2003, director John Woo unleashed the sci-fi action thriller Paycheck starring Ben Affleck (Air), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair), Aaron Eckhart (Rumble Through The Dark), and Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) unto the world. It should have been a slam dunk of a film with the likes of Hard Boiled (1992), The Killer (1989), Broken Arrow (1996), and Face/Off (1997) paving the way and such great talent (both on the rise and well-established) bringing it all to life. Except Paycheck didn’t land and Woo went back to focusing on Chinese cinema, resulting in the two series Red Cliff (2008 & 2009) and The Crossing (2014 & 2015). Now, roughly 20 years later, Woo brings his specific voice of action to the mostly dialogue-absent revenge thriller Silent Night, energizing theaters with the kind of Hong Kong (HK) themes and stylizing that actionheads love and that general audiences looking for something a little different should be encouraged to embrace.
L-R: Joel Kinnaman as Brian Godlock and Catalina Sandino Moreno as Saya in SILENT NIGHT. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate. © 2023 Lionsgate.
It’s Christmas 2021 and tragedy strikes when the Godlock family are caught in the crossfire of gang violence, their young son Tyler (Alex Briseño) losing his life and father Brian (Joel Kinnaman) losing his voice. Despite making a full physical recovery, the losses of his son and the ability to speak that sorrow into words generates a rage that Brian can’t shake, exacerbated by the ineffectiveness of the Los Palomas Police Department in catching the people responsible. Struggling to find his footing, Brian decides that the best thing he can do is gift the gang that changed the course of his family’s lives with bloody vengeance, wrapped up special just for the holidays.
Joel Kinnaman as Brian Godlock in SILENT NIGHT. Photo courtesy of Carlos Latapi/Lionsgate. © 2023 Lionsgate.
The reason it’s important to note that Woo is bringing his HK action sensibilities with him is that far too often those who think on films like Hard Boiled only think of Chow Yun-fat’s Inspector Tequila as a bad-ass and not a human being. For American audiences, this is as likely due to the performance of Yun-fat and Tequila’s heroics as it is that Woo’s American work features the typical American hero who utters lines like “Because my mamma took one” in Hard Target (1993) or utilizes the built-in gadgets and espionage of a world like Mission: Impossible II (2000) to push the bounds of reality into the extreme that fact turns to legend. In this regard, Silent Night, written by Robert Archer Lynn (Adrenaline) shares more in common with HK releases The Postman Fights Back (1982) (also featuring Yun-fat), The Last Blood (1991), or Taxi Hunter (1993), films in which violence always comes at a cost and heroic bravado often equates to a pyrrhic victory. Brian Godlock isn’t a man with a special set of skills, a former assassin, or even a member of protective services, he’s just a dad who can’t break free from the worst day of his life. Because of this, audiences who go into Silent Night as “from the producer of John Wick” may find themselves profoundly disappointed. Interestingly, Silent Night also lacks what folks looking for a Death Wish-esque (1974) story may seek as it delivers something more akin to the violence-begets-grief-begets-more violence of James Wan’s Death Sentence (2007). All of this to say that realism is the name of the game here, and each action that Brian takes toward “justice” results in a toll that rage and grief often hide via the tunnel vision such large emotions create.
Scott Mescudi as Detective Vassell in SILENT NIGHT. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate. © 2023 Lionsgate.
