Red One

‘Red One’ Movie and 4K Review

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

The following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.

“Red One” is the latest film from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, one of the biggest names and highest paid actors in Hollywood. I am very familiar with Johnson’s work from his time in the professional wrestling industry, which is something I follow closely. He has become one of the biggest brands in the world. It is rare to find someone out there who does not know who Johnson is, either from his time in professional wrestling or his movie career. Personally speaking, I cannot help but respect and admire how he has built his career in two different industries, but lately, I am starting to suffer from a major case of Dwayne Johnson fatigue.

The film follows the story of Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson) who oversees and protects Nick, aka Santa, aka Red One, played by J.K. Simmons. Callum Drift informs Santa this will be their last Christmas together, and then he is calling it quits. He has seen the naughty list grow by over twenty percent, and he feels as though too many people are losing the real meaning of Christmas. They are more interested in their own selfish needs as opposed to being good human beings. Santa tells him there are good people all around the world still, and he should not lose his hope in humanity. In classic movie fashion, Callum is going to retire so, of course, this means his final days will be filled with peril, stress, and action.

On Christmas Eve of all nights, Santa is kidnapped thanks to the help of a mercenary bounty hunter named Jack O’Malley, played by Chris Evans. Callum’s boss, Zoe (Lucy Liu) puts him in charge of tracking down Jack to find out the whereabouts of Santa. Jack confesses he does not know anything about the kidnapping, and he follows the money when it comes to his job opportunities. Lucy Liu oversees the MORA (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority), and they take their job of protecting Santa very seriously. In order for Santa to be able to do his job, Jack and Callum must put their differences aside, team up together, and find out who was behind this mission and save Santa.

“Red One” is an absolute mess of a film from start-to-finish. One of the biggest issues with the film is that Johnson and Evans have no chemistry together on screen. This is not a fun buddy movie as Johnson takes this role too seriously while Evans is a goofball. The dialogue written for their characters is also bland and unfunny. When you have two actors with the charisma of Johnson and Evans, it should make for a fun, silly and enjoyable thrill-ride. Instead, this movie is dead on arrival. Johnson looks like he is sleepwalking throughout this movie.

The movie is searching for a consistent tone. As stated earlier, Johnson gives a one-note performance throughout the film. He is supposed to be a funny tough guy who takes himself too seriously, only he is not funny at all. His performance is so wooden, and it does not work with this material. Johnson and Evans should have played up their dynamic of being polar opposites in a way that was natural, organic, and funny. It is hard when the script does not give either of them anything of interest to say. J.K. Simmons, by the way, is barely in the movie. He is there at the beginning and he only shows up again at the end.

The film also tries to do too much in its over two-hour running time. It introduces shapeshifting, Krampus and scenes involving snowmen attacking the two main characters at the beach. What is going on here? The writer, Chris Morgan, has written such films as “Cellular,” “The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift,” “Wanted,” “Fast and Furious,” “Fast Five” and “Furious 7,” and he has worked with Johnson before. Morgan has also worked in the action genre before, and he has had a lot of success. On paper, this film should have been a big hit at the box office. You have Johnson and Evans working together for the first time, Morgan as the writer, and the backdrop of Christmas.

For whom was this movie made? Was it made for children? I cannot see children really getting into this movie. It is not that it is too violent or too intense for children, as that is not the problem. The problem is the film does not have a sense of wonder or a sense of fun. It is also not really for adults as it is too silly and juvenile for an adult audience. I do not really know who “Red One” is going to appeal to, unless you are a diehard fan of Johnson or Evans. They should have kept this movie simple. They should have kept it under two hours, focused more on the dynamic between Johnson and Evans, given them better dialogue, and it should have been a lighthearted unlikely buddy comedy with heart. Instead, it is a brainless and soulless action flick. “Red One” is one of the worst movies of 2024.

½* out of * * * *

4K Info: “Red One” is being released on a single disc 4K from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. It also comes with a digital copy of the film. The film has a running time of 123 minutes and is rated PG-13 for action, some violence, and language.

4K Video Info: Warner Brothers is one of the most consistent studios when it comes to their home video releases on 4K, and “Red One” is no exception. The Dolby Vision transfer is vivid, colorful, and full of life. This is an exceptionally clean and crisp-looking 4K.

