Red One is Everything Wrong With Hollywood

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Chris Evans teamed up to deliver us maybe the worst film of 2024. I talk about how brutally bad "Red One" is.

[thomasgomes]

The fact that the Rock saw Oppenheimer and immediately thought about this movie is a hilarious testiment to his own inflated ego and dillusional perspective on films as an art.

[Undrave]

I feel like if this movie concept had been made in the 90s it would have cost 10% of Red One's budget and it would have rocked. It would have been earnest, have tons of janky special effects and one liners, and be on constant repeat on cable during the holidays.

[baxterwilson]

Movies are so ugly now. They have no contrast. Everything is color graded so that every detail is visible in the shadows, which in my opinion makes them look flat.

[momo.ru-kun]

Dwayne Johnson doesn't play anybody but the Rock, he just stars in movies with different names but it is still essentially the Rock in a different costume or role. He doesn't play as Black Adam or Road Block, they all play the Rock. If you seen one Rock movie, that should be enough to summarize his whole filmography.

[flaamingeaux]

Gabi Belle did a fantastic video essay on Hollywood's issue with comedy movies these days.

I'd also like to point out an issue many people have stated about modern Hollywood: The Lighting. Even through the clips you showed here, I had to turn my phone on full bright and I was in a moderately lit room and in some of the scenes, I *STILL* couldn't see the characters very well. I just went and watched the rest of the video in my dark closet so I could actually see 😭

[PointlessHub]

A commercial for this popped on and my mother in law said "Oh that looks fun"

[LimeyLassen]

I get that every genre of film has a mud filter on it nowadays, but a Christmas comedy? Why does a Christmas comedy need to look like Endgame?

[rorylynch]

With the exception of Knives Out, Chris Evans has starred in nothing but garbage since Endgame. He's literally becoming the sort of actor he parodied in Scott Pilgrim, where he just does shallow roles that dont require any effort

[shino]

Something about a picture of The Rock with a "Everything wrong with Hollywood" caption next to it feels so satisfying and accurate

[jacinto]

"Rock is a very versatile








-said no one ever

[GLC]

When I first saw the trailer for this movie, my immediate thought was “I can’t wait to watch part of this while folding laundry and then forget about it an hour later.”

[jayanths]

You see the problem is that to fully enjoy this masterpiece, you need to watch it in an IMAX theatre whilst sitting in the exact same spot where Christopher Nolan sat to watch Oppenheimer.

[bartoszdulas]

The funniest part of Red One is the Rock refering to Oppenheimer when talking about Red One as of those movies were at the same level of quality. Bro is really delusional

[psychokinrazalon]

The difference between now and the 60s is that audiences have so many other entertainment options, and just as well, so do creators. You don’t have to go to Hollywood to make a movie when you can crowdfund and stay independent. A lot of young creatives are putting their stuff online and raking in tons of money without ever needing to sign a contract given by a suit. Hollywood is genuinely facing extinction.

[TomDrake-AA]

The Other Guys is definitely the Rock's best role imo. He allowed himself to play an arrogant jerk who is surrounded by adoring fans and then dies in a hilarious way because of his insane ego Lol. I was shocked he died in a movie

[JeonardShadby]

The fact that its title can be misread as the word "REDONE" pretty much summarizes how unoriginal this flick's plot is. It's all been done, now it's being... redone.

[Dayman]

How is it that this had a way bigger budget than Dune???

[thisisaduckindisguise]

When I first saw the poster it looked like one of those fan cast posters you’d see on Google Images as a kid

[shinzero]

The biggest thing Red One did was make me want the overall setting to be a franchise. Make films starring Lucy Liu's character trying to manage the mythological world. The Christmas theme held back the film so much and the whole idea of a lighthearted franchise that is basically Men in Black meets Supernatural is appealing to me.

My biggest issue with Red One was that it seemed to not know what audience it was going for or what it wanted to be. It had the dialogue of a film like Semi-Pro, the themes of a film like Elf, the action of a film like Jumanji, a plot that seemed to require Pirates of the Carribean-level CG and a budget that somehow only let them afford Disney+ MCU show CG. In terms of audience, it seemed to follow kid movie rules while being made for mid/late teens and containing just enough so that adults could enjoy parts.

The stuff with Evan's son was just... bad even if the overall message about being a parent was kinda okay. The whole setup was essentially Evan's ex forcing him to drop everything he was doing to go pick up his son because she can't pick him up. Her entire character is insulting him until he goes to meet with his son, twice. The second time she doesn't even give him the chance to explain that he's in another country at the time.

The overall snowman scene wasn't an issue for me.

There was the whole moment where it looked like there was going to be a reveal that Johnson's character wasn't human. He kept referring to 'normal' people as human and when asked about it he gave a vague answer that seemed like it would've tied into something later but it never did.

The CG budget seemed fully spent by the time the final encounter happened though. The big reveal of the villain's true form was a let down at that point because they lacked detail compared to everyone in the Krampus scene.

[DKyle]

Anything with Dwayne in it, is automatically going to suck. It baffles me why they still put him in movies.