WFG RATING: A-

A JC Films production. Written, lensed, edited, and directed by Jarrod Crooks. Produced by Jarrod Crooks, Erin Antilla, and Jonathan Aldrich.

Stars Jarrod Crooks, Erin Antilla, Scott Brault, Indiana Arnold, Dan Quaile, Randy Vongphakdy, Jonathan Aldrich, Justin Crooks, Eric Hall, Sandra Meyer, and Bruce Purcell.

It’s Christmas meets martial arts comedy in this fun and wild film from indie filmmaker Jarrod Crooks.

Chris is having a tough time as it is days before Christmas. His son Everett wants only one thing for Christmas, a childhood toy of his dad’s, the Cartosaurus. After losing his job, Chris takes odd jobs to make enough money to get his son his dream toy. However, one thing has totally bothered Chris. He felt Santa should not get the credit despite Everett telling a local mall Santa and his wife Jen telling him to do it. Chris feels like he deserves the credit and puts his name on the gift. 

It soon becomes the biggest mistake of his life. Magically transported to the North Pole, Chris is confronted by an angry Santa, who demands he put his name on the gift. Chris refuses and fights off the elves thanks to his martial arts skills. When Chris magically transports home, he finds the gift missing. Meanwhile, Santa holds the gift and decides to give his elves fighting skills in case Chris decides to come back. With the help of former elf Ned, Chris is determined to get the gift back, even if it means going to war with Santa and his elves. 

Jarrod Crooks is the action comedy star that we all need today. His 2014 film Displaced was a fun homage to Hong Kong action comedies and with this 2022 film, it is a madcap meshing of martial arts action comedy with something along the likes of Jingle All the Way. Once again, Crooks takes center stage as both lead actor and filmmaker as he plays Chris, a man who clearly lost his Christmas spirit and hopes to get his son the dream toy he wanted. 

What is great is that Chris’ son Everett, played by Indiana Arnold, doesn’t want the big latest toy on the market. He prefers a toy that Dad played with as a child, a red and black dinosaur. For Chris, it brings back good and sometimes repressed memories as an accident caused Chris to lose his toy. However, this is a chance at redemption and also help strengthen the bond between father and son, broken due to Chris’ workaholic mode, which he doesn’t have the heart to mention that he lost his job. Everett can sometimes be a bit of a smart aleck when it comes to comebacks with his dad, which makes it more fun. 

Scott Brault is Santa in this one and instead of the jolly plump guy everyone loves during the holiday season, he is a bitter beefed-up old man who has grown tired of the parents not giving him enough credit for the gifts. When Chris refuses to put Santa’s name on the dinosaur, this becomes the straw that breaks the camel’s back and it soon becomes an all out war. Violent Night had become the closest to having a Christmas film with stylized action but Crooks once again surprises all employing an homage to Hong Kong kickboxing style action.

Crooks has some hilarious fights against not one, not two, but three of Santa’s elves who are imbued with fighting skills. And if that’s not fun enough, in the vein on the aforementioned Jingle All the Way, Chris’ first major fight against some of the elves as they play keep away with the gift is hilarious, especially when it comes to one particular elf, Flynn (played by Randy Vongphadky) showing hilarious comic timing while there is a funny sledding scene involving Chris, Dan Quaile’s Ned (who later becomes Chris’ ally) and a girl who took Santa’s magic dust from Chris’ hands. There is a kickboxing style fight between Chris and the Claus himself that goes all out in a fun way…candy cane nunchakus anyone?

The Big Gift is the fun Christmas martial arts action comedy we all need and it’s thanks to Jarrod Crooks. It’s definitely a film worth checking out this holiday season! Tis’ the season to be fighting! 

The film can be streamed for free (as of this post) on Tubi.