By: Kimber Lee
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD
Happy Holidays everyone! It’s the most wonderful time of the year, so grab your cocoa, snuggle up on the couch with a warm fuzzy blanket, hang the mistletoe, light the fire, and watch your favorite holiday movie.
Today I watched the film Fatman after someone made the suggestion to watch it on a horror/nerd discussion group that I follow. This was unlike anything I ever expected from a Christmas movie, but I have to admit I really liked it. I mean for one, this movie has Mel Gibson as Chris Cringle, who is one badass Santa.
Then you have one of my personal favorites Walton Goggins. He is a highly-skilled assassin with a Christmas time grudge. Goggins is such a diverse actor and trust me, I love him as the widowed sweetheart dad in The Unicorn, but I also love when he plays a total sociopath on a mission as he does in this movie.
Chris Cringle has a hard time making a list and checking it twice for the nice kids of the world today because frankly there really aren’t that many nice kids around anymore. When one horrid, rich, arrogant kid gets a lump of coal in his stocking on Christmas morning nothing will stop him from getting Chris Cringle’s head on a platter, literally. Enter Johnathan Miller (Goggins) he already has a grievance with Santa because he had an awful childhood and he feels like he never got his Christmas wish. I would say he also has a bit of an obsession with Santa as he does collect authentic toys made in Santa’s workshop and identified by a special golden tag.
Miller is the henchman for the 12-year-old rich and neglected Billy Wenan played by Chance Hurstfield and boy you do not want to cross this kid. He almost reminds me of Damien Thorn from The Omen, very evil. He stops at nothing to get his way in any endeavor of his life and he has a personal hitman to assist him. This kid always gets his way and he has no boundaries in what he might do to get what he wants.
The lovely Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Mrs. Cringle and she is just as badass as her husband. The love vibes between Mr. and Mrs. Cringle are very sweet. She also makes a delicious looking cookie. I really wanted to eat cookies while watching this so you might want to have some nearby.
The family business is failing due to the lack of belief and lack of morals and standards in the society of today. Chris Cringle must go into contract with the US military to keep the money coming in so they can feed the hard-working elves who have a dream diet of carbs and sugar. The U.S. Military is no match for Miller, which does seem a little farfetched but if you like action, violence, and Christmas this might be the movie for you.
I give the movie 9 stars out of 10 because yes, there was some unbelievable nonsense in this movie but I still enjoyed watching something different for the holidays.
