A Plot Synopsis of The Movie ‘Red One’

Written by Michael Lee

*All Media used in this article is courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Official Trailer: ‘Red One’ (2024)

Video via Amazon MGM Studios

Plot Synopsis

The film begins with Calum Drift, head security commander of ELF (Enforcement Logistic and Fortification), as he requests to retire after the Christmas after next. He has grown weary with the length of the Naughty List, as a majority of the world’s children have increased their bad behavior. We are also introduced to the Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority, also known as M.O.R.A. M.O.R.A is a multilateral military organization that protects a sacred peace treaty honoring the coexistence between humans and mythical creatures.

Later, on Christmas Eve, a Black Ops team breaks into the North Pole and kidnaps Santa Claus. Callum Drift then informs the director of M.O.R.A, Zoe Harlow, about the kidnapping of Santa. She orders a full investigation and discovers that a man named Jack O’ Malley, a mercenary hacker, has discovered the North Pole’s secret location.

Zoe then has Jack apprehended for questioning, but Jack claims he didn’t know the information he hacked belonged to Santa Claus, as he sent the information along to an anonymous buyer. Zoe offers Jack double his payment for his help in tracking down Santa, but not before implementing a tracker inside Jack. Callum Drift and Jack team up to track Santa, their first covert mission being tracking down the broker, the one who arranged the deal with Jack and Santa’s kidnapper in Aruba.

Photo Credit: Amazon Content Services LLC

The broker reveals that Santa’s kidnapper is Grýla, the Winter Witch. Grýla preemptively sends a league of her enchanted snowmen to eliminate them. Jack and Callum defeat them, but the broker becomes encased in ice. Drift suspects that Grýla might be taking orders from Krampus, who we learn is Santa’s estranged and adopted brother. Krampus and Grýla are ex-lovers, while the former is the one who is responsible for creating the Naughty List.

Drift and Jack break into Krampus’s lair, but are captured upon entry. Drift begs Krampus to help his brother Santa, who he alleges misses Krampus, but Krampus refuses. Krampus allows Jack to leave, but stays to persuade Krampus to play Krampusschlap with Drift, which allows Jack to recover Drift’s magic gauntlet which allows them to escape Krampus’s lair.

Later, we learn that Grýla and her sons have been keeping Santa Claus in some kind of vault that siphons his magic, which in turn has left him totally unconscious. Grýla has impeding plans, which is to rid the world of every child who has ever been on the naughty list by imprisoning them inside a replicated glaskafig, a snow globe prison. She tests the efficiency of her glaskafig by imprisoning Jack and her estranged son, Dylan. While the two are stuck inside their respective snowglobes, the two have a heart to heart, with both of them agreeing to be kinder, which breaks the snowglobes, therefore freeing them.

Photo Credit: Frank Masi/Amazon Content Services LLC

Zoe and Callum Drift use the tracker to find Jack, suddenly realizing that Santa has been imprisoned somewhere in the North Pole the entire time and that Grýla has been inhabiting the North Pole with her shapeshifters. Callum and Zoe go to the North Pole, free Mrs. Claus, elves, and other security staff. The two find Jack and Dyla in Santa’s old workshop, as well as the equipment that Grýla was using to mass-produce her snowglobes.

Grýla prepares to leave the North Pole with Santa, as she realizes that the equipment in the North Pole relies on Santa’s magic. Grýla prepares Santa’s sleigh, packed with an unconscious Santa and her many snow globes. Zoe, Callum, and Jack attempt to apprehend Grýla and a fight ensues. Krampus arrives to help and they imprison Grýla inside one of her snowglobes which is released to M.O.R.A custody. Santa recovers and he and Krampus remedy their relationship.

Now that Grýla is defeated, the team has to rush to prepare for Santa’s trip around the globe. Santa invites both Jack and Dylan to accompany him as he makes his Christmas Eve flight, which they both accept. It is then that Callum chooses not to retire and the film fades to black.