Fatman: Neon NZ Film Review

Less Bad Santa, more BadAss Santa in its denouement, the weirdly odd Fatman tries to give the Christmas story a different spin, much like Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale pushed its own darker agenda.

A heavily bearded and dour Gibson plays Chris Cringle, whose Santa business is slowly falling apart. Forced into a financial partnership with the military, Cringle's world is further complicated when a precocious scorned kid hires a hitman (Goggins) after he's left a lump of coal in his stocking.

There's a kernel of a good story here, and an idea that could have blossomed wonderfully, if it were to have been fully indulged.

But as it is, Fatman feels tonally like several movies all squashed into one, with none intertwined with any of the joy of their raison d'etre. 

Goggins, a hamster-obsessed hitman, just about manages the right tone of murderous intent as the killer scorned by Santa when he was younger and all too happy to even the score. In fact, he's one of the best things about the film, delivering lines about the Fatman with a deadly glee that's just the right side of hammy.

However, he's offset by Gibson's Cringle, who's more a businessman thwarted than a booming jolly presence. The dour edge and demeanour works and gives scenes with his wife Ruth (Baptiste) a kind of earnestness that's compelling to watch as the film plays out.

But too much of Fatman sees differing narratives being forced to crash into each other with minimum impact. 

And when the gun-led finale rolls around, and blood spills as heavily on the snow as it did in moments of Fargo make you yearn for a killer Santa film of cat-and-mouse that never was.

As they say, it's not over till the Fatman sings - but in this tonally confused cinematic slice, you just walk away wishing that the Nelms brothers had sung from another songsheet and given you the kickass Santa film you can see hiding in the distance.