When a team of mercenaries headed up by Mr. Scrooge (John Leguizamo) breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone including Gertrude Lightstone (Beverly D'Angelo), Jason Lightstone (Alex Hassell), Linda (Alexis Louder), Jason's wife and Trudy (Leah Brady), Jason and Linda's daughter, inside hostage, the team isn't prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus (David Harbour) is on the grounds, and he's about to show why this Nick is no saint. Will he be able to save this family and still finish his job for the night?
Others to round out the cast are Cam Giganet as Morgan Steel, Edi Patterson as Alva Lightstone, Alexander Elliot as Bert, Brendan Fletcher as Krampus, Andre Erikeen as Gingerbread, Mike Dopud as Commander Thorp, Mitra Suri as Candy Cane and Stephanie Sy as Sugarplum.
This was intensely and grittily directed by Tommy Wirkola ("Kill Buljo: The Movie" '07, "Dead Snow" '09, "Kurt Josef Wagle og legenden om Fjorheksa" '10, "Hanzel & Gretel: Witch Hunters" '13, "Kill Buljo 2" '13, "Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead" '14, "Kurt Josef Wagle og mordmysteriet pa Hurtigruta"'17, "The Trip" '21) plus TV. These characters are all over-the-top which obviously was deliberate making it even more fun and entertaining. It shows us that Santa Claus isn't just this fat, white-bearded jolly old elf that flings toys to all the good kids. He is also, when pushed into a corner, an entirely different sort, and Wirkola was definitely able to extract those differences from Harbour. It was written by writing team Pat Casey and Josh Miller ("Sledgehammers at Dawn" '13, "Team Hot Wheels: The Skills to Thrill" (TV movie) '15, "Sonic the Hedgehog" '20, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" '22) plus TV, shorts and a video. These writers certainly know their way around a screenplay; you need only to look at their resume to understand. Even though there were characters that represented good and bad, there were sill references of bad within the good and visa versa which makes it a bit more realistic in creating the story. If I had to akin this film with any other, it would have to be "Home Alone", but that film on steroids. I feel it was a sort of homage to "Home Alone" since the references were so blatant. This Santa has been doing his job probably a bit too long, but maybe. just maybe he finds new life when protecting these people. Other than a couple of very small places of continuity issues, this was spot on with its storytelling.
If you like Christmas films, or more to the point, a Christmas film that takes an untraditional trek, this is the film for you. The poster gives the appearance of a horror flick, and with its title, one can only wonder. But in reading about the film, I came to realize it's not horror, but rather a rough and tumble comedy with suspense thrown in. It's a fun film for what it is replete with pratfalls, blood and good vs. evil with a Santa Claus backdrop. Ho! Ho! Ho!
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: R 112mins.
No comments:
Post a Comment