RED ONE (2025)
Genre: Action | Fantasy | Holiday Adventure
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J.K. Simmons
Directed by: Jake Kasdan
Runtime: 2h 1min
"Red One" is a high-octane holiday adventure that reinvents Christmas mythology with an action-packed twist. Blending ancient folklore with modern chaos, the film follows an unlikely team tasked with saving the most magical night of the year from complete destruction.
The North Pole is no longer just a winter wonderland—it's a high-tech, magical stronghold known as The Arctic Command Center, where operations for Christmas Eve are run like a military base, supervised by Commander Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), head of security and former special forces legend.
But on December 20th, disaster strikes.
Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons)—codename: Red One—is kidnapped from his sleigh mid-flight by a mysterious figure cloaked in black fire. The incident sends shockwaves through the command center. Without Santa, Christmas magic will collapse, and millions of children will lose their belief, breaking the centuries-old power balance that protects the world from ancient darkness.
Commander Drift is given a top-secret mission: retrieve Santa before the final bell of midnight on Christmas Eve.
To help, the Council of Yuletide calls in Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), a sarcastic, former elite tracker turned rogue bounty hunter who once worked for the Easter Alliance. Known for his unorthodox tactics, Jack has a complicated past with Drift—and a knack for breaking every rule in the holiday playbook.
Joining them is Frostina (Lucy Liu), the daughter of the Snow Queen, who controls ice magic and operates as the North Pole's lead enchantress.
The trio uncovers a dark force rising from old folklore: Krampus, the ancient anti-Santa, long thought destroyed, has returned—reborn in the shadows with an army of forgotten mythical creatures: Yule cats, goblins, and corrupted elves. His goal? Steal the belief magic and plunge the world into a second Dark Winter.
The team races across the globe using enchanted sleighs, snow portals, and lost Christmas relics to follow Krampus's trail. From the neon streets of Tokyo to the frozen ruins beneath Siberia, they encounter allies and enemies from forgotten mythologies.
In Brazil, they battle flame-wielding spirits from holiday festivals. In Germany, they interrogate a reformed gnome gang. And in a breathtaking chase across the Himalayas, they recover Santa’s sleigh—rigged with explosives set to destroy the last remaining reindeer magic.
Along the journey, tensions rise. Drift and Jack must overcome their rivalry, rooted in a past mission where both were betrayed. Frostina reveals that the power Krampus is gathering comes from a corrupted artifact: the Midwinter Crown, once worn by the First Claus.
On Christmas Eve, the team locates Krampus’s lair—an inverted North Pole fortress built beneath the Earth's crust. Santa is imprisoned in a stasis crystal, his life force siphoned into the crown.
A final battle erupts. Drift takes on Krampus in a brutal, snow-and-fire-fueled duel. Jack outwits Krampus’s beastly lieutenants using tech and trickery. Frostina melts the magical prison using her ice heart spell, freeing Santa just in time.
Santa reclaims his hat—an artifact of pure belief—and banishes Krampus with a blinding storm of joy and light, restoring the balance.
Back at the North Pole, Christmas is saved. Santa thanks the team, but offers Jack something unexpected: the role of next generation guardian, as the world will always need more than just one Red One.
Drift finally smiles—a rare sight—as the sleigh takes off into the night, jingle bells ringing, with the promise of more magic, more danger, and a future Christmas yet to come.
“You’ve heard the story. Now meet the team that saved it.”
