Director
Eshom Nelms
Ian Nelms
Cast
Mel Gibson - Chris Cringle
Marianne Jean-Baptiste - Ruth Cringle
Chance Hurstfield - Billy Wenan
Walton Goggins - Skinny Man
Eric Wolfe - Elf 7
I've said before that a movie's first objective is entertainment. A movie might have the purest of morals and top-of-the-line actors, but if it's not entertaining, it has already begun to fail. I believe this is true of all movies I've seen, from The Passion of the Christ to Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
I love those rare occasions where a trailer leaves my mouth agape, and I ask to whomever is listening, "what the hell was that?"
The 2020 dark fantasy comedy Fatman starring America's favorite troubled celebrity, Mel Gibson, was released during the holidays last year.
I wanted to go see it, but I wasn't able to for quarantine reasons.
In the trailer for Fatman, I saw Gibson as some realistic rendition of Santa Claus wielding a gun while in a loathing frame of mind.
I had to wait for the movie to come out on DVD to watch. I wasn't able to get my hands on until now, just after Easter.
After watching it, I was left with the question "what the hell was that?" However, it wasn't quite the same inquiry as it was after I saw the trailer.
Fatman is a more realistic rendition of a world where Santa exists.
In this movie, Chris Cringle (Gibson) lives in North Peak, Alaska, with his wife, Ruth (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). I supposed that's close enough to the North Pole? Also, he's not really fat. But now I'm nitpicking.
His toy workshop operates like a typical manufacturing company. And he keeps his sleigh in the barn under some tarps like it's an old Mustang he works on when he has time.
Cringle's annual toy income is declining thanks to more and more children falling away from any moral compass. He's hasn't turned evil, nor is he out for revenge. Cringle is crestfallen and tired under the weight of watching corruption of the modern entitled world swallow youth one child at a time.
Though not everyone knows Cringle really exists despite the label on the toys he delivers declaring "built in Santa's workshop." The U.S. Government is certainly aware of Cringle's existence, and is interested in using his facilities for a short while.
The government sends Capt. Jacobs , Cringle's liaison to the Government, to offer Cringle a two-month contract allowing the use of his facility and workforce (i.e. the elves) to produce parts and components for new U.S. Military jet fighters.
With funds running on the short side, Cringle reluctantly agrees to help compensate those financial shortcomings.
Meanwhile, a boy named Billy Wenan (Chance Hurstfield), who lives with his wealthy grandmother and is neglected by his father, doesn't accept losing in his life. He's a child who'll stoop to criminal acts in order to get what he believes is rightfully his.
He goes so far as to kidnap a classmate who beat him at a science fair, threaten her with starter cables, and force her to falsely admit she cheated in the fair so he can win another 1st Place ribbon.
After receiving a lump of coal for Christmas - the only negative consequence to his maliciousness - Billy hires hitman Jonathan Miller (Walton Goggins), using his grandmother's money, to kill Santa.
Miller agrees, and soon figures out where Cringle lives.
While Cringle deals with his belief that he's been a failure in influencing good in people (especially children) as his workshop and farm are temporarily taken over by the Military, Miller makes the long road trip up through Canada and into Alaska to locate and kill Cringle.
Miller, by the way, has his own vendetta against Santa Claus.
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| Mel Gibson as Chris Cringle in Fatman. |
It sounds silly as I type out the basic summery of the plot. But it doesn't feel nearly as silly while watching it. The movie tries overall succeeds at setting an overall serious tone. At least, the majority does.
Nothing necessarily stands out about Santa except for his familiarity with the strangers he meets. They don't know Chris, but he certainly knows them, and whether they've been naughty or nice. This would be an interesting world to explore further.
I certainly have to applaud the film's originality. Not since the 1964 science fiction comedy movie Santa Claus Conquers the Martians has a Christmas movie centering on the jolly old fat man taken a road away from the same old Santa formula.
Several movies have been made in the past depicting Santa becoming homicidal maniac - Christmas Evil (1980), Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010), and Sint (2010) to name a few.
Fatman is different. The subtleties help tell the story.
Though Chris Cringle doesn't fancy himself in the traditional image as St. Nicholas as he struggles in a world leaning more and more towards self-indulgence and entitlement, he still maintains a few of those traditional Christmas customs.
Cringle has a steady snack diet of Christmas cookies his wife makes. He still tries to maintain some kind of joy within though struggles with a disdain for the world and the direction it's going. He blames himself and wants to quit, and his wife Ruth helps keep his spirits bright.
Goggins portrayal of the hitman Jonathan Miller (credited as "the Skinny Man") is perfect. It's a smidge over the top, but in a movie like this, it needs to be. You want to see him receive the worst consequences. He's a broken man bandaged up with the belief he's outside of consequences. He was failed as a child, so he believes he deserves to get something out of life anyway he can to compensate. Goggins is so well cast for this role as he makes his character someone audiences love hating, and not just because he's out to kill Chris Cringle.
Chance Hurstfield's performance is fantastic as he makes a convincing child who is willing to kill anyone who crosses him.
He has an amazing amount of talent he puts into his role.
Hurstfield turns off the innocence like a switch, changing with a skip of his foot into an unsympathetic little shit willing to go the route of criminality to get what he wants. Like Miller, his mind puts him in a place that's out of reach from consequences.
A selfish sense of entitlement left unchecked can easily lead to violence that'll soon look to kill even the best among us.
Fatman is rather bold to a degree with all its elements put together. I enjoyed watching it all playout, with Gibson playing a version of Santa that is more grounded in reality, though he still has his elves making toys, and reindeer to pull his sleigh.
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| Chance Hurstfield as Billy. |
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