Red One

November 29 – December 5

7:00 pm nightly
1:30 Sunday Matinée
PG — 1hr 58min
2024 ‧ Christmas / Action / Adventure / Comedy

Red One is a surprisingly clever Christmas action-comedy. It asks the question, what if Santa Claus wasn’t rotund and tinkering with toys in a quaint North Pole, but an absolutely jacked presidential figure running a glimmering, high-tech frozen metropolis? Red One offers a surprisingly clever take on Christmas mythology. The big-budget action-comedy delivers the requisite popcorn entertainment with visual splendor, but also succeeds in building its own new universe with truly memorable characters. Actors Dwayne Johnson and a hilarious Chris Evans play well off each other. The star-studded ensemble also includes Lucy Liu as Zoe Harlow, a Nick Fury surrogate for this mythological universe; Bonnie Hunt as a Mrs. Claus who would probably fit right in on the Real Housewives; plus Nick Kroll and Mary Elizabeth Ellis.

Red One features plenty of action sequences for Johnson and Evans, plus a little for Liu. Even though Simmons is unconscious for most of the film, he gets in some rooftop parkour after Christmas is ultimately saved (with an eye-roll from the skeptical Jack, who’s there to verbalize what all of us cynical Grinch types are thinking). It wouldn’t have hurt to have Hunt kick some butt as well, since she and Simmons certainly break from the Santa and Mrs. Claus mold, working out together in their home gym. Who knew Santa was so hot?

The enthusiasm that’s on display throughout Red One is infectious enough that you just might find yourself getting a bit emotional in the process. And if that’s not what the most effective holiday movies are meant to do, then maybe it’s time we rethink the whole thing. If you like your cocoa with a nip of the hard stuff, then get ready to let Red One take you on a sleigh ride that’ll get you ready to dive into Christmas. Or, at the very least, another viewing of Lethal Weapon.