Fatman

Loosely based on the all-time classic Christmas legend , here we have an offbeat Santa Claus competently performed by elderly Mel Gibson . This is an adult , engrossing and entertaining picture containing fun , violence and amusement enough . At the beginning of the film Chris Kringle (Mel Gibson) is listening to the radio, he hears about two kids throwing a bowling ball off an overpass onto the freeway, causing a major traffic accident. The rowdy, unorthodox Santa Claus living with his wife Ruth (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is taking on difficulties to save his declining business. Meanwhile, Billy (Chance Hurstfield) , a ruthless , evil 12 year old, hires a hit man to kill Santa after receiving a lump of coal in his stocking. You know the man !. You know the legend. But you don't know the real story. Tis the season to get even !. This holiday season, you don't want to be on his hit list !. You better watch out !.

This agreeable picture contains powerful and haunting images , entertainment and amusement . Beautiful scenery , colorful cinematography by cameraman Johnny Derango , atttractive musical score by Mondo Boys , spirited adventure and a breathtaking climax at an impressi duel lift this story . It is a genuine as well as imaginative tale written and directed with professionality , fairness and imagination , though some scenes are far-from-snappy . If you like Mel Gibson , you'll enjoy this light-weight thriller/comedy , in which he stars Santa joining forces with his toy manufacturers to vanquish an extremely cunning contract killer who who uses a high precision rifle to kill him. This is one of the many movies starring Santa Claus, most of them are characterized by the traditional Santa, the good bearded Oldman who delivers presents to children, such as: ¨Santa Claus: The Movie¨ (1985) and those played by Tim Allen as ¨The Santa Clause¨ (1994) , ¨The Santa Clause 2 : The Escape Clause¨ (2002) , ¨Santa Clause 3¨ (2006) , while others on one side negative dealing with an usually disguised Santa who commits evil deeds and murders, such as ¨Silent Night, Bloody Night¨ , ¨Silent Night, Bloody Night 2: Revival¨ , ¨Silent Night, Bloody Night 3¨ and ¨Dont Open Till Christmas¨ , "Violent night" , "Christmas Bloody Christmas", "Christmas Horror Story" . Interpretations are pretty well , Mel Gibson is nice as always , as the outlandish Santa Claus , enjoyable Marianne Jean-Baptiste as his wife Ruth , while Chance Hurstfield is terrific as the neglected and precocious little boy as well as Walter Goggins as the relentless and avenging killer for hire.

The motion picture was finely written/directed by Ian Nelms and Eshom Nelms and it was fairly successful at the box office but not too much .The Nelms Brothers always write and direct together and have made multiple award-winning short and feature films. In 2013, their film 'Lost on Purpose' won numerous festival awards including Best Film, Best Directors and Best Actress for Jane Kaczmarek. In 2015, they debuted 'Waffle Street,' which went on to win Woodstock Film Festival's Inaugural Carpe Diem Award for Best Film as well as Best Narrative Film at the Hollywood Film Festival. The latest feature film by the Nelms Bros., 'Small Town Crime,' stars John Hawkes, Anthony Anderson, Academy Award Winner Octavia Spencer. The Nelms Bros. Also produce several projects together and, most recently, Eshom and Ian executive produced the series "Everyone is Doing Great," created by their longtime collaborator James Lafferty. Additionally, the Nelms Brothers are attached to direct the thriller, 'Capture,' for Thunder Road. Rating : 6.5/10, the pic will appeal to Mel Gibson enthusiasts .

Every Santa Claus movie I have seen is a pretty faithful take from the traditional story, even Will Ferrell's "Elf." But this Mel Gibson movie breaks all the Santa rules, it is like nothing I have ever seen.

The key plot point is a 12-yr-old boy who is not very nice at all, and when he receives a box of coal for Christmas he steals one of his grandmother's checks and hires a hit man to find Santa and take him out. Yes, assassinate him.

Walton Goggins is a superb actor and he is really good as the hit man. First off it isn't very easy to find where Santa and his workshop are. Once there the carnage starts, but Kris Kringle is a tough old guy.

It is a jolt to your system to see this type of movie about Santa, after watching it I admire what the filmmakers did but overall I can't give it really high marks, just a bit too strange.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library.

An eccentric version of one of the most familiar legend. Great job of Mel Gibson, giving all the bitterness of tired old age to his character, dark humor in large slices, well crafted bad guys. A seductive film, with few very familiar parts , with nice moral and drops of Terminattor . And , sure, political correct.

After Kurt Russels more family friendly Santa outing, we get mel Gibson in a more mature Santa outing. Way more mature, though I reckon there are still some lines that are not entirely crossed ... or at least they seem smoothed over. And that is one thing that I really sort of dreaded in this movie. Because while it seems like a mean Santa (Bad Santa, Kill Santa) outing, there are things or lines the movie does not cross. Pulling punches if you want to call it that.

Having said all that, the actors do an amazing job. Walton Goggins for example is quite restraint. While I wasn't sure if that was the right way to go (over the top would have also been an apt or even better choice), his soft and calm demeanor might play more into some other viewers expectations. The jokes are dry, the pace is slow .. there is nothing fancy about this outing and ... re-imagening of the myth that surrounds Santa Clause. Not more apparent than in the commercial aspect and contracts Santa is obeying by ... While I imagined this to be way more fun, it still can entertain, if you let it

I watched this movie on Christmas day as my wife likes to watch Christmas movies at that time. I wasn't too thrilled about that idea though, as I was expecting another cheesy holiday movie but Fatman is different. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It's definitely not a Christmas movie for kids that still believe in Santa Claus. There's a fair amount of violence and killings so not sure if kids want to see that if you want to keep them in the Christmas spirit. But for adults it's entertaining. Mel Gibson, once a decent actor, played in a lot of bad movies lately, at the point where I was wondering if he forgot how to act. But in Fatman he got it together again with a decent performance playing Santa Claus. Walton Goggins always seems play mean characters and he's good at it so no reason to change that. The whole cast did a good job making Fatman a different Christmas movie than we're used to. It changes from the eternal Home Alone franchise they push down our throat every year over and over again.