- 7
- 2
I'll be risking from being mobbed at for telling this, but I REALLY enjoyed the movie and its gritty lbeit sometimes optimistic humor.
Don't get me wrong: I am no fan of Mel Gibson the human being. But the actor has put his whole soul into the role of this down-to-earth incarnation of Santa Claus, namely Chris Cringle.
In the course of the film, the narrative made us progressively understood that the seemingly ordinary, grumpy Alaskan eldery townsman is no mere mortal and as the story unfolds we realize that he and his eldery wife Ruth Cringle's vast influence, secret powerhouse toymaking market and indomitable will are not due to the whims of some jaded Holiday maniac and his supportive spouse, but truly the actions of an altruistic - albeit worn-off - magical being of countless age and wisdom, whose traits and altruistic juggles between the depictions made of a Christian patron saint, an immortal Pagan Demigod, an Elemental Patron Spirit of fairy tale much like his elvish staff, an incarnate archetype that mirrors some of humanity's deepermost traits, and even a typical antihero from a 1990s superhero graphic novel (cue TDKR, Image Comics, the Punisher and Lobototo start out this trend) ... that's far likely because of the latter trope in a pre-ZSJL society, coupled by the widely vast impopularity garnered by Mel Gibson and a pandemic outbreak at its peak, that made the movie receives so many mixed criticism and drop low into the box office.
The movie seems to flirt extensively with magical realism, letting a vast amount of Chris's powers and abilities greatly blurred-- to the point we do not know from which measure does the legends and their elopements starts, and from which ends the truth about his mystical nature. From what it appears, Chris Cringle clearly posssesses Wall Tier levels of superhuman strength, a regenerative healing factor that enables him to swat off and survive at various forms of fatal shots (bullet wounds in the kidney area, then one into the head) and blade impaling, a belief/concept dependant form of immortality or semi-immortality that halted his aging process for hundreds (if not even thousands) of years coupled by a phenomenally unnatural longevity that enables him to remain physically vigorous and youthful-- in spite looking like an athletically active eldery man in his mid-sixties. The film, however, does implies that his immortality may have perhaps his limitations, as the worries of an almost wailing Ruth invokes that she was unsure whether Cringle might been capable to wake up or revive himself after such amount of fatal blows inflicted by the revenge-crazed sociopathic hitman Skinny Man-- and especially at a dark epoch when humanity has gone now more unruly than ever who may potentially diminishtheir magical might, as the elf's foreman Seven confessed at the Captain Jacobs that the secret of Cringle's optimal prime and extraordinary does not relies on the same physiological needs than his Elves (albeit not fully??) but rather on his "giving" . In other words, Cringle's secret toeternal life relies on the spirit of the holiday he voluntarily dedicated his life, soul and body to patron and embody-- and the mortals who sustains it. Had mankind and his children wholly resorting and unleashing to their baser instincts, that the metaphysical laws from which both Chris Cringle and Ruth swown from being bound might any longer sustains their powers nor prevents them from halting the vagaries of mortality.
And although the feat has been performed off-screen, he is assumed to be an expertly well-capable sleigh rider as much on a snowy field than while flying it in airs, thanks to his troop of unaturally long-lived, magical reindeers. The climax of the film show that he is a rather extremely capable dual yielding shotslinger with centuries of experience (hinting about past endeavoured assassinations against his person) , capable of nearly handle down an one-man-army professional killer who just singlehandedly massacred an entire military aid of ten highly trained soldiers (although get swiftly outmatched because of his refusal to kill Jonathan Miller out of cold blood, maybe out of revulsed pity for the boy he was or by pure- yet naive spirit of blind charity) .
Now, the movie gets blurred about the remainder of his powers. Cringle seems to possess a great charisma and magnetic appeal, in spite his rugged looking demeanor and the fact he's well-known by the townfolks of North Peak for being a verbally acerbic, pessimistic acquaintance for decades. His great force of persuasion allows him to effortlessly convince a truck driver on the way to cheat his wife and not going to see their children on Holiday not to waste his time petting with the barmaid and to drive home sober, protecting both the driver and the barmaid from an useless drama. He shows a vastly pan-empathetic albeit limited prescient ability to know and exhibit not only the secrets, virtues and most especially sins of every child ever lived, but also of every human being, exploiting them in a selfless intent to serve the spirit of the holiday and bringing joy and hope among children of the world: although was unable to foresee that the billionaire spoiled child Billy Wenan planned to hire once again Miller not to torture and kill fellow schoolmate Christine Crawford and her entire family but to put a target on him after he sent him a lump of coil for his misdeeds. Same as Mrs. Cringle and their Elves, it is implied that Chris Cringle has been graced with some unnatural luck, as Skinny Man experienced at frequent times an almost seredipiditous inaptitude to shoot at both the Elves and Cringle without having a comeuppance or physical obstacle placed between him and his targets prior the final clash. Nothing is explicitly revealed about Santa's influence on seasonal weather, nor about other attributes traditionally associated to his legendary persona. The movie remains also so vague about Cringle and Ruth's origins that we are not even sure whether they are centuries-old human mages or saints granted with the gift of eternal life, elemental semi-Elvish(ish) beings of a different stock and power skillset than the pointy-eared diminutive labor class they rule over, deities or something else completely.
