Red One

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Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 13 (violence, scary scenes, language, themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Red One
  • a review of Red One completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 12 November 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not suitable due to violence, scary scenes, language and themes.
Children aged 12–13 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and language.
Children aged 14 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Red One
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild fantasy themes, violence and coarse language
Length: 123 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Even as a child, Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) never believed in Santa. He didn’t care what anyone thought of him and saw no harm in being ‘naughty’. Using his nefarious skills as a tracker for random clients on the dark web, Jack unwittingly sells his latest information to a witch called Gryla (Kiernan Shipka), a 900-year-old shapeshifter, who will stop at nothing to punish all the people she believes are bad. Using the coordinates Jack found, Gryla launches a well-planned attack on the North Pole and kidnaps Nick, aka Santa (J.K. Simmons), just days before Christmas. Santa’s bodyguard and right-hand man, Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), has just resigned as he can no longer see the inner child in the adults around him and is struggling to find the good in those he is meant to help. However, determined to find Nick and save Christmas, Callum uses Jack to help him track down Gryla. As Christmas rapidly approaches and time is quickly running out, the pair find themselves fighting for their lives and freedom after paying a visit to Nick’s estranged brother Krampus (Kristofer Hivju). When Jack and his son Dylan (Wesley Kimmel) are both targeted in Gryla’s attacks, Callum is led to the last place he would have thought to look and Jack learns that it is never too late to do the right thing. With every odd stacked against them, can they find a way to free Nick and save Christmas before the whole world winds up imprisoned by a witch?

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Family breakdown; Witchcraft; Magic; Apathy; Crime; Disillusionment with people, the world and life.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • A man is tripped over by two dogs on leashes.
  • Jack steals newspapers, coffee, a key card, and candy from a baby.
  • Jack purposefully starts an electrical fire and burns a Christmas display.
  • A man is punched and knocked to the ground during a boxing match on TV.
  • Two agents are knocked off their snowmobiles during a high-speed chase as property is damaged and bridges are destroyed.
  • Callum drops onto a car and is knocked off as it blasts onto a bridge.
  • Callum chases a vehicle on a snowmobile and causes an avalanche in his attempt to stop the vehicle he is chasing.
  • Dylan confesses to slashing the tires on another kid’s bike.
  • Characters are kicked, hit, shoved and pushed as Jack fights off a group of agents who try to paralyse him with stun guns.
  • A character is hit in the crotch and pushed through a window.
  • Jack is shot with a stun gun and then reinvigorated with another gun.
  • A large polar bear shoves Jack into and out of his chair.
  • Callum kicks a character in the crotch and rapidly adjusts his hand size to enable him to fight his attackers more efficiently.
  • Mention is made of a man’s head imploding across the beach.
  • Snow monsters try to slash Jack and stab Callum with a knife.
  • Callum slices the body of a snow monster in half.
  • Jack melts a snow monster’s face in a grill, causing it to mutate and change.
  • A snow monster stabs a man through the chest with a large knife, causing ice to slowly envelop him.
  • A snow monster strangles Callum. Callum grabs its carrot nose, causing the monster to die.
  • Jack explodes a snow monster using the gas tanks on a grill.
  • A character hits Krampus in the face. Krampus responds by punching the man backwards into a wall, where he falls down unconscious. The man is later shown with a smashed and bloody face.
  • Callum hits Krampus in the face and Krampus responds by knocking Callum to the floor. With help from Jack, Callum gets one good punch in.
  • Two boxing robots punch people out of the way. Krampus tears both robots apart.
  • Callum punches a shapeshifter in the face and knocks him out. While unconscious, the character transforms into his true self.
  • Santa’s reindeer try to fight off a group of shapeshifters.
  • The shapeshifters attack Callum and Jack.
  • Gryla whips the reindeer and a large polar bear slams shapeshifters together.
  • Gryla tries to strangle both Jack and Callum as she attempts to get a sleigh full of globes airborne. She throws Jack to the reindeer and Callum into a pile of snow globes.
  • Jack frees the reindeer, causing the sleigh to crash down. Gryla flies over the edge of a bridge and falls, screaming, towards the city below.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • A headless horseman is shown being led away in shackles. His head has clearly been severed and a glowing jack-o-lantern face with creepy, fiery features is kept separate in a box under lock and key. The dark horse is shown rearing up and breathing fire as agents attempt to restrain it.
  • There are numerous monster-like creatures with horns, fangs and evil-looking features. The characters themselves are menacing towards Jack and Callum and could be upsetting to many young viewers.
  • An evil-looking snowman with a jack-o-lantern-like face is attached to the front of a creepy ice cream truck that drives itself out of the sea. The truck is full of huge, sinister snow monsters with sharp icicle teeth and numerous weapons that freeze people.
  • A character transforms and disappears after holding a snow globe.
  • There are hellhounds, creepy gargoyle-like dog monsters that chase a sweet, little chicken through what appears to be a dark and misty crypt.
  • Gryla transforms into a gigantic troll with tentacles and glowing eyes. She continues to attack Jack and Callum until Krampus joins the fight and shoots fireballs at her until she herself becomes trapped in one of her own snow globes.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Santa is being held in a dark and sinister environment. He is unconscious while Gryla sucks his energy, leaving him limp and helpless. He is locked up, surrounded by a green, eerie light, and watched by a man with creepy facial tattoos.
  • Gryla possesses a man on a beach, causing him to shake and then lunge forward in an unnatural way. The man’s eyes turn purple and he looks possessed as he begins to speak in a voice that is not his own. He talks about the time having come for every last naughty person to be punished, and how Santa is going to help make sure that everyone gets what they deserve. The man then falls on his face into the sand.
  • Jack receives an eerie snow globe, which he refuses to touch. When he watches his son get sucked into a globe of his own, Jack grabs the globe and also disappears. They are trapped in individual globes and are both very upset. Dylan doesn’t understand what is happening and Jack blames himself.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Monopoly (the game) is shown and displayed.
  • Hot Wheels cars are repeatedly mentioned, used and transformed.
  • Wonder Woman action figures are mentioned on occasion.
  • Essential oils are repeatedly mentioned, though no brand is promoted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Upon arrival at a tropical beach, Jack checks out a woman wearing a string bikini. He ogles her as she walks away and says that he will marry her.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Multiple women are shown, on a beach and the surrounds, wearing string bikinis. Their bare bottoms are exposed.
  • Two creepy, witch-like creatures stroke Krampus’ bare chest.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Adults drink at a Christmas party.
  • Jack is shown passed out in a bathtub next to empty alcohol bottles.
  • Jack admits to driving with a hangover.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Shit, bullshit, shit bag
  • Damn
  • Hell
  • Shut up
  • Asshole
  • Dickhead
  • Moron
  • “What the actual fuc-?” The very last part of the last word is drowned out but the meaning is perfectly clear.
  • Rat turds
  • Imbeciles.

In a nutshell

Red One is an action-packed, holiday adventure, featuring a star-studded cast, lots of special effects and a fast-paced, predictable plot. The film contains valuable messages about the choices we make and the importance of never giving up. The film is best suited to audiences over the age 12.

The main messages from this movie are that every day we get to choose who we want to be; and that every decision, big or small, is important because each one is an opportunity to do good and to leave the world a better place.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Compassion
  • Courage
  • Teamwork
  • Helpfulness
  • Forgiveness
  • Persistence.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of making good choices, of understanding the ripple effect that our decisions, both good and bad, have on those around us, and of always trying to do our best even when no one else is watching.