Silent Night (Review)
Note: I talk details in the movie that were already shown in the trailers. If you're one of those who doesn't like watching trailers and going in blind, probably best not to read below. To put it simply, the movie's solid! And if you haven't seen anything about it, I would personally keep it that way, as trailers kind of give away a lot of the movie's better sequences.
Just when you thought 2023 was done with action, along comes none other than legendary filmmaker John Woo. The man has been regarded as a large figure in Hong Kong cinema, as well as one of the most influential in action, both internationally and in Hollywood filmmaking. Action movies simply wouldn't be where they are now without his work, and if you are a big fan of the genre, you're probably well aware of his incredible body of work, even if you haven't seen everything.
So how did his first action movie in what feels like forever end up? In my opinion, pretty solid! While not without its issues, Silent Night is a fun, tight Christmas action movie, with a pretty fun hook, a committed and great central performance, and a violent 3rd act that will give you all the feels you want out of an action film.
The movie starts off with its protagonist Brian Godlock unwisely chasing down gangmembers who, in the middle of a high speed shootout, accidentally kill his and his wife's son. He eventually catches up only to get shot in the neck by gang leader Playa (Harold Torres). Brian miraculously lives, but loses his ability to speak. Time goes on and a grieving Brian soon finds purpose in one simple mission: plotting revenge and killing everyone responsible for the death of his son (and his voice).
Sounds pretty basic and familiar right? It is. But there are a couple things that Woo and company do to differentiate Silent Night from other revenge thrillers. The most notable one (that has already been discussed a lot ahead of its release) being that the movie is mostly dialogue free, playing very much like a silent film. I could see this driving away some viewers and testing their patience, but it's pretty cool! Yes, Brian can't talk, but Woo manages to have everyone around him hardly have a word in this movie. It's fun, and makes it so the movie is, in a sense, all action, giving the cast a more unique approach to handling the film. It also allows composer Marco Beltrami's music to also carry the narrative.
The movie's other approach at getting a little deeper is also what separates it from other films. It ends up being much more tragic than I thought it was going to be, taking the time to show us the grief that swallows Brian whole. At first we see it with him drinking his days away, then in the plotting of his revenge. Either way is painful to watch, because they both alienate his also-grieving wife, played by a fantastic Catalina Sandino Moreno. She does so good at making us feel for her with what little she's given, to the point where I almost didn't want to see the bloody mayhem and instead see Brian pick himself up and be there for his wife.
These two things have their good moments, but also feel like they're apart of the movie's issues. While the movie's approach to have a character work is appreciated, you feel its strain when it comes to any other character other than Brian and his wife Saya. The villain is a total nothing, just there to be the big bad that Brian wants to track down. That would've been totally fine if we didn't have these momentum breaking cuts back to that villain and its attempts at showing us small slices of his life. I'm not one to think every character needs a bunch of backstory (The Raid 2 is full of characters that are just awesome without going deep into their stories). But when you keep going back to this guy I just felt myself wanting to movie to hurry it up and stick with Brian. The same unfortunately goes to Scott Mescudi's (Kid Cudi) LA detective, who clunkily becomes a part of the narrative. While these were frustrating issues, I do have to give Woo credit for sticking with his dialogue-free approach rather than giving in to simply giving these people time to talk.
There's also a couple pacing issues too, with some stuff also feeling a little clunky. Now's as good a time as any to let you know if you're here thinking you're getting wall-to-wall action, this is going to disappoint you. It's a pretty toned down film when you compare it to other Woo classics. But it's not like I was sitting there just begging for the action to happen. In the meantime we get some signature Woo moves, like a teardrop-to-bulllet transition that is equal parts silly and awesome. We also get a lot of Brian picking himself up, training and learning how to dispose of these baddies, and while it's nothing unique, it's entertaining to watch. That's largely thanks to Kinnaman's performance. Kinnaman should 100% be a superstar right now. He's been good in everything I've seen from him, but if it weren't for his performance here, I'm not even sure this movie would work. You feel for him when he's grieving, are upset when he ignores his wife's texts, yet somehow still root for him when he is training his way to becoming a badass (he's not a ex-cop or hitman or anything like that). His eyes do most of the work here, shifting from empty and cold to purposeful and full of rage.
When the action does eventually occur, it is, to nobody's surprise, thrilling. The sequences get chaotic, as Woo's action always is, and some of the kills are just awesome (even Kid Cudi gets to be a badass briefly). The sound design takes us through the chaos, and cinematographer Sharone Meir gets to flex her muscles with some twisty camera work.
While it wasn't as solid as I was hoping (and that could be partially my fault for not managing my expectations), Silent Night is still a solid action movie. It's not as tight knit as it could be, given the approach of going mostly dialogue free. But great performances all around and fun action make the film a fun watch. And makes me kind of curious if Woo has a little more under his belt that I would love to see in the future