What other abilities would could we find about the Fat Man?
Don't get me wrong: I am no fan of Mel Gibson the human being. But the actor has put his whole soul into the role of this down-to-earth incarnation of Santa Claus, namely Chris Cringle.
In the course of the film, the narrative made us progressively understood that the seemingly ordinary, grumpy Alaskan eldery townsman is no mere mortal and as the story unfolds we realize that he and his eldery wife Ruth Cringle's vast influence, secret powerhouse toymaking market and indomitable will are not due to the whims of some jaded Holiday maniac and his supportive spouse, but truly the actions of an altruistic - albeit worn-off - magical being of countless age and wisdom, whose traits and altruistic juggles between the depictions made of a Christian patron saint, an immortal Pagan Demigod, an Elemental Patron Spirit of fairy tale much like his elvish staff, an incarnate archetype that mirrors some of humanity's deepermost traits, and even a typical antihero from a 1990s superhero graphic novel (cue TDKR, Image Comics, the Punisher and Lobototo start out this trend) ... that's far likely because of the latter trope in a pre-ZSJL society, coupled by the widely vast impopularity garnered by Mel Gibson and a pandemic outbreak at its peak, that made the movie receives so many mixed criticism and drop low into the box office.
The movie seems to flirt extensively with magical realism, letting a vast amount of Chris's powers and abilities greatly blurred-- to the point we do not know from which measure does the legends and their elopements starts, and from which ends the truth about his mystical nature. From what it appears, Chris Cringle clearly posssesses Wall Tier levels of superhuman strength, a regenerative healing factor that enables him to swat off and survive at various forms of fatal shots (bullet wounds in the kidney area, then one into the head) and blade impaling, a belief/concept dependant form of immortality or semi-immortality that halted his aging process for hundreds (if not even thousands) of years coupled by a phenomenally unnatural longevity that enables him to remain physically vigorous and youthful-- in spite looking like an athletically active eldery man in his mid-sixties. The film, however, does implies that his immortality may have perhaps his limitations, as the worries of an almost wailing Ruth invokes that she was unsure whether Cringle might been capable to wake up or revive himself after such amount of fatal blows inflicted by the revenge-crazed sociopathic hitman Skinny Man-- and especially at a dark epoch when humanity has gone now more unruly than ever who may potentially diminishtheir magical might, as the elf's foreman Seven confessed at the Captain Jacobs that the secret of Cringle's optimal prime and extraordinary does not relies on the same physiological needs than his Elves (albeit not fully??) but rather on his "giving" . In other words, Cringle's secret toeternal life relies on the spirit of the holiday he voluntarily dedicated his life, soul and body to patron and embody-- and the mortals who sustains it. Had mankind and his children wholly resorting and unleashing to their baser instincts, that the metaphysical laws from which both Chris Cringle and Ruth swown from being bound might any longer sustains their powers nor prevents them from halting the vagaries of mortality.
And although the feat has been performed off-screen, he is assumed to be an expertly well-capable sleigh rider as much on a snowy field than while flying it in airs, thanks to his troop of unaturally long-lived, magical reindeers. The climax of the film show that he is a rather extremely capable dual yielding shotslinger with centuries of experience (hinting about past endeavoured assassinations against his person) , capable of nearly handle down an one-man-army professional killer who just singlehandedly massacred an entire military aid of ten highly trained soldiers (although get swiftly outmatched because of his refusal to kill Jonathan Miller out of cold blood, maybe out of revulsed pity for the boy he was or by pure- yet naive spirit of blind charity) .
Now, the movie gets blurred about the remainder of his powers. Cringle seems to possess a great charisma and magnetic appeal, in spite his rugged looking demeanor and the fact he's well-known by the townfolks of North Peak for being a verbally acerbic, pessimistic acquaintance for decades. His great force of persuasion allows him to effortlessly convince a truck driver on the way to cheat his wife and not going to see their children on Holiday not to waste his time petting with the barmaid and to drive home sober, protecting both the driver and the barmaid from an useless drama. He shows a vastly pan-empathetic albeit limited prescient ability to know and exhibit not only the secrets, virtues and most especially sins of every child ever lived, but also of every human being, exploiting them in a selfless intent to serve the spirit of the holiday and bringing joy and hope among children of the world: although was unable to foresee that the billionaire spoiled child Billy Wenan planned to hire once again Miller not to torture and kill fellow schoolmate Christine Crawford and her entire family but to put a target on him after he sent him a lump of coil for his misdeeds. Same as Mrs. Cringle and their Elves, it is implied that Chris Cringle has been graced with some unnatural luck, as Skinny Man experienced at frequent times an almost seredipiditous inaptitude to shoot at both the Elves and Cringle without having a comeuppance or physical obstacle placed between him and his targets prior the final clash. Nothing is explicitly revealed about Santa's influence on seasonal weather, nor about other attributes traditionally associated to his legendary persona. The movie remains also so vague about Cringle and Ruth's origins that we are not even sure whether they are centuries-old human mages or saints granted with the gift of eternal life, elemental semi-Elvish(ish) beings of a different stock and power skillset than the pointy-eared diminutive labor class they rule over, deities or something else completely.
What other abilities would could we find about the Fat Man?
