Hollywood has not been in a tremendous place the last few years. The superhero bubble has burst, or is at least seriously depleted of air, and remakes and sequels have effectively take over the theatrical experience without much in the way of creativity.
Then there's the films that should be good on paper, but simply aren't. The original titles with big stars and fun plots. These used to be perfect movie star vehicles once upon a time, but they have become the absolute nadir of Hollywood filmmaker in the 2020s. Red One is perhaps the best example yet.
Red One is one of the worst films of 2024
Red One is a big, expensive action comedy with stars like Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans. It sounds like a decent enough time, but it is more soulless, bland, and generic than you can possibly imagine. The whole thing feels AI-generated, and the reviews, which have recently dropped, have been absolutely brutal.
FlickSided gives the film a firm thumbs down, but we thought it would be fun to comb through the reviews from other outlets, and highlight the ones that are the most brutal. Because, we we stated, Red One deserves it.
IGN gave the film a paltry 1 stars out of 4 and likened it to a poor man's Men In Black, but with Santa garb. There's an obvious attempt at generating chemistry between superstars Johnson and Evans, but the outlet notes that it is nonexistent. " performance leaves behind a warm-and-fuzzy gratitude that Ryan Reynolds wasn’t available," the outlet witheringly notes.
Critics have called out its generic presentation
The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips noted the release of the film in a period of political division and general discontent, and described it as the perfect piece of filler content to sum up the year. " the holiday fantasy built on retribution, punishment and crushed hopes we deserve right now," he stated.
Zachary Lee criticized the film for wasting such a sizable budget and notable cast on a film that leaves absolutely no impression. His RogerEbert.com review rightly describes Red One as being "all gaudy wrapping and no substance."
The most scathing take on the film, however, came from Variety's Owen Gleiberman. He derided Red One for being creatively bankrupt. "It’s that busy and bumptious, that overstuffed with cheesy digital effects," he wrote. "That generically derivative a piece of violent kitsch."
Red One currently sits at 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you ask us, that's still too high.