Red One (2024)

December 12, 2024 9:32 AM

[TRAILER] After Santa Claus -- Code Name: RED ONE -- is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with the world's most infamous bounty hunter (Chris Evans) in a mission to save Christmas.

Also starring J.K. Simmons, Lucy Liu, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll.

Directed by Jake Kasdan. Screenplay by Chris Morgan. Story by Hiram Garcia. Produced by Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Chris Morgan, Jake Kasdan, Melvin Mar for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Seven Bucks Productions/Big Indie Pictures. Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios/Warner Bros. Pictures. Cinematography by Dan Mindel. Edited by Mark Helfrich, Steve Edwards, Tara Timpone. Music by Henry Jackman.

30% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently streaming in the US on Prime. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (14 comments total)

I have not seen this yet but neither the word going around about this nor the general state of commercial Xmas movies this year nor the 122 minute runtime makes me particularly hopeful.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:34 AM on December 12 [2 favorites]

One would like to think just the sheer charisma of the actors involved would make it at least palatable.
posted by Atreides at 9:44 AM on December 12 [1 favorite]

Production issues — ranging from Johnson’s chronic lateness and lack of professionalism on set to producers’ inexperience — caused costs on the movie costarring Chris Evans and J.K. Simmons to spiral upwards to a final budget over $250 million, a sum more fitting for a superhero tentpole.
...
Insiders told TheWrap that Johnson showed up as much as eight hours late to set on the movie — forcing the crew to shoot around him on some days. On previous films, Johnson has made a habit of peeing in a water bottle to save time, upsetting crew members.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:10 AM on December 12 [4 favorites]

This is one that seems like it could be so funny in certain previews and then in others, really stupid. Almost seems like too many storylines or too much stunt casting. Everyone needs a funny moment in the trailer, including the non-human characters.
posted by soelo at 12:32 PM on December 12

FWIW I have seen multiple mediocre to terrible reviews of this -- pretty hard pass for me.
posted by Pedantzilla at 1:23 PM on December 12 [1 favorite]

$250m????????
posted by praemunire at 3:14 PM on December 12 [1 favorite]

That report in the link that Saxon posted was fucking brutal. Chronic tardiness is something that I associate with rock stars who are sliding, usually irreparably, into suckitude.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:58 PM on December 12 [2 favorites]

Reading that article, I suddenly thought, "Dear God, he's gonna be president, isn't he?" He sounds batshit insane in a way that could get a dude elected nowadays.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 9:45 PM on December 12 [6 favorites]

The premise of the sitcom the Rock produced was retelling the story of his youth via a frame story set in 2032 where he is running for president.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:41 AM on December 13 [4 favorites]

schadenfrau posted this comment in Jan 2019 about his political ambitions: The Rock now has a reality competition show where he pops up to give little speeches that feel...very much like a certain kind of rebrand. They gave that fucker his version of the Apprentice.

There is more to the comment, and I believe that show fizzled out thankfully. He is very much trying to stay relevant to the average voter in both major parties.
posted by soelo at 10:07 AM on December 13

I would rather handle a Voss bottle full of his piss than listen to his opinions about politics.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:52 AM on December 13

Yeah, I knew about his political ambitions, and in a better world (or at least in America before it totally lost its brains) his spectacular lateness and his piss bottles and all that stuff would have been enough to doom his prospects. But as I read that article I got this sinking feeling. A big smirky pro wrestler who is very, very obviously both nutty as hell, and an asshole? It's way too easy to picture this guy being a real-life President Camacho.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:32 PM on December 13

After word of his piss-poor behavior (see what I did there?) got out, Dwayne's PR team have been working overtime. Witness: this ridiculously bad fluff piece from GQ, where we get to see The Rock's simpler side: he's just a regular guy who likes to fish and drive his truck:

"It’s hard for Dwayne Johnson to hide. Wherever he goes, there he is—as conspicuous out in the world as he is on the silver screen. But after two decades of playing a version of himself in huge movies, suddenly he is ready to do something entirely new: vanish."

It’s not that Dwayne Johnson is tall, though he is—about six feet four inches and broad, with an adamantine bald head and sculptural shoulders. It’s not that he is part Samoan, part Black, though he is that too. It’s not even that Johnson is what Hollywood likes to euphemistically call the most successful movie star alive, meaning, most years, the highest paid. It’s that these things—the shape of the man, his parents, his professional ascendance—have combined in a singular way to make him recognizable at more or less any distance. Because of this, Johnson struggles, in the most prosaic sense, to be alone."

See, he isn't a self-centered narcissist, he just wants to be alone!
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:34 PM on December 13 [1 favorite]

Reading that article, I suddenly thought, "Dear God, he's gonna be president, isn't he?" He sounds batshit insane in a way that could get a dude elected nowadays.

LOL. He really is batshit insane if he thinks there will even be another presidential election. Missed your chance , Dwayne.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:57 AM on December 14