Silent Night Review – Actions Speak Louder Than Words

John Woo’s first comeback American film since 2003 (Paycheck) is like getting socks on Christmas – it’s the thought that counts. From the plot to the soundtrack, this review is going to cover the highs and lows of what Silent Night brought to the table. Personally, I’m a lover of thriller and horror films that conjunct with the meaning of the holiday season. With the recent popularity of nearly silent films (A Quiet Place), it’s cool to see how this film took that same direction for an action-thriller – a genre known for loud and intense scenes. Having the producer of John Wick on the team for Silent Night made the action completely enthralling, but here were some scenes that missed the mark. 

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Looking for some more scary flicks to watch this month? Check out these top 5 horror movies for December 2023.

Story – Speak Not, Capture Not

The film’s story revolves around a father, Brian, seeking vengeance on the gang involved with the murder of his young son on Christmas Eve. While this idea isn’t original in the slightest, removing the dialogue from the entirety of the plot is quite interesting. In an action film, you’re usually expecting loads of shouting, explosions, and intense fighting sequences. Silent Night has all that – minus the voices.

Brian trying to scream after throat injury.

As the film progresses, the overall story becomes nearly predictable. Devastated father mourns the loss of his child, promises to make things right, loses his marriage to the loss, chases after bad guys, and works alongside a cop to take them down. After eight months of hardcore training to take down the leader of the gang, Brian finally gives us some action. Thankfully, John Wick producer Basil Iwanyk put in his all with these thrilling scenes – which explains the roughly five minute silent shootout. 

Sadly, the action is the only thing that captured my attention in this film and basically every action shot is shown in the trailer. The only twist in this plot is the incredibly underwhelming ending. It’s like watching a first draft idea be brought to life. Silent Night is not the style of John Woo that gave him legendary status.

Characters & Performances – Almost Insignificant

Starring Joel Kinnaman and Scott Mescudi, the Silent Night cast felt a little…off. Recently, rap artist Kid Cudi has been immersing himself into the world of cinema. While I am a huge fan of him as an artist and his other work including his Netflix film Enterglactic, I can’t understand why he took this role of detective Vassell. He only has about five total minutes of screen time and doesn’t add anything to the plot. In fact, nearly nobody matters in this film besides Joel Kinnaman’s character. I felt like Mescudi’s character wasn’t needed to understand anything and honestly felt out of place. 

Kid Cudi in his role of Vassell.

You might recognize Joel Kinnaman from his 2014 film Robocop, but just like Silent Night it was poorly-timed and missed box-office goals. He does a really great job in his role as a father seeking revenge, and since the film revolves around him you can’t really look away. His facial expressions are critical to conveying the emotions and progression of the film which he has down pact. From surprise to anger to grief, his silent performance draws you in. 

Playa, the gang leader played by Harold Torres is good at being bad. He’s tough, his character is decked out in tattoos, and he’s essentially a drug lord. His silence seemed to help him come off as even more intimidating and dangerous. While Brian’s silence portrayed determination and anger, Vassell’s silence was passive, and Playa’s was downright threatening. 

Cinematography & Sound – Gun-Fu With a Holiday Twist

So, this film is based on an incident revolving around the jolly holiday of Christmas and was released at the start of December. There’s bound to be a few holiday jingles. I accepted that going into it, but what I didn’t expect was the immaculate house/club music choices for the scenes set in Playa’s (the gang leader) makeshift penthouse.

Being the man in charge, of course Playa’s room is decked out in super shiny items and incredible mood lighting. It’s made to feel lavish, and the music he has playing is rhythmic and beat-reliant. When the action starts to pop off while the music continues to play, it’s almost reminiscent of the club scene from Blade (1998).

Playa pretending to live a high life.

It’s noticeable throughout the movie that Brian’s life is sort of bleak and shot in high-contrast lighting, representing his grief. More so, when Brian has memories of his son the scene becomes very warm-toned and obviously represents the happiness he has lost. Even during a shot when Brian is grabbing something from his son’s room, there is a ray of sunlight casted over the bed as if it is the only bright spot in the entire house.

Editing & Pacing – John Woo-esqe at the Wrong Moments

For some reason there was a random repeated intense close up shot of Brian’s wife’s eyes when she was at the hospital attending to him after his first attempt at attacking the gang. It felt very out of place – wrong movie, wrong time. It makes sense coming from John Woo, but not for this film.

Brian’s calendar counting down the days to the attack against the gang.

In the beginning of the film there was a scene focusing on a CGI bird on the window across from Brian which wasn’t really significant at all and felt like extra fluff to add time length. There was also some poorly executed CGI in the ending, which just added another layer of dissatisfaction for me.

There were a lot of back and forth cuts during this film. Understandable for an action film, but it just felt too fast sometimes while too slow at the least important parts. Sometimes it felt like I was watching a John Wick film, sometimes it felt like Fast and Furious, but it never felt like its own. I did really love how they slowed down and intensified the scenes where Brian essentially KO’s his opponents.