Netflix’s Operation Christmas Drop – A Trope-ical Mess (Early Review)

Netflix’s second Holiday season release is an exotic Christmas adventure that brings Netflix Holiday movie veteran Kat Graham back for her second film. The Holiday Calendar was a bit of a toss up and was essentially a regular Holiday Hallmark story. Will Graham’s second attempt be more of the same or bring a little more spark? If you’re a binge watcher of Netflix’s Christmas-themed offerings from the last few years, this will be an easy guess.

Operation Christmas Drop follows the story of congressional aide Erica Miller (Graham) who is forced by her boss, Congresswoman Angie Bradford (Virginia Madsen), to work through the holidays. Cancelling Christmas plans with her widowed father and his new partner, Erica travels to a beachside Air Force base in the South Pacific where she is tasked with finding ways to de-fund the facility and its annual and “expensive” Operation Christmas Drop. Can she be thwarted by the base’s Captain Andrew “Klaws” Jantz (Ludwig) and his apparent charm?

This holiday film is exactly what one would expect from the genre, overused cliches, beautiful landscapes, subpar visual effects, awkward dialogue and outdated character archetypes. First, a little backstory on Operation Christmas Drop. For the past 75 years, the U.S. Air Force has continued the longest-running humanitarian airlift in the world that serves as a training mission for their personnel by delivering donated supplies and aid to the communities of Micronesia. The film, while bringing this mission to light, centres its story on de-funding this beneficial program for political and financial reasons. While the end result should not come as much of a surprise to anyone, the story itself just feels mediocre, lacking substance, entertainment or any sort of development. It could’ve been a great exploration of the culture in the South Pacific and how it is influenced by U.S. personnel in the area, but it barely scratches this surface.

Beyond the story, the film lacks in many other areas. To start off, scenes are continually impaired by subpar visual effects that stick out like a sore thumb. This ranges from awkward CGI aircrafts to out of place geckos that never truly work. The script also has its fair share of awkward dialogue that feels too inorganically and forcibly militaristic, even from the mouths of characters not actively serving.

The typical saviour for this type of film would be the lead performances and their chemistry, but unfortunately Operation Christmas Drop falls very short in that regard. Both Graham and Ludwig as Miller and Jantz are not at their best thanks to a script that lacks development or strong characters to build from. They also lack the necessary chemistry for a cheesy holiday romantic comedy. Their conversations are dry and expository making the narrative even less engaging. Even the supporting cast is extremely one-dimensional including consistently archetypical characters (looking at some misogynistic soldiers on the base, sunshine.)

The only redeeming aspect of the film is its beautiful landscapes in the time of COVID. Being able to see idyllic beaches and live vicariously through these characters in a year where most of us have been unable to scratch our wanderlust itch gives a slight cathartic release, but it isn’t more memorable than the next destination-set story.

Now onto the next Christmas tale! ‘Tis the season!

still courtesy of Netflix

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Dylan Phillips