Watch Santa Grab a Gun, Land a Gig as a Military Consultant and Fight Off a Hitman

Imagine a world where Santa Claus, faced with declining influence in a cynical world, takes on consulting work from the U.S. military to keep his mission afloat. Then imagine a vengeful rich kid with the resources to hire a hitman to take out Santa because the jolly old elf left the brat a lump of coal on Christmas morning.

That’s the loony premise of “Fatman,” a new R-rated action movie coming to theaters on November 13 and digital on November 17. Mel Gibson stars as Chris Cringle and Walton Goggins, brilliant at playing both menacing and funny, is the hitman hired to kill him.

Here’s the trailer. Warning: Repeated viewings don’t make this any less weird.

What, exactly, is Santa doing for the military? Why are the brass so confused by the feeding habits of the elves? What kind of intel does the Pentagon not have on St. Nick in this alternate universe where Santa finds himself cranky and forgotten?

When “Fatman” was originally announced at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, it was set to be produced by the Rough House Films team of David Gordon Green, Danny McBride and Jody Hill. Those guys were hot off their amazing reboot of “Halloween” and have a long run of successful HBO comedy shows like “Eastbound & Down,” “Vice Principals” and “The Righteous Gemstones.”

Their names have mysteriously disappeared from the final credits, but it makes sense that they would’ve lured Goggins to the movie because the actor played two of his most deranged characters in “Vice Principals” and “The Righteous Gemstones.”

Will Santa knock off his potential killer? Will the military play a role in saving his skin? Can a hail of automatic weapons gunfire help revive the true meaning of Christmas? Let’s hope “Fatman” will have all the answers.

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