Brought to us by action movie director legend, John Woo, Silent Night is a shallow, but fun blood-soaked festive action movie for you adrenaline junkies! I was pretty hyped for this one, more and more studios are taking a chance on festive action and horror and that is awesome to see.
How to Download Silent Night (2023)
Silent Night was released on December 1, 2023. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you want to see another film directed by John Woo, we recommend Mission: Impossible 2.
Silent Night (2023): The Movie Review
A Revenge Story at Its Core
Silent Night stars Joel Kinnaman who plays the role of Brian. Brian is a regular dude, he has a loving wife and a young son that he has a great relationship with. Well, on Christmas Eve 2021, Brian and his son Taylor are caught in the crossfire of a gang drive-by shooting and Taylor passes away as a result.
Filled with rage, Brian chases down the car, only be to beaten and shot in the neck, destroying his vocal chords in the process…. Hence the title Silent Night! This leads Brian down a very, very dark path. He decides that he is going to get revenge on this gang and kill everyone that is a part of it who he feels is responsible for the death of his son.
A Deep Dive into Action and Minimal Dialogue
We get a pretty cool training montage-style thing with Brian learning to fight and shoot a gun. Seeing this regular guy go from a loving dad to a grieving father to The Punisher is pretty crazy. This is a revenge movie at its core and a fun one, it is very, very shallow and if you like crazy John Woo-style action you will get a kick out of it. If you like more substance in your action, Silent Night is probably not for you.
There are some very over-the-top action scenes as you would expect from a movie brought to us by John Woo and I honestly had a lot of fun with this movie. The thing is, Silent Night has a gimmick and that gimmick is that no one talks. Sure, you hear a bit of background chatter here and there, but for the most part, there is little to no talking in the movie.
Personal Resonance and Final Thoughts on Silent Night
I get it with Brian, he’s lost his vocal cords, but there is no explanation for why no one else in the movie really talks! Brian has a cop buddy that kind of helps him out, but without any dialogue, you never really care about this guy. To be fair, I am always down for some crazy John Woo action and many of his movies are not exactly what you would call story-heavy.
With Silent Night though, it is a movie that is just 100 percent all about the action. I think as a father myself, I kind of dug it more as it did feel a bit more personal and it was easy for me to get invested in this guy wanting brutal justice for his son. However, my wife did not like this movie at all! She thought it was dumb and when I said that this might make it into my annual Christmas movie rotation, she said I could watch it by myself!
I think for people who are into balls-to-the-wall action and lots of crazy shootouts and stuff like that, Silent Night is a fun revenge action movie that is sure to get your blood pumping. At the same time, while I did enjoy this movie, I could also see why it would be something that does not appeal to some people.
