The story loosely draws on Santa's mythos, but presents Santa as having brokered a Faustian deal with the US govt. to manufacture toys with the intent of stimulating the economy. Unlike the normal presentation of St. Nick, Santa can get depressed and run low on Christmas spirit, and there are bills to pay to keep the toy factory afloat. At the end of the day though, this movie is basically a revenge plot between the kids who get lumps of coal and the big, red, fat man.
The actors are all top notch, truly. Mel Gibson is awesome as Chris Cringle with a gritty, but vaguely jolly Santa that has been brought down by the realities of life as a sellout. Mrs. Clause, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, is Santa's soft place to fall and brings a healthy dose of Christmas spirit to the table. The kid in this movie, Billy Wenan (Chance Hurstfield), is a truly diabolical villain, who in my opinion steals the show. He is almost a little too convincing in his sociopathic role; someone get that kid a shrink lol. A close runner up to the kid is his henchman, the skinnyman (Walter Goggins), who has also been "wronged" by Santa. All of the actors in this movie are very good at their jobs and deserve kudos for their performance.
The final scene is just excellent acting by Mel Gibson, who makes sure that everyone knows that Santa is making a list, and checking it twice.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, but I can't give this movie more than 7 stars because the climax was a little underwhelming. The movie builds a good deal of momentum and kind of peters out just when you hope they will turn the dial up to 10 on the action and drama. I'd definitely recommend it to a friend though!
The actors are all top notch, truly. Mel Gibson is awesome as Chris Cringle with a gritty, but vaguely jolly Santa that has been brought down by the realities of life as a sellout. Mrs. Clause, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, is Santa's soft place to fall and brings a healthy dose of Christmas spirit to the table. The kid in this movie, Billy Wenan (Chance Hurstfield), is a truly diabolical villain, who in my opinion steals the show. He is almost a little too convincing in his sociopathic role; someone get that kid a shrink lol. A close runner up to the kid is his henchman, the skinnyman (Walter Goggins), who has also been "wronged" by Santa. All of the actors in this movie are very good at their jobs and deserve kudos for their performance.
The final scene is just excellent acting by Mel Gibson, who makes sure that everyone knows that Santa is making a list, and checking it twice.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, but I can't give this movie more than 7 stars because the climax was a little underwhelming. The movie builds a good deal of momentum and kind of peters out just when you hope they will turn the dial up to 10 on the action and drama. I'd definitely recommend it to a friend though!