Silent Night Review

Directed By: John Woo
Written By: Robert Archer Lynn
Runtime: 104 minutes
MPA Rating: Rated R for strong bloody violence, drug use, and some language

Joel Kinnaman – Brian Godlock
Catalina Sandino Moreno – Saya Godlock
Kid Cudi – Detective Vassell
Harold Torres – Playa
Vinny O’Brien – Anthony Barello Esq.
Yoko Hamamura – Ruiz

Famed director John Woo returns to Hollywood for the first time in 20 years, since 2003’s Paycheck with his bloody holiday-themed action opus, Silent Night. Woo’s new quick, dirty, and revenge-driven yuletide action-thriller relies on a gimmick of virtually no spoken dialogue among the characters. While the lack of a dialogue-driven story is a heavy attention-grabber for Silent Night, it is tailor-made for a director such as Woo due to his trademark visual style. Woo’s Silent Night provides a fun cinematic surprise for the holiday season.

Silent Night follows the story of Brian Godlock (Kinnaman), whose idyllic family life is torn asunder on Christmas day when his young son is shot and killed during a drive-by gangster shootout. Godlock’s son and his family were little more than collateral damage. His son’s death drives Brian into a rage as he pursues the gangsters. The gang leader Playa (Torres) puts a stop to Brian’s rampage, shooting him in the throat. The wound leaves Brian voiceless, and his rage continues to boil over.

Over several months, Brian retreats to the bottle as depression takes over until he eventually starts carving out his path of revenge against the gangsters who killed his son. Brian then begins self-training and molding his body into a weapon to strike back at the gangsters, just in time for Christmas.

Woo’s talent and visual flair, coupled with the gimmicky premise, elevate Silent Night into a memorable, action-packed experience. The lack of dialogue isn’t a problem in Silent Night, as Woo is a master at utilizing images to tell a story. The film does cheat a bit with the spoken dialogue with its use of radio broadcasts. It’s not a “silent” film despite the title. Also, Woo has not lost his touch in creating balletic action sequences, which are the true stars of the film.

Kinnaman makes for a compelling protagonist in Silent Night. He imbues Brian Godlock with a raw brutality and rugged vulnerability. What’s refreshing about his character is that Brian is not some ubermensch or supercop. He’s a completely self-taught, blue-collar average Joe, and more than likely worked as an electrician or mechanical engineer before his son was killed. Brian has not acquired any knowledge of marksmanship or combat through years of experience or formal training. He watches YouTube videos and gathers knowledge to hone his body into a killing machine.

Brian’s inexperience shows throughout the film. Woo wisely visualizes that Brian is not an experienced fighter or killer during the action sequences. Brian becomes repeatedly wounded in battle. Woo also pinpoints the physical toll each battle takes on Brian as the narrative progresses. Brian keeps going, fueled by his rage. The way Woo depicts Brian’s vulnerability and the physical cost of his path of vengeance throughout the film provides a refreshing change from more recent shoot ’em-up action movies, where John Wick’s enemies can’t shoot anyone standing dead center in front of them. Not to mention, Wick constantly walks off many injuries in seconds.

While Silent Night builds nicely to a big finish, the film starts to sputter in the third act when the action ramps up. The action starts with a good bit of escalation but ends with a weak finish. The ending rings melodramatic as well.

Elsewhere, the villainous gangsters led by Playa are significantly nondescript and shown as little more than stereotypical caricatures. The villains could have used further development, or some expanded screentime to make them appear more menacing. Kid Kudi appears as a detective investigating Playa’s gang, who eventually becomes an ally for Brian’s cause, but he adds little to the overall narrative. Although Kid Kudi portrays a superfluous role, he probably had a blast working with a legend like John Woo.

While not a masterpiece, Silent Night at least provides some action-packed thrills. It’s a small-scale action movie that makes Woo’s directing style the true star.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

John Woo's Silent Night provides bloody yuletide thrills in his Hollywood comeback. Woo's trademark visual style elevates the film's gimmick of virtually no spoken dialogue, focusing on the imagery and action to tell the story. Joel Kinnaman transforms Brian Godlock into a compelling protagonist and displays a pleasantly surprising amount of physical vulnerability in the story. The action starts to run out of gas by the end. Regardless, Woo returning to a small-scale, back-to-basics action-thriller such as this is a nice proof-of-concept that he's back on the scene in Hollywood, and hopefully, he will get to make something like this or Face/Off again.