X
In Theaters Now
- 2023
- R
- 1 h 44 m
- 2023
- R
- 1 h 44 m
Summary A tormented father (Joel Kinnaman) witnesses his young son die when caught in a gang’s crossfire on Christmas Eve. 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.
Directed By: John Woo
Written By: Robert Archer Lynn
In Theaters Now
- 2023
- R
- 1 h 44 m
- 2023
- R
- 1 h 44 m
Silent Night
54
4.6
Where to Watch
Summary A tormented father (Joel Kinnaman) witnesses his young son die when caught in a gang’s crossfire on Christmas Eve. 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.
Directed By: John Woo
Written By: Robert Archer Lynn
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
54
35% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
46% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
19% Negative
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 26 Critic Reviews
54
35% Positive
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
46% Mixed
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
19% Negative
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
Woo is a virtuoso. This movie is music.
This sort of small-scale revenge piece is a pretty common occurrence in the direct-to-VOD market, but what elevates Silent Night is Woo’s skill with action, in concert with the lack of dialogue.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 User Ratings
4.6
20% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
50% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
30% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 User Ratings
4.6
20% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
50% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
30% Negative
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
First movie of John Woo in Hollywood since Paycheck in 2003 (that was an average movie). This movie is almost all based on the expression of the protagonist and secondary characters, even being previsible and a bit melodramatic (but the melodrama is dispersed thorough the movie), without any line whatsoever is something to be praised and offstream.A father suffers the sudden loss of his son in a gangs shootout in a fictional city on Texas, and barely surviving trying to catch the killers - no explanation why he have those skills in the start of the story and in the end being all movie a preparation for revenge is a big no-no on the script **** is enjoyable especially if you like revenge is better served cold movies. The tension is present and even being previsible the movie delivers the satisfaction of revenge in the end, building up tension till the end (I liked the final scene btw - it was something that was bothering me, and that little bit was explained [ I mean his reactions to the mother that suffered such a hard loss too ] ).Being a John Woo movie you expect very electrifying action scenes and you get those on sequences on the start, middle and especially end as it should be. Really nice and bloody btw - and for the acting of Joel Kinnaman as the only protagonist I decided to gave the movie one star more than it would be without him. So a 7.0 out 1f 10.0 / B for this one. If you crave action and revenge for Christmas this is it (speaking of Xmas, it only serves as a more dramatic starting point for the story - it could have been any time of the year, but hey we need something for the season every year right?).
Report
Limited by his budget, Woo makes the most of what he has, but the whole thing feels like he’s cautiously dipping his toe back in the Hollywood pool.
Is Woo using this ultra-violent experience to make an anti-violence statement? Perhaps, but even if that’s the case, it doesn’t work. Whatever the director is trying to do with the movie, it makes it for one big lump of coal in the 2023 cinematic stocking.
The Hong Kong action auteur conjures up a few of his trademark over-the-top sequences, but this tale of bloody vengeance is not the most satisfying delivery device for Woo’s unique brand of melodramatic, slow-mo carnage.
Like its main character, this movie seems hesitant to say anything. It sacrifices exhilaration and settles for emptiness.
While the rest of Silent Night is so abysmal that its prologue might as well be the last hour of “Hard Boiled” by comparison, it’s hard to imagine a more appropriate introduction to a movie whose only upside is the vulgar thrill of watching something that feels utterly anonymous and wildly idiosyncratic at the same time.
John Woo is known for his high-octane action flicks, so he decided to challenge himself (and us) by producing a movie with no dialogue. There IS sound (radios, police radios, etc) but no spoken words. Joel Kinnaman plays the father of a young boy who was killed by a stray bullet during a street fight on Christmas Eve. After mourning, recovery and getting pumped up, he goes after the gangs responsible a year later. As expected, there is an extended car chase and lots of gun fights, but most of it lacks much originality or wow factor (or should that be "woo" factor?). Woo tries to create some emotion with sweet moments of reflection, but it's syrpy and ineffective. Kinnaman alternates between weakly desperate and sternly determined, but seldom reveals much depth. Overall, this was an interesting experiment, but Woo's lack of anything new or different renders this film a noisy, but quiet dud.
Report
“Action speaks louder than words”.
The 77-year-old John Woo returned to Hollywood and to directing six years after his last film (“Manhunt”), creating an adrenaline-filled revenge movie with his typical style, always able to blend the lyricism of emotion and melodrama with extreme violence and the involvement of spectacular action sequences, in turn characterized by rhythm, tight editing, slow motion and special visual effects.
Thanks to the effective, but not very inspired staging, John Woo tries to reinvent himself in a "low" budget work. His talent is undisputed, what is perhaps lacking is the ability to revitalize the genre in question. The main characteristic of this film is that it is almost dialogue-free, and dry in every aspect.
The screenplay deals with themes such as broken childhoods, the difficult process of mourning, pain and revenge; while the staging is totally focused on the power of sight, sound, and music.
The melodrama (the silence of a man in his voice and soul), and the adrenaline-pumping action sequences, however, become interesting only at times. Despite some notable ideas and a certain quality in the general production, the film does not have a serious impact, and furthermore it appears too generic, superficial, lacking.
It has its own dignity, but it is undoubtedly far from the memorable masterpieces of John Woo that revolutionized the action genre in the past. Rating (in tenths): 5 / 6
Report
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
Report
This was awful, the no speaking gimmick was just that, a complete gimmick. This should of been a short story, there is not nearly enough here to support a feature length film. By the 20th cutaway to a flashback of his dead son I was considering walking out. Also, his son dies in a reckless and horrible drive by shooting incident, so his follow up to that is to get engaged in multiple shootouts on the streets?John Woo still brought some good visual flare and some decent action but on the whole this was a total miss.
Report
Production Company
A Better Tomorrow Films,
Capstone Studios,
Corazón Films,
Thunder Road Pictures
Release Date Dec 1, 2023
Duration 1 h 44 m
Rating R
Tagline Action Speaks Louder Than Words
Awards
Michigan Movie Critics Guild Awards
• 1 Nomination
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
• 1 Nomination
