Dwayne Johnson and his company 7 Bucks Productions are dipping into the Christmas movie market with their newest film: Red One.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new movie Red One is now in theaters, and has released to many conflicting reports and reviews. Sitting with a 90% audience score on rotten tomatoes, while simultaneously sporting a 33% in critic reception, it’s hard to see at first glance whether the film would be a hit or not. As well as the critic’s Red One has also been fighting to make back its original production cost to little success, only making $35 million in box office profits against the $250 million needed to make it.
As far as the movie itself however, it has been shown to be quite pleasant. While it was no Citizen Kane, Johnson’s newest film is engaging and keeps you interested to say the least. It isn’t hard to see why the film has such loveable aspects when seeing its star-studded cast including Chris Evans as Jack O’Malley, and J.K. Simmons as Santa, acting alongside Johnson himself as Callum Drift, the Head of Security at the North Pole. Mixing in some often well-done drama, especially in the second act, alongside some admittedly comedic timing, it isn’t hard to see why some have come to admire Red One.
Contrasting these points however, the film does have some flaws. It is hard to pin-down the exact audience of Red One. It has many cartoonish moments, yet takes itself seriously, and uses language and imagery more consistent with an older audience. While humorous at times, it seems to be often intentional, with much of the audience’s laughter seeming to stem from watching such an intense action hero like the Rock speak about magic, Christmas, and the dangers of, “The Naughty List.” While the action and plot are engaging, the tone is not exactly sure where it stands, and feels like a strange limbo of childish and gritty. Two of St. Dominic’s seniors, Liam McMullin and Jack Vogler respectively, had much to say about the film at its conclusion.
“I don’t know if I’d use the term good, but it was interesting. I say give it a chance though. It’s definitely a fun movie to watch, just with all the action and stuff. I’d say don’t listen to the critics,” Vogler said.
“It’s definitely not a movie you have to think about just kind of turn your brain off and just enjoy it. I will say there was some great star power in this one. I think it was a fun experience overall for sure. I wouldn’t say it was anything super special, but it was a fun experience,” McMullin said.
Hard to place for sure, Red One seems to be a polarizing holiday film, and in this case, the only way to be sure of one’s opinion is to see it for themselves.
