“Red One” review: The Rock saves Santa and hits Krampus

But someone has to get there Santa Claus be really mad because Santa aka. Red One will kidnapped. Luckily he has Dwayne Johnson as his rescue angel under the name Callum Drift; But the task is far too big even for the security professional. So the power lackel from the North Pole gets the most notorious bounty hunter in the world in the form of Chris Evans – and together they set off to free Red One again.

This mission takes them all over the world and new ones crazy challenges come towards them. Do something like this to them violent snowmen In the meantime life was difficult – and even the Krampus in the flesh appears. Thank you, Christoph Waltz! Without his chat on a US talk show a few years ago, Americans would probably not have become so quickly aware of this folkloristic figure.

Christmas film with a new twist

Director Jake Kasdan has already worked with The Rock on the two “Jumanji” reboots. But that's not to say that “Red One” is just another rip-off of that concept, chasing its main characters through a series of fantasy-heavy missions. With his new film, Kasdan achieves something that has become very rare these days: originality. You get the impression that everything here stands on its own two feet and is filled with a coherent logic.

The hackneyed Christmas theme gets a special twist and, above all, the intrusion of the wonderful into our everyday world works perfectly. Right at the beginning, Santa is presented as a VIP who is attending a children's appointment in a department store, but when a security escort takes him to the airport, his very special means of transport is hidden in the hangar and we take off with him on a wonderful one Adventure off.

Johnson, Evans and Simmons as a great trio

The Rock manages to explain the most absurd things with absolute seriousness – for example, he talks about a witch who is actually a 900-year-old ogre or gives a brief and informative summary of the relationship between Santa and his brother. But the absolute highlight is certainly his Waddling challenge with the Krampus. Chris Evans, on the other hand, creates a completely independent new character in his role. The best proof of this: When you look at him, you don't think for a second that we're once again facing Captain America. And of course JK Simmons deserves to be highlighted. Thanks to him we meet one well-trained Santa Clauswho unshakably believes in the good in people. Unfortunately, he doesn't really have a big role to play here, but when he finally does his job, it's pure joy to watch him.

Very special Christmas magic

Even for a hardened critic like me, it was an unusual experience: you sit in the cinema, your eyes widen and you're really interested in how things will turn out. The film obviously creates a special connection with its audience: Santa has the ability to see children even in adults, and his Christmas magic extends to us here too. With “Red One” we finally get something original and not a recycled product. It was already hinted in advance that this film would be the beginning of its own holiday universe and after this taste you can no longer see this as a threat, but rather look forward to future parts.

4 out of 5 Krampuswatschen