Silent Night (2023)
Director: John Woo
Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Scott Mescudi, Harold Torres, Catalina Sandino Moreno
Primary genre: Action
Secondary genre: Thriller
Regarded as John Woo’s triumphant return to the world of (US) action since his terrible and forgettable “Paycheck”, “Silent Night” twenty years later copies pretty much the Netflix originals formula demonstrating that the gun-fu glory days of the action grandmaster are a thing of the past.
Featuring a pointless gimmick - lack of complete dialogue - for no compelling reason, “Silent Night” has nothing to be proud of. The clever marketing campaign and superb trailer screamed how Woo was back on top form. Make no mistake though; this is not your George Miller’s “Fury Road” (2015) with guns. Taking place through the confinements of a telegraphic revenge story, our hero becomes a vigilante to extract vengeance against a gang who accidentally killed his son. This over-simplified plot should be enough to feature some degree of heroic bloodshed in the always welcome Christmas setting. However, the script is more invested to remind us melodramatic information we already know via tedious flashbacks every time it gears up towards a confrontation forgetting to have old school fun. Perhaps a trimming editor would have made this movie more engaging as Woo extends the running time to almost two hours of manic camerawork and lots and lots of stares.
Lacking the thunderous and creative energy of his Hong Kong outputs, the action is unfortunately in short dosages and banal too. You have seen everything in better movies. Removing all the elements which made Woo cinematically unique - slo mo, pigeons, berettas, gun fu, multiple angles, split screen, bullet chaos, he favors a realistic - you guessed it - John Wickesque approach here. The production design and cinematography lift entire cues from the world of the infamous assassin to present brief and hypersaturated hand to hand (at least R-rated) skirmishes that briefly wake up the audience but are not interesting or inventive enough to keep it awake.
Described as a “The Punisher” (2003) and “John Wick” (2014) combo without the fun of the first or the panache of the second, the script ticks all the imaginable cliches (e.g., getting ripped montage, first kill) leaving you to wonder how come two hours were not enough to offer any depth to the major characters. The (random) addition of a sidelined cop (Scott Mescudi) means nothing, Catalina Moreno just looks around and antagonist Harold Torres lacks the physical presence to enjoy a proper climatic (and entertaining) fight like Woo’s Mad Dog in his magnum opus “Hard Boiled” (1992).
Despite a solid performance from Kinnaman and some OTT direction from Woo, “Silent Night” is another misstep in the US market elevating his initial “Hard Target” (1993) and “Face/Off” (1997) flicks into action masterpieces in comparison. Even the hardcore fans will struggle to find something to really care for here and considering they waited 20 years for the action guru’s return, this being a colossal disappointment is a vast understatement.
Silent night for all the wrong reasons
+Kinnaman is ok
+Good cinematography
+Woo is back
-And brings nothing
-Banal action
-Zero character development
-Unexisting villain