MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

Red One is a fun and enjoyable action/fantasy/comedy with a seasonal twist, written by Chris Morgan and Hiram Garcia, and directed by Jake Kasdan in his ‘Jumanji’ mode. The film stars Chris Evans as notorious hacker Jack O’Malley, aka The Wolf, whose life is turned upside down when he provides a set of co-ordinates to a mysterious client, which leads to Santa Claus (J. K. Simmons) being kidnapped from his complex in the North Pole. O’Malley – who is a lifelong skeptic and has not believed in Santa since he was a small child – is apprehended by Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson), head of North Pole security, at the behest of Zoe Harlow (Lucy Liu), the head of M.O.R.A,. a clandestine military organization that oversees and protects a secret peace treaty between mythological creatures and humanity. Despite both of them having misgivings about the other, Drift and O’Malley team up and embark on a wild globe-trotting action adventure, as they try to find out who kidnapped Santa and why.

Red One has received largely negative critical reviews since it opened but I honestly have no idea why – I thought it was a blast, a fun and energetic and endlessly creative festive adventure. I especially appreciated the world-building done by Morgan, Garcia, and Kasdan, the technological twists on familiar Christmas tropes, and the slightly subversive performance by Johnson who takes his stoic and serious action hero persona and applies it to all manner of ridiculous scenarios. Seeing him interact with giant reindeer, elves, seven-foot polar bears, evil snowmen, and even Krampus himself, as though it were the most normal thing in the world, makes everything one step funnier.

The score for Red One is by English composer Henry Jackman, who here is working with director Kasdan for the third time after Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in 2017 and Jumanji: The Next Level in 2019. I generally like Jackman as a composer, but he can be a bit hit and miss, and I haven’t reviewed anything by him since Kong: Skull Island in 2017, which may tell you something. Red One, however, most definitely falls in the hit column for me – it’s a broad and slightly schizophrenic score which combines sentimental orchestral pathos with intense contemporary action, moments of suspense, light horror, and elements of Christmas music complete with the ubiquitous sleigh bells, but I found that each individual element worked well on its own terms, and over-achieved when one or more of the elements are brought together in the same cue.

There appear to be two major and three minor recurring themes in the score. The first major one is the theme for Chris Evans’s character, Jack O’Malley, and this is introduced in the eponymous first cue. Jack is a hacker, a wannabe spy, and a light-fingered smooth-talking confidence trickster, and so Jackman’s music for him has a light and jazzy Lalo Schifrin Mission Impossible vibe, a fun and energetic groove that makes use of slithery strings, bright horns, and lightly tapped percussion with a distinct throwback 1960s attitude. I also like how Jackman often incorporates sleigh bells into the percussion section as a nod to the film’s Christmas setting. Jack’s theme comes back prominently later in the complicated action sequence “The Wolf,” which sees Jack fighting against members of Drift’s Enforcement Logistics and Fortification (ELF) squad when they try to apprehend him in his apartment. There are a lot of prominent bubbling electronic textures in this cue too, which give it a different flavor.

The second major theme is the theme for Santa himself, Saint Nicholas, and is introduced in the second cue “Red One”. After a few moments of buildup the theme starts to emerge at around the 35 second mark, and gradually asserts itself as the cue develops. Jackman is clever in his arrangements: sometimes it has a powerful militaristic vibe that acknowledges this film’s vigorous and energetic Santa, but then elsewhere it has all the festive and wholesome charm that is usually associated with Christmas films, and has a sound on a par with recent seasonal classics like Alan Silvestri’s The Polar Express, or an orchestral Christmas carol. This same sound can be heard in the subsequent “The North Pole,” which is full of magical charm and wonderment.

The minor themes include a menacing idea for “Grýla,” the seductive but evil Christmas Witch played by Kiernan Shipka, a mass of glassy electronics, low percussive thumps, James Horner-esque brass chords, and shrilly abstract string textures. There is a militaristic march for Zoe Harlow and the Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority in “M.O.R.A.” which contains some tremendous Alan Silvestri-style syncopated percussive patterns that move around from pianos to strings, and which comes back later during “Shape-Shifters”. Then, finally, there is a low, menacing idea for the Krampus character, Santa’s demonic German half-brother played with face-schlapping gusto by Game of Thrones’s Kristofer Hivju.

Interestingly, Dwayne Johnson’s character Callum Drift doesn’t appear to have a theme of his own. Instead, there is a low-key sentimental theme for warm strings and soft pianos which is less a character theme and is more an idea relating to ‘positive male relationships’ – Santa and Callum in “One Last Ride,” and then Jack and his estranged son Dylan in “To Be Good” and “Father and Son”.

Each of these themes and motifs appear in the various action set-pieces, most of which are very entertaining indeed. The first major action sequence is “Breach,” which underscores the scene of Drift racing around the North Pole complex in hot pursuit of a snow cat vehicle which he thinks contains the kidnapped Santa Claus. Bursts of the Santa theme run all through the cue, which reverberates to massive pulsating string figures, blaring brasses, tumultuous percussion patterns, and electronic enhancements. This music is perhaps best compared to some of the music Jackman wrote for scores like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, or perhaps The Predator, albeit with a stronger central melodic core.

