Bullet Points: Silent Night (2023)
2022 gifted action fanatics with Violent Night. 2023 has followed with Silent Night… a new Christmas action movie every year is a trend I can certainly get behind.
- The Inciting Incident: Joel Kinnaman plays Brian Godlock, a father whose life comes crashing down around him on Christmas Eve while he is playing with his seven year old son in their front yard, when some gang bangers come roaring down the street shooting at one another and a stray bullet instantly kills Brian’s son. When the movie begins, we see an enraged Brian chasing after the gang bangers on foot… once he catches up with them he is nearly killed when he is shot in the throat by Playa, the tattoo faced leader of the GI-7’s, and left for dead on the street. The doctors manage to save Brian’s life, but he’ll never be the same physically or emotionally…
- Silence is Golden: Brian survives the shooting, but no longer has the ability to speak. Action movies aren’t normally lauded for their acting performances, but Silent Night is a rare exception. Kinnaman’s ability to convey the grief, the anger, the frustration and the rage that he is feeling as a grieving father with only his eyes and facial expressions has to be commended.
- Enough is Enough: After months of drinking his blues away, Brian makes the decision to throw the booze away and pay a visit to the police and meets with Detective Vassell (played by Kid Cudi or Scott Mescudi for those in the know) in April. But while he’s waiting in Vassell’s office, he takes pictures of all the wanted gang members on Vassell’s wall and decides he is going to handle things himself before Vassell even has a chance of meeting with him. Brian gets home, determines that on Christmas Eve he is going to kill them all and then the movie goes into what could almost be described as extended montage mode with Brian learning how to fight with a knife via the Internet, building a revenge mobile, firearms training, doing some recon work and getting himself into peak physical condition. Along the way, Brian’s wife Saya is forced to leave him, adding to our hero’s emotional hardships.
- Wootastic Voyage: The slow burn storytelling in Silent Night builds up the anticipation for the vengeance that you just know is coming. Once Brian goes into vengeance mode it is the kind of action and violence you would expect from Director John Woo. It is brutal, it is in your face and it is unrelenting. This is a pure revenge film… there’s no one liners to inject a little humor into the movie, because there are no lines. Other than radio chatter, no dialogue exchanged between the characters, which made for a unique movie experience.
Silent Night is not going to be everyone’s cup of eggnog. But if a movie filled with emotion, that delivers some hard hitting (and at times graphic) action at the end of an arduous journey, directed by an action maestro and with a strong leading man performance sounds appealing to you, you will probably want to check it out.
If Bonus Bullet Points sound appealing to you, you’ll want to check these out…
- Soundtraxx: You can’t have a movie called Silent Night without the song “Silent Night” being featured… an instrumental version of course.
- A Very Death Wish Christmas: There are similarities between Silent Night and the classic Charles Bronson Death Wish movies, like when Brian pukes after his first kill.
- If You Ever: …wanted to see Joel Kinnaman running around in a Christmas sweater and a jingle bell necklace, then Silent Night is the movie for you.
- Dove Count: I did not see any doves in Silent Night.
