Movie review - Silent Night

Silent Night ***1/2 (out of 5) For years, film buffs have enjoyed arguing about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. The “yeas” emphasize when it’s happening and what’s going on there besides the mayhem between Bruce and the baddies. The “nays” say it’s the polar opposite of the decades of seasonal feelgood spirit exemplified by everything the Hallmark Channel cranks out for the holidays. For them, if it ain’t gooey, it ain’t Yuley. Well, whichever camp you’re in, you’ll feel the same way about this gift from A-list action writer, producer and director John Woo.

Silent Night is a two-edged title. Besides the main events occurring on consecutive Christmases, the entire film plays out without a spoken word. Whatever they saved on dialog they spent on bullets, squibs and chase vehicles. It opens with Joel Kinnamon, wearing a butt-ugly Christmas sweater, running after a couple of cars full of gang bangers blasting away at each other. He’s shot in the throat and chest, but miraculously survives. But he’s unable to speak without a trachea tube, which he bitterly shuns. About 20 minutes in, we learn why he was so recklessly pursuing them - his young son had just been killed by one of their stray bullets.

Then we get a pretty slow 30 minutes with a lot of brooding and Kinnamon training and prepping for his revenge. He lives for nothing else, eventually causing his loving wife (Catalina Sandino Moreno) to leave and handle her grief in her own way. Between the stretches of almost catatonic mourning laced with seething anger, the rigorous conditioning and self-teaching on weaponry, hand-to-hand and a Fast & Furious level of driving are faithful to what we see whenever an Everyman heroically decides to go full Bronson on whoever done him wrong.

Once we get to the second Christmas, Woo gives us all the splatter and superb stuntwork that has defined his long and oft-lauded career. The last 40 minutes come in about halfway between Charles Bronson’s vigilante outings (Paul Kersey’s multiple Death Wish flicks, Mr. Majestyk etc.) and the John Wick franchise. The big final assault puts Kinnamon and the stunt cast through a rigorous, bloody ordeal with a few really stellar demises. Fights are gritty and excellently choreographed – like watching a less-athletic Tony Jaa, or many from the recent wave of crime flicks coming from Korea. Not intended for the squeamish.

Besides the action that’s really the motivation for buying a ticket, the cast does quite well at conveying when we need without uttering a word. Moreno’s expressive face is particularly eloquent despite losing the most obvious tool for establishing a sympathetic character and her emotional arc. Kinnamon is pretty convincing in his transformation from blue-collar dad to Rambo. After nearly 50 years, Woo is still going strong. Happy holidays!

(Silent Night opened in theaters 12/1/23, and is available on VOD as of 12/19/23)