Fatman

Fatman
Starring Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Chance Hurstfield
Directed by Eshom Nelms & Ian Nelms

Original film ideas are a rarity in Hollywood, so once something original comes along, it should be celebrated for the sheer fact that it's not another cash-grab dive into the sequel/remake/adaptation pool.  However, there's some original films that still can't be applauded for being original if the substance to it is incredibly wasted, a shell of what something great should've been, an idea not fully brought to fruition due to circumstances that lie only within the filmmaker's minds.  "Fatman" is such a film - one with promise to be something extraordinary, but doesn't even live up to ordinary...it's just absolutely bland.

Chris Cringle (Mel Gibson) has been providing toys for the good girls and boys for centuries, but lately the good ones are hard to come by, and his company isn't making as much toys anymore, resulting in less money from the American government as a subsidy for boosting their economy.  His wife Ruth (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) keeps trying to get him to focus on the good ones, but all Chris thinks about is the mounting dept climbing, so much so that he finally relents and allows the government to use his workspace (and elves) to built parts for fighter jets.

Meanwhile, bad boy Billy (Chance Hurstfield) only has eyes for himself, and thinks only of himself and his success.  When a little girl wins a blue ribbon award instead of him, he calls on Jonathan Miller (Walton Goggins), a hitman, to pressure her to give up the ribbon.  On Christmas day, Billy is outraged to find a coal under the tree from Santa, and orders Miller to assassinate Santa - a task he is all too pleased to accept due to his own bad memories as a child.  Miller takes the cross-country trek to North Peak, Alaska, to find Chris Cringle and accomplish his task, leaving a mess of bodies in his wake.

"Fatman" had three conflicting storylines that could've shown intense promise if the directors had solely focused on one of them.  There's the very real concept of economic hardship in the world today.  Portraying Chris Cringle as a man (albeit one still endowed with special powers) who relies off the subsidies the government provides points to the economic hardships that many Americans are facing today, and the dangers of relying on the government for providing for your needs.  He's not making enough money anymore because the kids are so cruel nowadays that he doesn't make enough toys, and struggles financially to merely stay afloat.  The film could've focused on his ability to rise himself up by his bootstraps and find different ways of making money - but the film actually does do this when he allows the government to use his facility and employees to make parts for fighter jets, but even this part of the story seems nonsensical and arbitrary to the other story going on.  Mel Gibson is the perfect role to embody this type of Chris Cringle, as you see the years of weariness wearing on him and his internal struggle to make ends meet.  Likewise, Marianne Jean-Baptiste is a great choice for his wife Ruth, who's talent for sewing and baking cookies are just the outer dressing of this highly complex, nuanced, and stable character who does more than just try to keep Chris grounded, but also shows a warrior's spirit when needed.

There's also the concept of how society has crumbled as a whole, resulting in less and less "good" boys and girls that Chris gives toys to at Christmas.  Billy exemplifies the generic American society today - self-centered, looking out for his own interests, doesn't care about anyone's needs or wants, and who stops at nothing to get what he thinks he's owed.  Chance Hurstfield not only plays Billy in this way to perfection, but his mere appearance gives off entitlement.  While his performance is grating, annoying, and insufferable, that's what the character requires.  Yet he's only an afterthought, who more or less disappears once he enlists the hitman to take down Santa.

Finally there's the action component, delivered by Walton Goggins' Jonathan Miller.  He's given the second most screen time in the film (other than the Fatman himself), and yet his motives aren't always clear.  We know he had some beef with Santa in the past, as his hobby is purchasing Christmas toys from kids young and old alike, but we don't fully get this part of the story until the end, and by then it's too late to care.  Goggins gives his natural charisma to the film in the sense that he breezes through the performance with merely a glance, going through the motions of your typical eccentric hitman in such a generic way he isn't at all memorable, and for an actor of Goggins's caliber, that's rather disappointing.  The film could've focused on an intense cat-and-mouse game between the two men, but Chris doesn't even know of Jonathan's existence until the end, culminating in a very lackluster confrontation that could've been more profound if they had interacted a few times previously.

In the end, by not focusing on one of the three aforementioned storylines they try to tell, brothers Eshom and Ian Nelms not only fail to really deliver either a thoughtful or exciting story, but something totally muddied to the point that no one - not even the actors - seem to care about the outcome.  All the actors involved seem totally disinterested in the film, and it's something you can tell not just in their studded performances, but also the soulless look in their eyes as well.  They're just going through the motions (and in some cases not even going that far) to produce something that they seemingly know could've been great, but became just a movie that'll be remembered for being played on basic cable on Saturday afternoons around the holidays. 

"Fatman" was a film that showed a lot of promise and hope, but ultimately fell short in trying to tell too many different stories at once, culminating in a sense of laziness from everyone involved, causing the viewer to be as disinterested in the film as those on the other end of the screen - bah humbug.

The Score: D-