Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Red One: the child inside!


Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans team up to save Christmas as Santa apparently disappears from his North Pole citadel. Johnson plays Callum Drift, head of ELF (Enforcement, Logistics and Fortification), security detail to Saint Nicholas while Evans plays a bounty hunter, skilled to precisely trail anything, but, for the right price.

Safely protecting while maintaining the mask of myth around Santa for decades, the ever responsible Drift is aghast to find the security that he headed breached on the very day that he had submitted his proposal to retire from active duty. Intimating MORA (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority) about the catastrophe, he is updated in due course by Director, Zoe Harlow (Lucy Liu) that it was Jack O' Malley (Evans), who hacked into their system to initiate the breach. Actually Malley was hired by Gryla, the Winter Witch, to accurately identify the secret hideout of Santa by precisely monitoring for the only seismic glitch that his security network leaked. Gryla had her own evil plans for Christmas and so she chose Christmas Eve for abducting Santa. With her cronies who could change shapes at will, Gryla was a force to reckon with.

Without much time and option in hand, Zoe picked up Malley and forced him to assist Drift while he started on his quest for rescuing Santa through the mythological domains. Thus it depended on Drift, a mythical entity, gradually frustrated with the increasingly intolerant humankind and Malley, a firm disbeliever in Santa and anything mythical, to join hands to save Santa Claus and Christmas in time!

Jake Kasdan weaves a modern fairy tale for the audience, both old and young. Blending action with humour, the film effortlessly narrates the fun and suspense that the story (scripted by Chris Morgan based on the original by Hiram Garcia) demands. The pace might be a bit abrupt and the thrill a bit suppressed, but the true essence of the film lies in the Christmas charm that it embeds. While the movie searches for the Santa, the theme resonates with the search for the neglected child in the heart that was once honest and full of trust and hope.

So hark, as the herd of reindeer draws the sleigh and the bearded rider cries, 'Kavalame', the movie will be a great way to bid the year goodbye and celebrate the children within us with the hope of merrier moments to cherish ahead.