The second major action sequence is the Aruba sequence, comprising the cues from “Aruba Bound” to “Snowmen,” which underscore the scenes where Jack and Drift visit the Caribbean to track down the ‘middle-man’ who they think can lead them to the buyer of Jack’s co-ordinates. “Aruba Bound” is a fantastic James Bond homage, “Trouble in Paradise” offers a fun new variation on Jack’s theme, “Death Mercs” has an unexpectedly brutal action setting of the Santa theme, and “Possession” is a light horror take on Grýla’s theme for a quite disturbing scene where she remotely possesses the body of the middle man. The climactic “Snowmen” adds weight to the action scene where Jack and Drift fight off an ice cream van full of evil snowmen sent to do Grýla’s bidding, and destroy a beachside resort in the process; the snowmen have a harsh guttural brass texture and an associated percussion figure that accompanies them throughout the scene, and Jackman’s action writing is unexpectedly dense and intense. Watch out for those carrots!

The third major action sequence is the Castle-de-Krampus sequence, which underscores the scene where Jack and Drift infiltrate the lair of Santa’s pro-punishment adopted brother, where they believe he is being held. “Krampus” builds on some of the orchestral horror textures heard earlier in the Grýla motif, but adds a layer of medieval gothic power to the whole thing through the notable use of harpsichords, tolling bells, and even a subtle choir. The whole thing explodes in “Mythic Mayhem,” a helter-skelter chase sequence that sets both the Krampus motif and a dark variation on Santa’s theme into a frenetic bed of scampering strings, dark brass clusters, and fluttering woodwinds.

The fourth major action sequence underscores the final confrontation scene between Drift, Jack, Krampus, and Grýla on the reindeer launchpad in front of Santa’s skyscraper headquarters at the North Pole. “Stop That Sleigh!” and “The Christmas Witch” contain huge action settings of Grýla’s theme interspersed with contrapuntal action settings of Santa’s theme, a heroic version of Krampus’s theme, and even an occasional snippet of Jack’s theme, amid yet more pulsating and driving orchestral action, this time with the addition of a powerful choir. Finally, in “Saint Nick,” Santa and his reindeer comes to everyone’s rescue with a huge statement of the Santa theme that is supremely satisfying, and has its sentimentality turned up to eleven. This segues into the conclusive “Saving Christmas” as Santa – having been rescued by Drift and Jack – rushes to deliver all the presents on Christmas Eve, and uses all his magical powers to do so. Jackman scores this final scene with the action turned up to eleven too, arranging Santa’s theme as part of a propulsive modern action beat, before ending with one final massive statement of the main theme in its full orchestral glory.

The Amazon digital release of the soundtrack also includes an original song, “Christmas Magic,” a traditional pop/jazz standard co-written and performed by the Icelandic singer-songwriter and musician Laufey, and so depending on which service you acquire the score from, the album might begin with it. The score tracks appear to be identical across all platforms, although I should note that the album is missing some fun pieces of underscore, including the hilarious ooga-booga ‘Chant Drums’ that appear as a recurring leitmotif for Krampus’s dark version of Santa’s sleigh, the entire Krampusschlap sequence, and quite a bit of music from the finale. As such, anyone who found that music notable in context should bear that in mind.

Overall, I had a ton of fun with Red One. Some online commentators have rightly pointed out that the score is a little schizophrenic and all over the place, an odd combination of sentimental traditional orchestral Christmas music and very modern action, and that is a very true observation. However, for me, that’s part of what made this score so impressive: that Jackman could take all those influences, plus the Mission Impossible jazz for Jack’s caper theme and the light horror of the Grýla and Krampus themes, and make them all work together when they really shouldn’t. There have been a whole host of subversive Christmas scores of late, which turn the festive musical tropes on their head – I’m thinking especially of things like Lorne Balfe’s Silent Night, and Dominic Lewis’s pair Violent Night and Spirited. Red One might be my favorite of the lot.

Buy the Red One soundtrack from the Movie Music UK Store

Track Listing:

• Jack O’Malley (3:04)
• Red One (3:17)
• The North Pole (2:04)
• One Last Ride (3:37)
• Grýla (1:51)
• Breach (3:28)
• The Wolf (1:48)
• M.O.R.A. (2:01)
• Aruba Bound (1:06)
• Trouble in Paradise (1:01)
• Death Mercs (1:01)
• Possession (1:59)
• Snowmen (2:44)
• To Be Good (1:01)
• Krampus (3:28)
• Mythic Mayhem (1:20)
• Shape-Shifters (1:57)
• Father and Son (1:35)
• Stop That Sleigh! (2:21)
• The Christmas Witch (4:14)
• Saint Nick (3:11)
• Saving Christmas (3:23)

Sony Classical (2024)

Running Time: 51 minutes 30 seconds

Music composed by Henry Jackman. Conducted by Gavin Greenaway. Orchestrations by Stephen Coleman, Andrew Kinney, Michael James Lloyd and Geoff Lawson. Additional music by Evan Goldman, Antonio Di Iorio, Alex Kovacs and Anthony Willis. Recorded and mixed by Nick Wollage. Edited by Chris Fogel. Album produced by Henry Jackman.