a while but wasn’t sure if the idea was working. So I asked Morgan what he thought of the premise. Chris wrote seven of the ‘Fast & Furious’ movies and is one of the best action-comedy writers in the world. I knew he would be the perfect person for this.”
Morgan was thrilled to be part of the team, “Hiram had imagined this whole world,” says the writer.

“When he said, ‘Do you want to do this with us?’ I said, ‘A comedy-action holiday adventure starring Dwayne Johnson? Yeah! A hundred percent, count me in!” And with that, the journey to find “Red One” began. “We knew exactly who we needed to call — Jake Kasdan,” says Garcia. Johnson, who collaborated with director and producer Kasdan on the global sensations “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and “Jumanji: Next Level,” says he knew the filmmaker had the vision they needed, “Jake
and I had worked together on the Jumanji movies and this seemed like the perfect next chapter to our
partnership. Jake is a gifted filmmaker who knows how to tell a funny, heart-warming story in the context of a giant, fantastical action movie. We’ve done it together before and we knew he was the perfect director for us.”

“Once in a while, there’s an idea that just clicks, immediately. And this was like that for me.” says Kasdan. “DJ playing Santa’s head of security, the Commander of the E.L.F… This idea of showing what the North Pole really looks like and how it all really works, pulling back the curtain in this very realistic and grounded way that we’ve never seen before. I just loved it, right away.”

To get started, Morgan and the team took a deep dive into Christmas traditions around the world, and the stories he found inspired and excited him. “I loved learning the origins of all the characters and stories, pulling a little from here, a little from there. The thing that remains constant, across cultures, is the spirit of generosity and hope and kindness.”

Telling a new and unexpected story about the holiday was the core mission of the movie, according to
Morgan, who is also one of the film’s producers. “In our world, the things we are told about Santa have little bits of truth in them,” he says. “But we are showing the rest of the story. We’ve taken all the things you’ve heard since you were a kid and put a little twist on them.”

Santa’s story may be one of the most often told in the world, Kasdan muses, but the filmmakers found a
way to reimagine it in a surprisingly contemporary way. “Our North Pole is a giant crystalline metropolis,
the manufacturing center for all of the world’s Christmas gifts,” the director says. “And we portray Santa
himself— or Nick, as his friends call him— in a very different light. To our minds, the coolest Santa ever.
And from there, we started to build out a whole mythological world of ‘Red One.’”

But because it was a Christmas movie, the filmmakers also wanted to tell a classic Christmas story, in the spirit of the films that inspired them. “Within this fantastical adventure, we’re also telling very human stories about our two heroes, Cal and Jack.

They are each in the midst of their own, very private crises this Christmas. And they’re going to work
through them together, whether they like it or not,” says Kasdan. “When you have DJ and Chris Evans,
who are these action icons and also fantastic actors, you can have both things — you can invest in the
emotional lives of these action heroes.”

“This one is really special to us,” smiles Johnson. “From a bunch of filmmakers that love Christmas, we’re
thrilled to be telling a story that lets us celebrate the holidays with audiences all over the world.”

The Odd Couple

Dwayne Johnson plays Callum Drift, head of Santa’s security team, the E.L.F., which stands for
Enforcement, Logistics and Fortification. “Callum is to Santa Claus what the head of the Secret Service is
to the president of the United States,” explains Johnson. “They’ve been working together for between three and four hundred years.”

All that time, Cal has helped Nick bring inspiration, joy and happiness to the world each year and loved
every minute of it. “But the world has changed,” Garcia says. “And so has Cal. He loves the enthusiasm
of kids, but the adults are getting on his nerves. He wants to step back. Then Nick disappears and he is
called into action for the greatest challenge of his life.”

Garcia says when he imagines an elf, he thinks of a cute little guy running around and helping make presents. “Cal is the opposite of that — a 6-foot, 5-inch, 260-pound monster of a man, but one who is warm, endearing and eminently trustworthy. That’s Dwayne Johnson. The real DJ is a softy who loves Christmas, loves kids and wants to protect the world. We’ve integrated that into his character in a way that defies expectations and still allows him to deliver the larger-than-life tough guy that fans love.”

Kasdan describes Cal as Nick’s longtime “consigliere,” in addition to being the muscle behind Santa’s
operation. “Cal is Nick’s right-hand man,” says Kasdan. “They have this deep, almost familial connection.” And the actor’s unique screen presence makes him perfect for the role. Kasdan adds, “There’s
really nobody else like DJ. He is truly a singular actor and honestly, I’m not sure there’s ever been an action star quite like him. In one moment, he can be the strongest and toughest guy you’ve ever seen, and then in the very next cut be so genuinely soulful and subtle and funny.”

In the search and rescue mission for Nick, Cal is partnered with Jack O’Malley, a man who represents
everything Cal despises. “Jack isthe world’s greatest tracker,” says Kasdan. “But he’s also a mercenary who will work for anybody but is loyal to nobody. And on top of everything else, he’s on the Naughty List.”

