By Reviews are now out for Amazon MGM Studios’ Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans-led holiday comedy “Red One” and the verdict is not good.
The four-quadrant action-adventure comedy cost approximately $250 million to produce, partly due to reshoots, and hoped to potentially launch a franchise.
After first reactions painted a poor picture the other day, Amazon MGM Studios opted to lift the embargo on the film as it opened in some international markets today. The numbers so far paint a bleak picture.
On Metacritic its pulling in just a 37/100 while on Rotten Tomatoes it stands at a dismal 35% (4.7/10). Here’s a sampling of review quotes:
“The challenge is to balance the mayhem with the holly-jolly, to blow stuff up while also allowing troubled characters to find the nice in themselves and in each other, and Red One fulfills both of those wish-list items with a cheeky finesse.” – Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict
“The mixture of laughs, sentiment and action should satisfy undemanding families, and the story’s world-building offers enough novelty to what can otherwise be a predictable package.” – Tim Grierson, Screen
“It is a movie that is playing in front of you, I can comfortably give it that much, and for one meant to summon up the Christmas spirit, there’s not a whiff of mirth from the screenplay to the production level.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
“If Red One were a disaster, it’d be more interesting. Instead, it’s a technically passable action-comedy transparently stitched together from parts scavenged from other movies.” – Alison Willmore, Vulture
“Red One could almost be the movie version of Vampire Assassin 4. It’s that busy and bumptious, that overstuffed with cheesy digital effects, that generically derivative a piece of violent kitsch.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“This is a high-concept, CG-saturated bore that lacks heart and infectious humor, even if it huffs and puffs its way to a little poignancy in the end.” – David Rooney, THR
“There’s nothing wrong with a big-hearted film for Christmas, but this commercial and formulaic slice of content is a toy destined to be forgotten, not by Boxing Day, but mid-November.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“There’s a little bit of heart here, in the story of two people who have lost faith in Christmas for very different reasons, but more often this feels engineered in a lab to provide seasonal spectacle.” – Helen O’Hara, Empire
“Red One” is currently tracking for a domestic opening anywhere in the range of $20-40 million when it opens on November 15th in the United States.
The post The “Red One” Reviews Are In appeared first on Dark Horizons.
