Jackman's instrumental style for Red One is exactly as one would expect for this assignment, starting with the full, hyperactive orchestral ensemble laced with sleigh bells and other holiday-associated accents. A choir ranges from light tones of caroling for the North Pole to deep male bravado for Krampus. Electronics are a staple of the composer's works, and they are fairly tastefully applied throughout, an appropriate addition given the outlandish fantasy technologies seen in the story. A vibrant recording mix brings all of these elements together extremely well, Red One emulating some of the better balance heard in Strange World two years earlier. The snazzy elements may not be as attractively lively as Jablonsky's equivalent in Red Notice, but that component in Red One is actually somewhat marginalized to just two or three cues. Veteran film score collectors will note that the demeanor of the wholesome, full-ensemble holiday portions aspires towards the John Williams influences while the straight action sometimes emulates Alan Silvestri, and it's hard to go wrong with either of those frameworks. Assisting the narrative greatly is a solid set of the mostly transparent themes that is almost omnipresent throughout the score. Holding everything together is Jackman's best and main identity, that for the cool Santa and his North Pole lair and technology. Its primary phrasing consists of two five-note phrases, with the first humorously emulating the famous riff from Europe's song, "The Final Countdown" when truncated in action form. The second phrase resolves down to key in a clear nod to Home Alone. This theme is heard immediately in "Red One" and extended through a highly varied set of styles, culminating in a Williams fanfare of brass and metallic percussion wholesomeness by the end. Secondary phrases are elongated variants of the main phrase for dramatic effect in the cue's midsection. This theme swirls on brass over choir and bubbly woodwinds and strings in "The North Pole," revisiting the charming secondary development in the middle of the cue. From there, Jackman and his crew take the Santa theme through an extreme variety of alterations for nearly every kind of emotional application, rarely touching upon the Christmas-appropriate tone of its "The North Pole" demeanor until the fulfilling final pair of cues.

After its cheery establishment early in the film, the main theme of Red One becomes embroiled in fragmented mystery at the outset of "M.O.R.A," informs the muscular action in "Breach" with bold horns renditions, and bursts in James Bond-like transition duties in the middle of "Aruba Bound." It emerges with enthusiastic, militaristic heroism late in "Death Mercs," engages in battle alongside the Krampus theme in "Mythic Mayhem," and supplies brief interpolations of its first three notes several times in "The Christmas Witch." Finally, the main theme returns to cheery form in the middle of "Saint Nick" and overflows in Williams-inspired fanfares at the end. It's accelerated at the start of "Saving Christmas" with driving action rhythms and shifts gears in the middle of the cue to wholesome string drama. The extended resolution for this theme in the final two cues is a pleasure that yields a seven-minute highlight. While the Santa theme remains a constant force throughout the score, the one for the hacker, Jack O'Malley, tapers off as the story progresses. In light caper style with bongo drums, electric bass, saxophone, and drum kit, this theme's pairs of notes are teased at 0:31 into "Jack O'Malley," eventually fuller for the ensemble at 1:38. A longer, descending secondary line has distinct Lalo Schifrin and Mission: Impossible theme references. This idea returns on brass in the harp-swirling action in the middle of "The Wolf," enjoys a powerful statement late in "Aruba Bound," and swaggers in style throughout "Trouble in Paradise." It contributes to the action in the second half of "Snowmen" but is limited (and the caper mode completely gone) thereafter despite being redeemed at the start of "Saint Nick." Ancillary to the themes above is a comparatively obscure family theme that Jackman tosses in as a relatively anonymous character association for sensitivity. Explored tentatively on woodwinds and strings in "One Last Ride," this material provides melodramatic worry in the culmination of "Breach." A prior clarinet performance returns to fill out a bit more of the idea in "To Be Good," and piano helps lead it to fruition in "Father and Son" with help of the Santa theme's figures. The melody reveals itself as an interlude to that main theme in the latter half of "Saving Christmas." Generally, this lesser character theme exists only to allow relief amongst the plethora of intense action and suspense cues, but its downtime does serve the listening experience well.

The other secondary themes in Red One all take a while to introduce themselves in the narrative. The villain theme for Grýla is often associated in the film's midsection with light atmospheric dread, its mysterious five-note phrasing very slowly developed with ambient haziness in "Grýla." The idea wafts through "Possession" with the same tone of suspense laced by synthetics, and that technique continues at the start of "Snowmen." The theme really flourishes in full, stomping battle mode at the start of "Stop That Sleigh!" with Silvestri-like percussion, and it even achieves a massive gothic romp a minute into "The Christmas Witch" that persists at the cue's climax. A theme for the mythical enforcers, M.O.R.A., contains pairs of ascending and descending notes of anonymous suspense in "M.O.R.A." and develops into a chopping militaristic rhythmic form that opens "Aruba Bound" and recurs in "Snowmen." Its progressions are clarified in the mysterious, electronically-guided "Shape-Shifters" and lend their rhythmic forces to "Stop That Sleigh!" Finally, most intriguing in the score for Red One is the theme for much-maligned but enticing Krampus. This melody opens "Krampus" in its ominous, gothic minor and major-alternating modes, grand but restrained on deep choir and brass for a swell at 2:13. The theme returns at the end of the cue with some hints of its ascending, major-key potential. It builds at the start of "Mythic Mayhem" into a bigger identity with clanging metallics and enjoys several action performances against the Santa theme in that cue. The idea then receives a positive transformation for a few performances in "The Christmas Witch," returns to its more dramatic inclinations at 0:43 into "Saint Nick" in still lighter shades, and achieves outright redemption in a phrase at 1:20 later in that cue. Overall, the main Santa theme alone holds this score together, however, and Jackman's instrumentation and mix are adept in all corners. The 51-minute album is missing a significant amount of music, especially some of the compelling Krampus material in the latter half. A bad transition between the final two score tracks is a detriment that hampers the best pair of cues. Some versions of the album include the brief Laufey song "Christmas Magic," a vintage, source-like Christmas jazz piece that is no stylistic match for the score. For his part, Jackman continues to impress in these frenetic adventure films, Red One one of the composer's best genre entries anchored by a highly attractive main theme of both holiday cheer and action muscle.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download