Esoteric Movie Review: Red One (2024)

I understand Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson to be one of the more committed and influential Luciferians in Hollywood.  But he's also one of my favorite movie stars, and it's rare that one of his movies disappoints.

Whether or not Red One (2024) is corny is a matter of perspective.  Dwayne's performance was rock solid, as usual.  But overall, this is far from one of his most entertaining films.

THE DEFILEMENT OF CHRIS EVANS' HOLLYWOOD CHARACTER

It's obvious that Red One was inspired by other buddy action comedies that the Rock has starred in, most specifically Red Notice (2021).  The latter co-starred Ryan Reynolds as the wise-cracking, White male anti-hero whose antics offset yet at the same time complement the Rock's no-nonsense demeanor.  Ryan gets criticized for portraying that type of character in like every movie he's in, but the thing about it is that he does it better than anyone.  Like you can imagine how Red One could have been twice as memorable if it had Reynolds instead of Chris Evans.

That's no dig at Evans.  He's done well portraying less-than-righteous characters, as he did in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010).  But Chris really made a name for himself as Captain America, who's like the most pious of all (Marvel) superheroes.  Dude went from portraying the most incorruptible good guy in Hollywood to now being, in this movie, an outlaw, deadbeat dad anti-hero.

There's nothing wrong with diversifying and challenging yourself as an actor.  But the thing you have to ask yourself is, how would those of who who have grown accustomed to Evans playing Cap feel while watching Red One?  And remember that this film is meant to appeal to children.

Such is a current trend in Hollywood, taking lovable, fictional children's characters and making them into bad guys.  Captain America may not be part of Red One, but the overall effect is similar, i.e. no longer being able to perceive Chris as a good guy.  The same recently transpired with Mickey Mouse in a film called Screamboat (2025):

Meanwhile, you'd think Disney would be more protective of letting their icon be portrayed in such a way, as if the treatment he's received on South Park wasn't bad enough.

Also consider the depiction - though funny as hell - of Scooby-Doo on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live (2023):

And there are so many other examples.

The contemporary state of Hollywood is such that it is complicit in flipping the script on us, turning good guys into bad.  Even the President now is a convicted felon, so why not.

LIBERAL USE OF CURSE WORDS

Relatedly, we should ask ourselves why a film such as this has been imbued with hardcore curse words.  It's not like terms such as "asshole" and "bullshit" added any artistic value to Red One.  They stuck out like sore thumbs, considering the film has apparently been made with a youth audience in mind.

There were also some pretty grotesque, hellish humanoids lurking about

So imagine, as a holiday gift, you decide to take your child to see Red One - a movie starring a family-oriented Hollywood A lister and Santa Claus.  Next thing you know, "asshole", "bullshit".  And then, something like this pops up on the screen:

Even if you are personally immune, you have to be mindful of the affect such images have on children who watch the film.  Will it give them nightmares?  Remember that according to science, what goes in our brains never comes out.

I remember once coming across this article which stated that one of the goals of some hidden figures behind Hollywood is to imbue practically all media with horror and/or pornography.  So with that in mind, as you watch movies into the future, notice how many of them may unexpectedly throw something arousingly-sexual or grotesque onto the screen.  Remember that what does not affect your mind can influence others, such as children, who are not as accustomed to Hollywood.

IS SANTA A GUISE FOR SATAN?

I have this homey who consistently argues that Santa Claus is an aliases or persona of Satan.  People who argue such often tend to point out the similarities between the spelling of "Santa" and "Satan".

Western religious holidays, as far as I know, have pagan origins which have since been imbued with Christian beliefs.  But the myth of Santa Claus himself was inspired by a real person, Saint Nicholas of Myra, an early-AD figure who was "much admired for his piety and kindness".  With that in mind, I don't think you're ever going to hear anyone, besides maybe a Luciferian, describe Satan in such a righteous manner.

That said, Red One did soundly imply that there's some type of connection between the figures.  The film is rife in what appears to be Baphomet-inspired imagery.  That includes what was apparently the logo of Santa Claus's organization, which the Rock works for...

...and at one point Santa even being referred to as "the GOAT":

And of course there's depiction Krampus.  In that character's defense, it seems he's always been portrayed as a anthropomorphic-goat demon, similar to the Baphomet, basically.  So the makers of Red One saw fit to only cast a grotesque demon as one of the main characters in a children's-oriented Christmas film but also to (spoiler alert) have him serve as an anti-hero:

It's almost as if, during, halfway the film, Red One partially transforms into an action-horror flick.

PYRAMIDS EVERYWHERE

The triangle has become the most easily-recognizable esoteric symbol in the world.  These days, the shape is ubiquitous in institutions like Hollywood.  And of course, Red One was not spared:

If even we laymen can see that a film like this is imbued with basic esoteric imagery, that means there's likely a lot more embedded therein only initiates of certain societies will perceive.  That's the world we currently live in.

SINGLE FATHERHOOD

If you take away the profanity and demonic imagery, Red One is actually a pretty solid yuletide movie.  One of the subplots revolves around the redemption of Chris Evans's character who, amongst other things, is sorta this irresponsible, absentee dad.  Absentee fatherhood is a major problem in places like the United States.  And it seems I've come across other American movies of late which touched upon that topic.

When (spoiler alert) Evans makes peace with his movie son (Wesley Kimmel), that's actually Chris's best-acted scene.  It's like he wasn't really made to play a bad guy.  Or he's been Captain America for so long that now, it doesn't feel right for him to play darker roles.

In the grand scheme of things, embedding a public service announcement inside of a Hollywood film is ineffectual.  But I can imagine that aforementioned scene maybe inspiring a deadbeat dad or two to make more of an effort to fulfill their paternal responsibilities.

Hopefully Hollywood - for whatever it's worth - will also start to take abuse by mothers, which has reached disturbing levels in Babylon, more seriously.  That topic was dealt with - in sort of this roundabout, sanitized way - in Encanto (2021).

"YOU GOT IT, COMMANDER"

There's this scene in which Santa Claus (J. K. Simmons) character refers to the Rock's character as "commander":

I found that peculiar because the uniform the Rock wears throughout has colors somewhat similar to that of the NFL's Commanders, aka the Washington Redskins.  And earlier today (17 Jan), though I can't remember exactly where, I recall coming across a headline saying something like the Commanders are the only underdog favorites in the current NFL Playoffs.

CONCLUSION

Certain aspects of Red One will likely prevent it from becoming a Christmas classic.  I can imagine re-watching it, if I were in that a certain kind of mood.  But there are so many other Rock films out there more solid than this one.  And what I can't imagine is like showing this movie to a kid during Christmastime.