Mel Gibsonas Chris CringleThe story
About Fatman
Father Christmas is a weary, hard-drinking man whose workshop is losing money as children behave worse each year, so he reluctantly takes a contract from the US military to keep his elves employed. Meanwhile a spoilt, vindictive boy who found coal in his stocking hires a professional killer with his own childhood grudge, and the hitman heads north for a violent showdown at the snowbound workshop.
The CineClaus verdict
Mel Gibson plays a weary, hard-drinking Father Christmas who takes a military contract to keep his failing workshop afloat, while a hired killer with a grudge heads north to find him. It is a good dark joke, and the Nelms brothers tell it almost entirely straight, which lends some bite but drains much of the fun.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste supplies what warmth there is. The final shoot-out is long and bloody. Try it if your seasonal taste runs sour; anyone expecting an action comedy should skip it.
The family desk
Can the kids watch?
Our take: bloody gun violence, a stabbing, a child in real danger and plenty of strong language mean this is strictly a grown-up watch.
Content advice & accessibility
- Our age guidance
- Editorial, separate from the official 15 certificate, and never looser than it.
