On Screen Dayton

 

CAST: 

Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid)

Sherry (Amber Midthunder)

Roscoe (Jacob Batalon) 

Simon (Ray Nicholson)

Ben (Evan Hengst)

Andre (Conrad Kemp)

Mincy (Betty Gabriel)

Coltraine (Matt Walsh)

Earl (Lou Betty, Jr.)

 

DIRECTORS: Robert Olsen and Dan Berk

WRITER: Lars Jacobson

THE PLOT: Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) is mild-mannered 30 year-old man living in San Diego. He works as an assistant bank manager where he tries his best to help those like Earl (Lou Betty, Jr.) facing hard times. He lives alone in his apartment, playing his favorite RPG online with Roscoe (Jacob Batalon) and he is fond of wearing a tie with reindeer on it during the holidays, which, since it’s Christmas Eve, seems appropriate. 

 

Nathan also has an extremely rare – and very serious – medical condition: Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), which means is has the inability to feel pain or changes in temperature (and in real life, a very decreased sweating ability). People with CIPA often suffer a long road to recovery as a result of their injuries, marked by slower healing, especially when they do so incorrectly. This is why Nathan has read an extensive amount of medical books, has dummy-proofed his house to avoid running into sharp corners and even avoids chewing since he’s afraid he might bite his tongue in half – or worse. 

 

But despite living a very simple (and safe) life, there is one thing that makes Nathan wonder if he should risk it all: Sherry (Amber Midthunder), the relatively new teller at the bank where they both work. Fast-forward to a wonderful night hanging out with Sherry at an art exhibition and let’s just say why he might not be able to feel pain, Nathan is definitely feeling something.

 

What he didn’t expect to feel, however, was the terror and panic that ensues when a trio of Santa Claus-dressed bank robbers led by Simon (Ray Nicholson) enter his bank and decide to make two withdrawals: a sizable amount of cash and Sherry as a hostage. Awakening after being temporarily disposed out to discover Sherry gone, Nathan decides to do something that could change his life forever: Pursue the bad guys, save the girl and embrace the nickname that has dogged him since middle school.

And it’s a good thing he can’t feel pain – because he’s about to experience more pain than most people will in their entire life to try to save the girl of his dreams.

THE REVIEW: Far be it for me to worry about Quaid becoming typecast as as a nice guy who specializes in playing nice guys thrust into the most insane of situations given his long run on Amazon Prime’s The Boys, but … If Quaid keeps delivering performance that balance chaos, charm and great quips as he does in NOVOCAINE, it might be hard for him to escape it – not that his fans will be mad about that.

It take a true talent to play a convincing nerdy individual who can also pull off action sequences and make the cartoonish feel realistic (when it’s obvious they are absurd), but if there’s ever an actor in 2025 that excels at that, it’s Quaid. In much the same fashion his character on The Boys always has a desire to do the right thing or find a resolution for a situation, once he is forced into action, he remains a sympathetic character for whom you root. His interplay with Midthunder rivals that of his interactions with his Boys co-star Erin Moriarty; his “please don’t make me do this” to “OK, I’m going to do this and if I die, so be it” transition being on display once again.

In short, Novocaine may feel VERY familiar to fans of Quaid’s work on The Boys, but it also shows that he can be the lead in a vehicle versus a co-star (albeit in the front) of an ensemble cast. There’s nothing wrong with knowing one’s formula and sticking to it, especially when it works as well as it does in NOVOCAINE.

If that sounds like a journey you’re interested in taking, you’ll likely be a left in as many stitches as the film’s titular character.

 

Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), however, is only concerned with one person and one person only: himself. That’s among the reasons he will take on any nefarious job thrown his way, the man known only as “The Wolf” on the dark web specializing in finding people that can’t be found. Unfortunately for his ex Olivia (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), that doesn’t extend to finding time to spend with his son Dylan (Wesley Kimmel).

All their worlds are about to collide, however, once Jack helps an unknown client track down a secret location in the North Pole that just so happens to be jolly ol’ – and very in shape – St. Nick’s home. Who has kidnapped Santa Claus and why is a mystery Cal and The Director realize they can’t solve, so they decide to bring in some outside help in the form of Jack – and he’s going to help them whether he as a Level Four “Naughty Lister” likes it or not.

 

THE REVIEW: RED ONE is entertaining, thanks to the strong performances of the cast, its action sequences which don’t feel overtly hokey or forced and relatable story. However, given that the aforementioned action sequences and language are far too intense for anyone under 10, the message of the film is geared more towards adults and it’s length at just over 2 hours in length, it’s also a movie without a defined audience. While the film explores one of the lost staples of Christmas – seeing the goodness in others – it also cuts off the carrot off its snowmen’s respective faces by not quite fitting into one particular audience. 

 

For all his recent WWE and athletic prowess, RED ONE reminds us that behind Johnson’s physicality also lies a man capable of conveying emotion with a simple gaze, vocal tone or smile. Johnson plays well against Evans’ character’s very anti-Captain America-like behavior, which never feels forced or included for the story’s sake. It’s the classic “I don’t like you, I don’t like you either” polar opposites formula, but it works as both Evans and Johnson execute it well. 

 

The biggest standpoint performances, however, belong to the film’s lesser-known cast members.  

Kiernan Shipka’s portrayal of Gryla, the evil Christmas witch, is never out of place, helping to make her a formidable foe once she is introduced into the story, even her own personal backstory never truly comes into focus. It is Game of Thrones alum Kristopher Hivju, however, who steals the show as Nick’s half brother Krampus, so much so that if he were to get his own spin-off film, it might do better than RED ONE is likely to do on its own.

Overall, RED ONE is an entertaining affair, but its constant flip-flopping between wanting to be an action movie and a family affair makes for a balanced experience that ends up feeling unbalanced for the very audiences it seeks to attract. It’s sort of like Cars meets The Fast and the Furious, which while entertaining on their own aren’t exactly the easiest mashup to make work together. It’s got just enough to keep you watching, but not enough to truly hook you into adding it to your Christmas classics list.

To quote the Bible verse where the quote is found, “no one can serve two masters.” In the case of RED ONE, trying to make a Christmas action movie feels like trying to serve to audiences at once, possibly to its own detriment even though, in the end, it works better than it should.

If nothing else, one thing is for sure: You’ll never look at Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots the same way ever again.