Released on Nov. 15, “Red One” is an action-packed Christmas movie directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Chris Morgan. Critics’ reviews on the film have been generally negative, logging a 30% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the “Popcornmeter” (the audience reviews) displays a whopping 90%. 

Is the movie as bad as the critics say? Or is the audience review more accurate?

Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), a skilled hacker, deadbeat father, and “Christmas Grinch” unwittingly sells the location of Red One (aka Santa Claus) to a team that uses this information to kidnap him. Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), the right hand man of Santa, must join forces with Jack in order to rescue Santa from the clutches of Grýla, the Christmas Witch (Kiernan Shipka). 

What I didn’t include in this brief synopsis is the huge amount of unnecessary filler added to the script – this padding is one of Red One’s biggest failings. For example, the movie tries to expand the world by adding other mythological creatures, but hardly any of them are utilized or even acknowledged. The only other creatures that are given somewhat adequate screen time are Krampus and Grýla. 

Although the plot is bloated, the action can be quite solid at times. The first fight between Jack and agents from the government has dynamic, fluid choreography with no breaks. At their worst, however, the film’s fight scenes can be generic and don’t have much substance to them. 

The film’s comedy isn’t great, but its low quality isn’t surprising, relying on the typical, safe, Dwayne Johnson-esque humor without straying far from it.

Besides Callum and Jack, most of the characters are soulless and one-note. The side characters are filled with clichés that provide no story significance. Although having an underwhelming side cast isn’t uncommon, it could be excused if the villain had a personality or compelling backstory. While Grýla has clear motivations, she isn’t compelling or enjoyable to watch at all. 

Despite my constant criticisms of the movie, it isn’t all bad. Like I said, the action is entertaining and it’s fine as a family movie. However, I’m shocked that 90% of the audience felt that it was a good watch. Because of the lack of compelling characters, wasted runtime, and subpar humor, I only give “Red One” a 5 out of 10 on the “Peanuts Scale.”