"'Tis the season to get even."
— Tagline
Fatman is a 2020 American Christmas-themed Black Comedy action film, written and directed by brothers Eshom and Ian Nelms and starring Mel Gibson as Chris Cringle, aka Santa Claus.
Things have been on the downturn for Chris (Gibson) and his wife Ruth (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) of late, thanks to the children of the world becoming increasingly unruly and vicious. Consequently, Chris is forced to enter into a manufacturing contract with the United States government just to keep the lights on. However, Chris’ life is further complicated when a spoiled young boy, Billy Wenan (Chance Hurstfield), sends an assassin called Skinny Man (Walton Goggins) to murder him after receiving coal for Christmas.
David Gordon Green and Danny McBride were the film's executive producers.
Tropes:
- An Asskicking Christmas
- A Father to His Men: Santa is this to the Elves, with Seven the factory foreman being that for the elves he manages. Captain Jacobs is this to the men under his command and also comes to admire and respect the Cringles and the elves (this apparently goes both ways as the story progresses). When "Skinny Man" attacks the factory, Jacobs doesn't hesitate to jump into the fray to protect the people under his charge and dies helping a group of elves escape.
- Badass Boast: We get two.
- When Chris faces off against "Skinny Man" he gives one before he and his wife wipe the floor with him.
Chris Cringle: You think you're the first? You think I got this job because I'm "fat" and "jolly"?- Chris gives one of these to Billy at the end of the movie.
Chris Cringle: A wicked soul bent on bloodshed was sent to collect my head. Like you, he thought he lived outside of morals and consequence. He is now buried with his lack of reverence. One more time, Billy Wenan, once more, and you'll be getting more than coal in your stocking. If your grandmother meets an early grave, if Christine Crawford suffers so much as a cold, if anybody that crosses your path is made to feel less or lower because of you, I'm coming back. I'll come while you sleep and rip you from your covers. By my hand, you will know the consequence of your actions. So don't screw it up. The fat man's got his eye on you, kid. - Badass Santa
- Bathos: It's an action flick that presents itself entirely seriously despite being about a Jaded Santa defending himself from an assassin sent by a kid he gave coal to.
- Big Bad: Billy Wenan hires Skinny Man to kill Santa Claus, the protagonist, as revenge for being given coal for naughtiness.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The Christmas Elves are able to live exclusively on a diet of carbs and sugar six meals a day with only twenty minutes of sleep in between eight-hour intervals, a lifestyle that Seven claims makes them healthier than any human.
- Collector of the Strange: Outside of his Professional Killer duties, Skinny Man collects toys or other items that people ask for Christmas and don't want anymore. In particular, ones marked with a tag that says, "Made in Santa's Workshop."
- Crazy-Prepared: "Skinny Man's" attack on the shop is clearly not the first time the Cringles and the elves have faced a threat. During the attack, Seven orders a specific barricade protocol and the elves quickly and efficiently evacuate. Chris himself lampshades it during his showdown with the hitman (see Bad Ass Boast).
- Did Not Think This Through: Being a young, spoiled, entitled brat, Billy sure doesn't think things through when he orders that hit. Nor does "Skinny Man". By the end of the story, Billy and "Skinny Man" violated the security of two classified government programs, murdered two US Postal employees, ten US Soldiers, and destroyed private and classified US Government property. Even if they had succeeded in killing Santa, they'd still have Ruth and the elves to contend with. They'd also have the full weight of the US Government coming down on them in the ensuing investigation. In fact, there's no guarantee that the US Government won't go after Billy. Or his grandmother for that matter, since it's only a matter of time before she finds out Billy is the one stealing her money.
- Dirty Coward: Billy is completely cowed when he's confronted by Santa and his wife Ruth in the end.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Billy hires a professional assassin to kidnap and intimidate a girl (using the threat of torture with a car battery and killing her parents) into falsely confessing cheating because she won the blue ribbon at the science fair instead of him. He would later hire that same assassin to murder Santa Claus because he got a lump of coal instead of the gift he asked for.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Skinny Man is hired to kill Santa Claus, but has his own reasons for wanting Santa dead. Billy is apparently aware of this, as he's quick to tell him that he'd like the job.
- Enfant Terrible: Billy Wenan is a Spoiled Brat who threatens to torture a classmate, forcing her into falsely confessing to making her science fair project up. He also orders a hit on Santa because he received a lump of coal, for something that was obviously his fault, and tries to poison his grandmother when she catches on to him stealing her money.
- "Eureka!" Moment: "Skinny Man" gets one when, after going on a Snipe Hunt to the North Pole, decides to create a paper trail that will lead him to Santa.
