About the film (courtesy of Lionsgate):
While recovering from a wound that costs him his voice, he makes vengeance his life’s mission and embarks on a punishing training regimen in order to avenge his son’s death. Full of Woo’s signature style, Silent Night redefines the action genre with visceral, thrill-a-minute storytelling.
John Woo’s return to Hollywood with Silent Night, after a twenty year layoff, is a disappointing and misguided attempt at an action-packed revenge thriller. The film, starring Joel Kinnaman as a grieving father seeking vengeance for his son’s death, is tonally inconsistent, emotionally hollow, and action-heavy but lacking in style or excitement.
Due to events that occur at the beginning of the film with Brian Godluck (Kinnaman) losing his ability to speak, Silent Night opts for an interesting, in theory, strategy. There are no spoken words by the onscreen actors throughout the duration of the 104 minute action/revenge flick. The only dialogue heard is over various police radios and news reports on television. Gimmicky, yes. Effective, not really.
Silent Night‘s biggest flaw lies in its inability to reconcile its violent action with its melancholic revenge narrative. The constant flashbacks to the protagonist’s son’s death feel jarring and out of place amidst the gunfights and explosions, making it difficult to connect with the character’s emotional journey.
The action sequences, while choreographed competently, fail to capture Woo’s signature blend of balletic gunplay and slow-motion shots. They feel generic and uninspired, lacking the visual flair and emotional resonance that have made Woo’s action films so iconic.
The supporting cast, including Catalina Sandino Moreno, Kid Cudi, and Harold Torres, are given little to do beyond providing exposition and reacting to Kinnaman’s brooding performance. The characters lack depth and dimension, making it hard to care about their fate.
Silent Night is a missed opportunity for John Woo to recapture his former glory. The film is a jumbled mess of genres and tones, failing to deliver either the emotional resonance of a revenge drama or the adrenaline-fueled excitement of an action film. Instead, it leaves the audience with a sense of disappointment and a longing for the days when Woo’s films were as captivating as they were action-packed.
You can catch Silent Night in theaters this Friday, December 1st during a very quiet week of new releases. Even with the lack of fresh competition, I highly doubt this feature will crack the top three, possibly not even the top five.
