This film isn't high art, nor does it pretend to be. It's not a completely original work either, often reminding me of previous movies. For example, the fact that all the people in Scott's life- his ex-wife and her new husband, his co-workers, etc- think that he's gone crazy, pretending to be Santa Claus. This calls to mind the plot of Miracle on 34th Street, in which Kris Kringle is the subject of a sanity hearing because he claims to be Santa. Even the movie title The Santa Clause harkens back to a gag in the Marx Brothers' 1935 film A Night At The Opera:
Unlike Scott Calvin in The Santa Clause who is a newly recruited Santa, literally learning on the job, Mel Gibson's Chris Cringle has been Santa for a very long time and is weary, bitter, and disillusioned. What with the world going the way it is, Chris finds himself giving out fewer presents and more coal every year. This is depressing enough on its own, but it has also led to a financial crises for Santa's whole operation. It turns out that Chris' workshop is funded mostly through a government grant, because Santa Clause giving gifts increases Christmas spirit and drives up holiday spending, which pours billions into the economy. But, due to the decrease in present output, the grant is being substantially cut and now Chris' entire enterprise is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Just when Chris is at his most desperate, the US military approaches him with an offer: they will allot some of their budget to him if he will agree to have the elves build military equipment in the workshop. Backed into a corner, Chris reluctantly agrees.
It's not a flawless movie by any stretch. Personally, I think that the whole military subplot is pretty useless and a pointless distraction which goes nowhere. Also, in order for Chris and the hitman to face off, one on one, all of the soldiers have to be disposed of. This necessitates them acting like incompetent idiots so that the hitman can take them all out: for example, some soldiers come through the workshop doors and are shot by Goggins' character. Then, instead of taking up a defensive position in the relative safety of the shop, more soldiers just come running blindly out the door to get shot down as well. I mean, I'm no soldier but that would seem to be an extremely foolhardy thing to do. I suppose that I shouldn't complain about lack of realism in Fatman after dismissing it in The Santa Clause, but this film was going for a grittier, more realistic tone so it seems to me that more of an effort should have been made to keep it that way. Also, having both evil Richie Rich and the hitman be nursing grudges against Santa seems like needlessly doubling up on villains. I think that it would have been better to either have the vengeful kid, with a hitman who was not emotionally involved- just in it for the money- or to have just the hitman, with a personal vendetta against Santa. Sometimes more is just more.
As I said, I was in the mood to see Santa shoot up some baddies when I watched Fatman- and he did- but in the end my favourite scene was a quiet one early on in the film. Gruff, cranky Chris is sitting in a bar having a drink and brooding but can't help notice when the barmaid- a notorious floozy- starts working her wiles on a trucker. Moving over to the stool next to the man, Chris startles him by addressing him by name and asking him about his wife and kids. Without saying so directly, Chris reminds him of his family, and that he'd be betraying them, and sends the fellow on his way home to them, much to the disappointment of the previously mentioned floozy. We see in this scene the innate decency of Chris who, despite his own troubles and bitterness, can't help but try to make people be better and live the way they should. I could've watched more of that sort of thing and dispensed with the useless military plot and the silly stuff with the kid.