Played by Chris Evans, Jack can find anything — for a price. But he is not a big believer in Christmas. His
personal life is in shambles. He is a gambler and a lousy father and finds himself at a crossroads. Without realizing it, Jack has located Santa’s North Pole compound for a mysterious client who uses that information to abduct him two days before Christmas Eve.

Evans describes his character as a bit of a rascal. “And it’s always fun to play a rascal! But in his personal
life he’s struggling. He has a son that he neglects. Aside from his family struggles, he’s lost that Christmas spirit. He works by himself and moves through the world by himself. That loneliness has made him a bit ossified.”

He also might just be the worst possible partner for Cal. “He is someone who didn’t believe in Christmas
even as a child. He makes terrible, irresponsible choices,” says Morgan. “They’re a classic odd couple.
Chris was always the guy we had in mind forJack. He’sfunny and rough-and-tumble. He’s especially great
at playing characters who should be deplorable, but you end up loving them a little bit.”

Finding a partner who could stand toe-to-toe with a screen icon like Johnson was paramount, according to Garcia. “Chris Evans is the perfect match. They are two of the biggest action stars in the world, but also two extremely funny guys. After playing Captain America, Chris loved the idea of mixing it up by playing someone who is, shall we say, a bit more devious.”

Cal and Jack are both irrepressible Alphas who can’t resist butting heads, says Morgan. “When we put
Dwayne and Chris together for the first time, that energy was immediate. They sparked off each other.
They just started riffing and cutting on each other, one-upping and generally having fun at each other’s
expense. We knew we had a special dynamic right there.”

Johnson says he has wanted to work with Evans for a long time — and he was not disappointed by the
experience. “I love Chris and he’s a very talented actor who I’ve really admired over the years with the
career he’s put together. Luck was on our side when it came to our chemistry together on and off set which helped make our scenes take shape and fly. Plus we made our first Christmas movie which allowed us both a big check off from our bucket lists.”

According to Evans, Johnson is easy to have chemistry with. “He’s an incredibly giving actor, just so funny and charismatic. He understands what it takes to anchor a film like this. And he’s a perfect fit for Cal, because he is full of love and warmth. Seeing Cal losing that feeling creates a real desire from the audience for him to get that light back.”

“Red One” will give people a reason to go to movie theaters, says Evans. “Jake captures everything I loved about movies when I was a kid. He is incredible at action and making things feel epic and timeless. I grew up going to the movies every weekend with my family and friends, when everything felt special and magical and grand. It’s the thing we talked about every Monday at school. I loved that. That’s why I became an actor.

And I jumped on board this movie because I felt like that’s exactly what it offers. I think audiences are in for an exciting ride that feels nostalgic in all the right ways.”

Get Ready to Rumble

Second unit director Greg Rementer designed and executed the death-defying stunts and fights in “Red
One.” “He is pound-for-pound the greatest on the planet,” says Morgan. “He and his guys put together
fight scenes that just blew me away.”

According to fight coordinator Kirk A. Jenkins, Kasdan was adamant that he wanted Johnson and Evans
to have completely different styles of fighting. “Cal is a monster of a man, a professional who relies on
brute force and has the advantage of the Vambrace. Jack is not a super skilled fighter, even though Chris
is. Jack uses his wits first and foremost.”

Kasdan adds, “DJ and Chris are two of the best movie fighters in the world. No question about that. And
they’re both so good at the craft of it that you can actually tell a story about their characters, in the way
that they engage. Cal is a super-agent, with incredible skill and the enormous power that DJ brings. Jack
is a much scrappier kind of operator. We always said that Jack’s gift was that he knew he was going to
take a punch— but he knew you would too. It was a lot of fun to do that with Chris, because it’s a very
different attitude than what he did so brilliantly as Cap.”

The battle in Aruba against the Snow Assassins showcases the differences in their fighting styles. “Cal is
the protector,” Jenkins says. “He’s coming in full force, trying to take down two monstrous killers by
himself. Jack’s a defensive fighter. Instead of throwing a punch, he might throw a chair.”
In the finale, it’s all hands on deck for an electrifying final showdown between good and evil. “There are
so many things happening, so many characters,” says the fight coordinator. “Of course, Lucy Liu is going
to be in there and she’s going to be kicking butt like the action star she is. She is trained in Kali, a form of martial arts from the Philippines that uses sticks. We gave her what we call Acquiescers, which are Kali  sticks with tasers. She’ll be using those to fight the Yule Lads.”

Available in IMAX®, Dolby Cinema and all premium large formats, “Red One” is fun, exciting and like
nothing that’s come before, while also reminding the audience of the anticipation and joy of the classic
Christmas movies of the past.

Production Notes credit: Warner Bros