Movie Review: RED ONE

Did you enjoy the Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones misfit buddy action/comedy flick MEN IN BLACK that was released way back in 1997?

If so, then you are gonna really like the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson/Chris “Captain America” Evans misfit buddy action/comedy flick RED ONE - because it is, basically, the same movie - only this time, instead of Aliens, our misfit pair of heroes are dealing with…Mythical Creatures (you know, like Santa Claus).

Directed by Jake Kasdan (the recent JUMANJI revisits), RED ONE tells the tale of Callum Drift (get it) played by…you guessed it…The Rock, the Head BodyGuard of RED ONE aka Santa Claus (the always great J.K. Simmons). When Red One is kidnapped a few days before his big Christmas Eve ride (why?…movie reasons) it’s up to Callum to team up with “non-believer” Jack O’Malley (a fun Chris Evans) to find and retrieve Saint Nick or Christmas will be cancelled.

Okay, it’s not the most original premise but the charm, charisma and screen presence that Johnson, Evans and Simmons (who doesn’t get nearly enough screen time) exude makes it a very enjoyable Holiday watch for the entire family. They are ably joined by the solid Bonnie Hunt (the original JUMANJI), Comedian Nick Kroll (the voice of Professor Poopypants in CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS) and Lucy Liu (TV’s

ELEMENTARY) as “the boss” who has to seriously spout lines like - “Go out and bring Santa back”, then add Kristofer Hivju (the bushy red-bearded TORMUND in Game of Thrones) as a mythical character (to tell who it is would be to spoil it) and the performances across the board are very professionally managed.

Only Kiernan Shipka (as a youth she played Sally Draper in MAD MEN) is oddly miscast as the main villain. Why she doesn’t detract all that much from the events of the film, she doesn’t add much either…and, in this type of film, you kind of want the bad guy to be a presence…or, at least, over the top “good/bad”.

Director Kasdan tries, as much as possible based on his budget, to make the effects as practical as he can, but much, much of this film is CGI and it feels more like a cartoon most of the time (rather than a live-action film). You can decide whether that is a good or a bad thing.

The action sequences are fun (enough), the acting is fun (enough) and the movie ends up being fun (enough) for the whole family to enjoy when they are all together this Holiday season.

Letter Grade: B

7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)