- Even Evil Has Standards: "Skinny Man" has some personal distaste for how Billy acts; in his contacts, he lists him as "Little Shit."
- Evil Is Petty: Billy, given that his reaction to being upstaged at the science fair is to force the winner to falsely confess to cheating by threatening to torture her and her family and, after receiving coal from Santa for that misdeed, put a bounty on his head.
- Eye Scream: Santa gets shot through the eye by "Skinny Man". The wound will eventually heal, but it still hasn't by the time Santa confronts Billy.
- Freudian Excuse: "Skinny Man"'s hatred of Santa is based around growing up in an abusive household and not getting his wish of escaping it.
- Guns Akimbo: Santa uses two guns against "Skinny Man" during the final battle.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Captain Jacobs is killed protecting the Elves from "Skinny Man".
- Hope Bringer: Its implied that the purpose behind Chris' gift-giving is that the toys he gives out molds the kids into what they become in adulthood. Two of the files Ruth shows him include a girl with a toy fire-truck becoming a fire-fighter and a boy with a play kitchen-set becoming a chef. The Skinny Man buys a baseball bat from a man who would have become a professional baseball player if it wasn't for a Career-Ending Injury. The Skinny Man himself has a toy police car and drives an all-black late-70s police package sedan (the same make and model as the toy car) implying that if not for his abusive childhood and his own bad choices, he would've become a police officer.
- Informed Attribute: Normally it would be entirely accurate to call Santa fat, but in this adaptation, he's played by Mel Gibson, who isn't. Even in the one Shirtless Scene we're given, he's moderately barrel-chested at most.
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Most of the movie has Chris in a malaise, hearing nothing but how today's youth becoming more and more depraved and agreeing to the government contract because their funding is being cut due to a decline in the number of toys he gives out that year. It takes a budget increase from their military contract and proof from his wife (files on kids he helped grow up into upstanding adults) before he finds a pep in his step.
- Lean and Mean: "Skinny Man" is as thin as his name implies and is a ruthless Professional Killer.
- Made of Iron: Chris Cringle appears to have such a power in this adaptation. He gets impaled through the chest, then shot through the eye, only to show up later perfectly alive, albeit covered in geas. He then chugs a glass of milk knowing full well that it's poisoned, then identifies the poison by name and comments that it would indeed have killed the mortal it was intended for.
- Magic Realism: Santa Claus is not only real, but it's public knowledge that he exists and he has a long working relationship with the US military. He has an innate knowledge of everyone in the world (their names, what he got them for Christmas, their status as Naughty or Nice), he has a Healing Factor and Seven implies that the act of giving gifts to nice children for Christmas is the source of his immortality.
- Named by the Adaptation: Mrs. Claus is given the first name of "Ruth".
- Never My Fault: Billy never even considers that he might be to blame for receiving coal on Christmas for his actions.
- Noodle Incident: Chris implies that "Skinny Man" is just the most recent in a long line of people who have hunted down him down to try and kill him.
- One-Man Army: "Skinny Man" tears through the military contingent guarding Santa's workshop, killing 10 soldiers and not receiving a scratch.
- Pull the Thread: "Skinny Man" finally catches up to Santa Claus by creating a paper trail, then follows it back to Santa's workshop in Alaska.
- Race Lift: Mrs. Claus is played by a black actress here.
- Santa Claus: Reconstructed. Santa's existence is common knowledge, to the point where he's casually discussed on the news. He's funded by the various governments of the world to stimulate the global economy, and licensed by the companies who own the products he manufactures, stamping a metal plate on all his goods that reads "made in Santa's workshop". There's even a subplot where the US government contracts him to build them fighter aircraft parts as well. Santa also dresses like an ordinary Alaskan resident, though in-universe depictions of him do use the classic red and white overcoat, implying that he did dress that way at one point.
- Skyward Scream: Billy does this when he gets coal from his present.Billy: You just messed up big time, fat man!
- Sore Loser: Billy Wenan. The whole plot gets kicked off because he lost at the science fair and forces a classmate to confess to cheating.
- Tragic Keepsake: "Skinny Man" kept the only gift from Santa he ever received: a metal toy car.
- Tragic Villain: It's implied that "Skinny Man" was raised in an abusive household. It's never specified when or if he was on the naughty list, but it's implied that he asked Chris for help and it was his inability to fulfill this wish that led to his hobby of collecting Christmas toys and his willingness to assassinate him.
- Villain in a White Suit: Professional Killer "Skinny Man" wears a white parka when he goes to Alaska.
