Silent Night

While he could also be a reliable director for probably the most half, the title John Woo (Paycheck) isn’t one which instantly screams “substance.” Nevertheless, Silent Night showcases Woo’s means to serve up one thing much more significant than the typical popcorn flick.

Wholesome household man Brian (Joel Kinnaman) is an almost picture-perfect husband and father, however his total worldview is shattered when his neighborhood turns into the most recent battleground in an ongoing gang battle. He loses his son within the crossfire, whereas one other stray bullet deprives him of his voice. What a phenomenal Christmas simply moments earlier than turns into a grief-stricken tragedy that finally drives his spouse (Catalina Moreno) away from him as his focus narrows on revenge.

There’s not a lot to say concerning the story itself. Despite following a moderately predictable and trope-laden plot thread, it’s additionally curiously muddled at instances. For occasion, Brian goes out of his option to contain police detective Dennis (Scott Mescudi) by presenting him with proof linking the assault to gang chief Playa (Harold Torres). This, nonetheless, happens when he already seems set on retaliation. Considering how rapidly Brian trains himself within the artwork of homicide, it’s arduous to think about him being absent-minded sufficient to attract police consideration proper earlier than embarking on a bloodthirsty rampage. Like lots of the movie’s story beats, this second clearly solely exists to ahead the plot.

Even so, viewers capable of forgive headscratchers like these will discover that the movie doesn’t excel on the premise of what the story is about, however moderately within the method it’s offered. Brian is way from the one wordless participant within the movie, but Woo embraces the idea of “show, don’t tell” with gorgeous artistry. To name it a contemporary silent movie could be inaccurate, because the music and gunfire nonetheless ring clear all through. Even older silent movies usually relied on textual content to talk for the characters, whereas Brian’s emotional arc is advised fully by Kinnaman’s tortured expressions. Meanwhile, Woo continuously employs overhead photographs to point out the total scale of demise and destruction that Playa and the person he’s wronged have wrought upon their environment.

Although wordless expression pervades all through, Kinnaman handles it higher than anybody. There’s one significantly chilling scene wherein he appears unable to just accept his lack of speech. Although his lifeless son serves little extra operate than as a prop to arrange some old school bloodletting, Kinnaman’s efficiency on this scene captures a way of helplessness acquainted to anybody who’s suffered PTSD following a violent legal encounter. He’s caught in a world far completely different from the one he thought he lived in solely days earlier than. Trapped on this new existence, he has nowhere to show aside from vengeful ideation. Even when he begins taking steps to make that vengeance a actuality, his eyes hardly masks the vulnerability that’s taken over this once-joyful father.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a John Woo film if this didn’t set the scene for some insane bullet ballet. True to kind, Woo manages to make each single motion scene stand aside. Some of one of the best scenes deprive Brian of firepower altogether, with one fisticuff duel particularly standing out as among the many most grueling, tension-filled fights put to movie. What actually makes the motion stand out, nonetheless, is that Woo ends lots of the movie’s battles with quiet moments that give the viewers time to course of what they’ve seen. Rather than shoveling handfuls of popcorn in between shootouts, viewers are reminded that these demise battles are fairly actual for the characters partaking in them.

Silent Night in all probability lacks the franchise potential of a John Wick film, however that’s okay. With his first American movie in a long time, John Woo has proven that he has much more to supply than over-the-top motion and tacky dialogue. Apparently, an outdated canine can be taught new methods. If he continues to make the most of these methods in future outings, the whole panorama of motion movies could also be higher for it.