'Red One' Divides the Critics

         On November 15, 2024, Amazon MGM Studios released 'Red One', which has earned predominantly negative reviews from critics and a score of 34% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of this writing. In the film, "After Santa Claus -- Code Name: RED ONE -- is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world's most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas." The ensemble cast includes J.K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Liu, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, and Bonnie Hunt. Read the full review round-up below.

        Avi Offer of NYC Movie Guru says, "Painfully unfunny, witless, over-produced and tonally uneven mess with an uninspired and convoluted plot that's too silly for adults and too dull for kids. It's one of the worst Christmas movies since Jingle All the Way."

        Fran Chico of Fotogramas was more impressed, stating, "Chris Evans reveals himself as a great comic relief actor, demonstrating his greatest range alongside the ex-fighter." Continuing, "'Red One' has all the Christmas movie clichés, including a cheesy and endearing message, and is an entertaining mix of genres and veiled references to the previous works of its protagonists, from 'Fast and Furious' to the DC and Marvel universes, but it works best as a parody of those action movies in which two law enforcement officers have to put up with each other until, little by little, they become inseparable. The contrast and the inside jokes between Callum and Drift in their adventure against the clock is undoubtedly the best and the only thing that saves, in the end, the film and Christmas." 

Photo by Louise Smith on Unsplash

       Dan Bayer of Next Best Picture writes, "In the days leading up to its release, many online have expressed confusion that “Red One” is a theatrical release, given how much it looks and feels like a film designed for streaming. Those people aren’t necessarily wrong – “Red One” has the kind of digital gloss and background-viewing pacing that marks most streaming releases. At a reported budget of $250 million, though, no film should look this bad, let alone feel this lackluster. But at this point, we know what to expect from these kinds of big-budget Hollywood releases, which includes a lot of dodgy CGI hidden under cinematography that’s either dotted with lens flares or so dark you can barely see anything, movie stars who are more of a brand than a performer coasting on their name recognition and charisma, and a tongue-in-cheek tone that keeps telling you to have fun instead of actually being fun. At this point, it’s clear that these aren’t bugs but features of Streaming Age Hollywood Content. The fact that “Red One” can’t fully commit to being as weird as its wildest ideas are is all the proof you need that its makers see it more as a piece of product than a piece of art. Not every film has to be art, but it’d be nice if they could make product that had more life to it than this empty exercise in Christmas franchise starting."