Silent Night (2023) Lionsgate/Action-Thriller RT: 104 minutes Rated R (strong bloody violence, drug use, some language) Director: John Woo Screenplay: Robert Archer Lynn Music: Marco Beltrami Cinematography: Sharone Meir Release date: December 1, 2023 (US) Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi), Harold Torres, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Vinny O’Brien, Yoko Hamamura, Anthony Giulietti, John Pollack. Box Office: $8M (US)/$11M (World)
Rating: *** ½
Cinema is a visual medium. It always has been, especially in the beginning. The technology to record sound on film did not yet exist meaning there was no spoken dialogue. Stories were told through imagery, action and intertitle cards. Acting was all about facial expressions and gestures. Once “talkies” became the norm circa 1927, the face of cinema was changed forever. So endeth the history lesson.
In his first American movie in 20 years, high-octane action director John Woo (Face/Off) goes back to basics with Silent Night, a kick-ass revenge flick set on Christmas Eve. The title refers not to the same-named Christmas carol, but the movie’s total absence of dialogue. The actors never utter a single word. But don’t take that to mean it’s completely silent because it’s not. Guns fire, tires screech, cars crash into each other, people punch and pummel each other and Marco Beltrami’s melodramatic score plays through most of it. All the while, nobody says a word. They gesture, exchange looks and emote heavily like the silent actors of old. In less assured hands, this conceit might come off as cinematic self-gratification. In Woo’s more than capable hands, it makes the movie rock!
The plot isn’t anything new, but Silent Night is more about presentation than story. Still, it’s a pretty damn good story. It’s your basic revenge thriller about a grieving father, Brian (Kinnaman, Run All Night), who decides to take the law into his own hands after his 7YO son is killed by a stray bullet during a gang shootout in front of his house on Christmas Eve. After recovering from his own injuries, including a bullet to the throat that leaves him no longer able to speak, he spends the next year preparing to take down the scumbag drug dealer (Torres, Memory) and his gang. He gets in shape, gathers intel on his targets, collects an arsenal, learns to shoot like John Wick and drive like the Transporter. It becomes an obsession that costs him his marriage to Saya (Moreno, Maria Full of Grace).
Silent Night really kicks into full tilt boogie action gear when next Christmas Eve finally comes. Brian goes after the creeps with a bloody vengeance. He shoots, stabs, beats, punches and kicks his way to the top of the food chain. And where are the police during all this? Why, the same place they always are in movies like this, anywhere but where they should be. The only one who seems to even care a little is this one detective (rapper Kid Cudi, X) who left his card with Brian at the hospital. When he realizes what Brian is up to, let’s just say he doesn’t follow procedure.
I’ve been a fan of Woo since I first saw The Killer in ’91. I had never before seen a Hong Kong-style action movie and it blew me away. There was something operatic about it that made it stand out from the American actioners starring Steven Seagal, Arnold Schwarzenegger and JCVD. He had his ups (Hard Target, Face/Off) and downs (Mission: Impossible 2, Windtalkers) with his American films. His last one, 2003’s Paycheck, I barely even remember. I’m happy to report he comes back strong with Silent Night, his best work since Face/Off. He dials it down a notch in terms of style (no slo-mo doves), but ups his game with some of the best action sequences I’ve seen all year. The choreography is nothing less than balletic. This is action cinema at its finest, my friends.
The acting in Silent Night is on a different level. Not being saddled with lines to remember, the actors are free to let their physical selves do the talking. You can see the grief in every facial expression and every movement made by Kinnaman. Moreno makes her character’s hurt palpable as she watches her husband transform into somebody she doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know. Torres hams it up to the skies as the villain of the piece. The scene where he dances with his drugged-out girlfriend while waiting for Brian to get to him is just crazy. I love, by the way, that he’s headquartered in an abandoned factory like a Batman villain. There’s not a shred of realism to Silent Night. It’s just like a live-action comic book tinged with film noir.
My only gripe about Silent Night, and it’s a small one, is that it takes a little longer than it should to get to the good stuff. At the same time, it’s all absolutely necessary in order to understand the physical and psychological transformation of the protagonist. Either way, Silent Night is one of hell of a movie! It moves at a rapid pace, the main benefit of not being weighed down by a ton of expository dialogue. It’s very violent and bloody which I love. It definitely earns its R. On a more personal note, I will be adding it to the list of movies I watch every Christmas. Maybe I’ll make it a double feature with last year’s Violent Night.
