'Operation Christmas Drop': Graham, Ludwig stick to romance, hope, happiness

The film starts with Erica Miller, a busy Congressional aide, who steers clear of streets of Washington DC, prepping up for Christmas, because she has her head tilted to one side, balancing a smartphone with her shoulder, while her hands are filled with shopping bags for the Congresswoman.

A nitpicker workaholic, she has no time for Christmas and her father, a widower who remarried.

Perfect for being after people's lives, Erica is deployed by the Congresswoman to go to the US island territory of Guam to check on the airbase, which reportedly is using the taxpayers' money to deploy military personnel and equipment in order to distribute Christmas presents to inhabitants of surrounding islands.

Erica's task is to prove the base as good-for-nothing and report for closure.

Certainly, the front-page photograph of Captain Andrew Jantz wearing Santa's hat and a holiday smile doesn't give the firmest and most impressive of military body language.

And that has egged Erica to prod the handsome captain out of his comfort zone to reveal the can of worms the entire base has supposedly been hiding.

Erica does all it takes to detect odds, but fails.

We are talking of a tropical island teeming with US air force officers.

The film blesses the eyes with awesome beach views and an unnecessarily simplistic tribe, whose men and women are instinctively attracted to Jantz, the smooth-talking stud, the non-violent Robin Hood, who plays the ukulele and sings a Christmas song.

But then Jantz knows his 'angles' well.

Jantz, played by Canadian actor Alexander Ludwig, wears multiple shades even under the handsome army-man umbrella.

That is what makes Jantz interesting as he defends his ego before Erica's irksome scrutiny at times and also demonstrates peak altruism by stuffing his room with cardboard packs of supplies for impoverished islanders.

And he never fails to impress Erica while being full of himself.

The actor playing Erica needs no mention.

Kat Graham does well as this is her second safe take on Christmas movies, the first being 2018 movie The Holiday Calendar opposite Quincy Brown.

Graham does what she has done best till date, playing the no-nonsense, raw, real woman on The Vampire Diaries.

Fans do get their dose of Bonnie attitude with a more romantic inclination.

You don't need much more if the lead actors in a Christmas movie look good and act well.

But Netflix's Operation Christmas Drop does better with its animated portrayal of the humanitarian mission by US Air Force.

Special mention goes to Lieutenant Colonel Blaine, played by Janet Kidder, whose attitude pins even the nosy Congresswoman down.

A 3/5 for this lasting, serene, complete experience.