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“Natalophobia refers to a tendency to experience negative feelings in the run-up to the Christmas holidays. This can be anxiety, depression, sadness or nostalgia.”
Perhaps you suffer from it without knowing it? Red Onewhich is released today in France, streaming on Prime Video, could well be the trigger that will make you aware of it, as this supposedly family blockbuster perfectly illustrates the anxiety that we can feel as the holidays approach. end of year. Transposing this very unpleasant feeling to Christmas films, usually conceived as sweet treats “feel good” for the spectators, it is the height… and yet, Red One achieved this feat.
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It all begins in a crowded American shopping center, a few hours before New Year's Eve. Faced with an endless line of children and their parents trying to meet Nick Santa Claus, (JK Simmonswho works out and travels in an SUV, immediately forget the image of a debonair Saint Nicholas), Callum (Dwayne Johnsonwho takes it all incredibly seriously) understands after several centuries of loyal service as head of Santa's bodyguards, that he “no longer sees the child” in every human. No, he now only sees their faults, seeing the percentage of people “not wise” over the years.
By returning to the kingdom of Santa Claus – a sort of digital Asgard, which evokes more the endless hangars of Amazon and its overworked employees than a magical world filled with Elves happily making toys intended to entertain the children of the world-, Callum is therefore determined to resign. But that was without counting on the intrusion of bad guys under the orders of the evil witch Gryla, played by Kiernan “Sabrina” Shipkaa pale copy of Marvel's Scarlet Witch whose ambitions we never really understand. Determined to ruin Christmas by kidnapping Nick, she is helped, despite herself, by Jack, a hacker who manages to decrypt the coordinates of the kingdom (Chris Evanscomic endorsement of the film and “bad boy level 4”according to data from the head of security). That's good, he could really use a father-son trip to rediscover the “true values” Christmas.
Is this pitch tiring you out? This is nothing compared to its imagery so awful that one wonders from this long introduction if a single scene of Red One was filmed on real sets, with flesh-and-blood stuntmen. Everything sounds false here, lifeless. From anti-spectacular chases to artificial snow, digital abuse is absolutely everywhere. However, it is not for lack of having invested in this film. Jake Kasdan got for Red One a huge budget from Amazon-MGM: more than 200 million dollars. And we know that he is capable of offering decent family entertainment to the public: his recent Jumanjialready with The Rock, were very different from the original adventure film with Robin Williams, certainly, but they found the right balance between humor, adventure and great spectacle, while offering some new things.
We don't find its playful staging here, and it's not really better in terms of the jokes, all already seen: hello the meta valves from Marvel – pricked even in Ant-Manyet not the most popular with fans – hello evil spirit of Ryan Reynolds (the star of Deadpool was obviously not available to replay his score from Free Guy instead of Evans?)…
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The film wakes up a little with the arrival of Krampus, Santa Claus' evil half-brother. Flamboyant, Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Ogrebane in Game of Thrones) creates a happy mess for the duration of one scene, the only actor who seems to really have fun here, and whose bestial makeup is convincing between two VFX palots, from killer snowmen with questionable design to a naked polar bear any ounce of personality. Unless when we reach the middle of the film, we are already so exhausted by this avalanche of clichés that we forgive him for his slightest attempt at fun?
That the time when Chris Evans was in good films seems far ahead of this Red Onas generic as possible, which finishes us off with a good dose of cynicism. More Callum, Jake and Nick talk about“Christmas spirit”the more we realize that this seasonal entertainment was designed for the wrong reasons, with no other ambition than to earn maximum money with minimum effort, banking everything on the popularity of its actors… who all see their talent wasted, at best bland, at worst already forgotten as soon as the film is finished. Lucy Liu And Bonnie Hunt for example, have absolutely nothing substantial to play.
The French release directly in streaming doesn't help matters: its translation is full of typos. When the subtitles make Chris say “It’s stupid” in place of“It’s bullshit”we have proof that at all levels, no one on this film really gave a damn. So why should we, the spectators, make the effort to be interested in it? No, really, we would have done without such “Christmas present”…
Small score for Dwayne Johnson and Red One at the US box office