4K Audio Info: The Dolby Atmos track is also perfect for this film, as it has a good thump to it during the action sequences. Subtitles included are in English, Latin Spanish, Castilian Spanish, Italian, German, Parisian French, Canadian French, Dutch, Chinese – Complex, and Cantonese.

Special Features:

NONE

Should You Buy It?

With certain movies, you can feel the length of its run time. “Red One” is a movie where I felt every minute of its 123-minute run time. This film needed to focus on the strengths of its two main actors and not get bogged down with a convoluted backstory and mindless action that did not mean anything or go anywhere. This film was restlessly boring, and I did not chuckle or smirk once while watching it. I just wanted it to be over. This should have been an enormous success especially considering Hollywood is always in the market for new Christmas movies. Instead, they really lost the plot here.  On the bright side, the 4K looks and sounds terrific. There are no special features included here, and I think that says a lot about the film.  If you did enjoy this film, I’d recommend buying it when it goes on sale.  If you are a Dwayne Johnson or Chris Evans superfan, you might enjoy it, but you must really love everything they do. For everyone else, this is a hard pass.

**Disclaimer** I received a copy of this film from Warner Brothers to review for free. The opinions and statements in the review are mine and mine alone.

Kevin Smith Discusses Red State at New Beverly Cinema

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

WRITER’S NOTE: As the opening paragraph indicates, this article was written back in 2011.

On August 19, 2011, Kevin Smith began a one-week run of “Red State” at New Beverly Cinema making it eligible for Academy Awards consideration. Smith also came to just about every showing there to do a Q&A afterwards as he came to love “sitting back and loudly appreciating the movie.” Of course, this led one audience member to confront him at a local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and say, “You were yelling ‘genius’ at your own movie?”

“Red State” is astonishingly different from any movie Smith has previously helmed including the Bruce Willis starring “Cop Out.” This is largely the result of him and his longtime director of photography Dave Klein, who also shot “Clerks,” making use of the Red One digital camera. Smith said he loved chasing around the set with it, and he remarked how the camera looked like something out of “The Bourne Identity.” Smith, however, was aiming for “Red State” to look more like “Half Nelson” and less like “NYPD Blue,” and he told Klein him he wanted it to look unlike any movie they had made before. To this, Klein said, “Thank God!”

Smith felt he improved as a filmmaker with the Red One, and he figured the company which made them would give him one for free. However, it turned out getting a free camera was as likely as getting anything for free from Apple.

When it came to the actors, Smith saw himself as more of a cheerleader than a director. He made this blunt in saying, “You don’t direct mother fuckers like these! Who am I to tell John Goodman or Melissa Leo about acting?!”

The actor he talked about most was Michael Parks who played Abin Cooper, Pastor of the Five Points Trinity Church, a highly fanatical and conservative church which makes the Westboro Baptist Church look tame by comparison. Smith, like many of us, first saw him as Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in “From Dusk Till Dawn,” and he declared that Parks “owned the first ten minutes” of it. Parks, however, told Smith he didn’t want impersonate Fred Phelps as he described him as being “boring.” Instead, Parks wanted Cooper to be “charismatic,” and his brilliant performance has Phelps only wishing he could be as such.

Speaking of the Phelps family, five of them came to a midnight screening of the movie. Or at least, five of them planned to until Megan Phelps contacted Smith and asked for 15 more tickets. Smith couldn’t resist having a laugh at the inescapable contradiction:

“God may hate fags, but the Lord loves a bargain!”

Megan described “Red State” as being “filthy” even though she kept watching it for ten minutes as a gift to Smith before walking out. She did, however, send him a couple of signs with the sayings “God Hates Fag Enablers” and “Red State Fags” on them. Smith’s wife, Jennifer Schwalbach, ordered him to throw them out, but he pointed out they were signed by all the WBC church members. Their daughter Harley ended up coming across the “Red State Fags” sign by accident. While he and his wife were looking at each other, Harley asked them, “Is this the sequel?”

Kevin Smith said “Red State” exists because of Quentin Tarantino. The Madonna speech at the beginning of “Reservoir Dogs” was such a big thing to him, and it made filmmaking seem all the more fun and possible to do. He sees “Red State” as the “true spiritual sequel” to “Clerks,” and he has had a joyous experience taking it out on the road. It’s very easy to believe to him when he said no one has had a bad experience with a premium ticket they bought for it.