Film Review: "Silent Night" (2023).

"Action Speaks Louder Than Words" in Silent Night. This action thriller film directed by John Woo and written by Robert Archer Lynn. This gritty revenge tale follows a tormented father who 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.

In October 2021, the film was first announced as an action film without spoken dialogue, with Woo attached as director and Joel Kinnaman attached as lead star. The film would mark Woo's American directorial comeback, making it the first American film he directed since Paycheck (2003). In March 2022, a special effects assistant was injured during pre-production in a stunt trial run in Mexico City. The crew member was hit by a car, breaking his femur and dislocating his shoulder. By April, Scott Mescudi, Harold Torres, and Catalina Sandino Moreno rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late May. Filming took place in Mexico City, Mexico. Woo decided to film the action in a more realistic manner that supports the emotional drama instead of having the action itself being the entertaining aspect, which was signature of his previous films. For the film, Kinnaman decided to try method acting for the first time and stop speaking for the entirety of the shoot. The lack of communication left the actor feeling lonely, and after multiple start attempts, he decided that the silent car ride to his first day on set was long enough to get him excited for the film.

The film stars Kinnaman, Mescudi, Torres, and Moreno. Thanks to the performances, especially from Kinnaman, the film generally holds together rather well and is bound to keep Woo's most faithful fans happy. 

Has the familiar manic energy and sincere commitment to the weirdness of Woo's original Hollywood output, but it's not quite the return to the glory days some might have been hoping for. One of the central pleasures of genre cinema is running your fingers along well-worn grooves, but while the film trots out a lot of chestnuts, it's the film's tendency to burn through them with bemusing haste. The chases and gunfights in the film are impressive and brisk, containing just as much panache as you remember from John Woo films of twenty years ago. It's got the white doves, gratuitous slo-mo and operatic gunplay that fans of Woo's earlier films would expect, but the whole thing is as slackly executed as an "Expendables" movie. It's the kind of cartoonish film where, no matter what the odds and how many bullets are flying at our heroes, they never get seriously injured. Familiar and perhaps even retro though it is, the film is a thoroughly enjoyable full-tilt action lark, which should introduce a new generation to Woo's patented style.

Simon says Silent Night receives:

Also, see my review for Manhunt (追捕).