Take those jack o’lanterns to the dumpster, it’s Christmas time, at least according to the multiplex. One such flick is already getting moviegoers in the “spirit” with the modestly budgeted The Best Christmas Pageant Ever packing them in after only a week. Well, it’s time for the big studios to load up your stocking with lots of action and firepower. Hey, we get plenty of holiday comedies and romances, so how about a butt-kickin” Kringle? That’s the formula for this, an expansion of the movie within a movie “The Day the Reindeer Died” from the opening of 1988’s Scrooged, along with lotsa’ laughs in between explosions and a heartful message snuck in. Hopefully, it comes together like a warm fruitcake (and probably tastier) in Red One.

Unlike many holiday tales (especially variants of “A Christmas Carol”), this one begins with a flashback as little Jack O’Malley...