This is where the beauty of the film’s hook is: its lack of dialogue. With the exception of, at most, two moments in the film, there’s no dialogue, which requires every single actor to convey externally with their bodies what they can’t say. It also requires Woo and his team to get incredibly creative in their direction, cinematography, stuntwork, and more. After the inciting incident, Brian is left without the ability to speak and I interpret everything that follows as a result of his inability to convey his sorrow, thereby going inward, blasting himself with blame until he reaches a conclusion that makes action film fans joyous. Kinnaman is therefore forced to make every single action and reaction count because there’s no dialogue to fill the space. With audiences likely more familiar with his action-centric projects like Robocop (2014) and the two Suicide Squad films, seeing Kinnaman in action is “as expected,” whereas the way in which he loads the silence of absent dialogue with his physicality makes the film mesmerizing. It doesn’t matter if Brian is wallowing, expressing shock, or displaying determination, all of it is believable thanks to Kinnaman and each moment is more impressive than the last. Particularly because we’ve seen Kinnaman in these action roles, playing an “everyman” so convincingly as he does here causes audiences to sit up and take notice. It doesn’t hurt that because Brian isn’t specially trained, rather he seeks training, a lot of Kinnaman’s performance may as well be inspired by Buster Keaton (The Cameraman) or Charlie Chaplin (City Lights), creating comedy or drama by mere reaction to circumstances. This is part of the beauty of Silent Night as Kinnaman’s presentation of Brian is so grounded that the slow growth over several months makes sense, laying the foundation for what we expect a revenge thriller to be like, except, due to flourishes in Lynn’s script, Kinnaman reminds us just how much of an everyman Brian is as he puts his plan into action.
Joel Kinnaman as Brian Godlock in SILENT NIGHT. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate. © 2023 Lionsgate.
This may well be late into the review, but it’s worth mentioning a reasonable concern for Silent Night regarding the optics of a Caucasian man seeking to murder members of the Hispanic or Latin communities. Even if gang-related stories weren’t a staple of HK cinema that Woo has been a major part in, thereby making this less a statement on race and more of transposing one country’s manner of storytelling to another, Brian isn’t seeking *any* person to target, which, in the opposite case, would end up lacing the whole of the film in a gross, disquieting tint. As mentioned, Silent Night isn’t Death Wish. Brian is looking only for those who killed his son, reducing the field of targets to a specific and narrow range. The fact that Brian himself comes to this with zero training (not former military or protective services) also reduces any built-in racial components (conscious or subconscious bias). This aids in the “very bad day” catalyst of the film (again, see: Taxi Hunter) that creates Brian’s deep depression and sours to the point of committing murder. Additionally, and it’s something that U.S. cinema often falls to present in its revenge thrillers that Woo and Lynn absolutely don’t shy away from: Brian’s quest is so destructive that it doesn’t just harm Brian and his targets. There’s the kind of spillover that American films of this ilk gloss over in favor of the hero achieving their goal. Not here, not for a moment, does Woo try to make Brian some glorious white knight; rather, via Kinnaman’s often surprising performance, we see Brian as someone who could’ve potentially done more good by finding a way to open up without words than shutting down.
L-R: Harold Torres as Playa and Valeria Santaella as Venus in SILENT NIGHT. Photo courtesy of Carlos Latapi/Lionsgate. © 2023 Lionsgate.
Running at roughly 1 hour and 46 minutes, Silent Night is a tight experience. We’re thrown into the action quickly and Woo takes his time ensuring that the audience is well settled in before any of the action kicks off. Likely due to pacing and maintaining energy, there’s at least one scene we’re shown that’s out of order with what follows after, there’s an almost forgetfulness of the reality of a specific wound when all the rest are anchored in reality, and the inclusion of Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi’s (Need for Speed) Detective Vassel seems more about filling that authoritative role that many HK actioners make sure to have as a foil for the protagonist, so Silent Night isn’t as snug in execution as one would hope; however, there’s no denying that the total execution is a memorable one. There’s art and artistry in the approach to conveying Brian’s internal struggle, there’s meaning in the choices that reinforce the lack of dialogue, and absence of dialogue proves to be less a gimmick than an effectual way to make realized the protagonist’s perceived grief-based isolation. Action cinema could use a reminder that formulas are good, but breaking the formula both challenges and reinvigorates audiences so that they may seek something new. Happy Holidays, folks, your gift is a new John Woo project. You’re welcome.
In theaters December 1st, 2023.
For more information, head to the official Lionsgate Silent Night webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, In Theaters, Recommendation, Reviews
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