Silent Night
Silent Night
Starring Joel Kinnaman, Scott Mescudi, Harold Torres, Catalina Sandino Moreno
Directed by John Woo
On Christmas Eve in 2001, family man Brian Godlock (Joel Kinnaman) and his wife Saya (Cataline Sandino Moreno) undergo the worst tragedy a family could endure: their young son is gunned down by a gang war. Brian goes in search for them and ends up getting shot himself by Playa (Harold Torres), the leader of one of the gangs. Brian survives but his vocal chords have been damaged beyond repair, and he can't talk again. He spends the next year on a quest to better himself and get revenge against the people who caused his son's death by learning how to fight hand-to-hand, train vigorously, learn how to drive a fast car, and survive on his own wits. This quest for revenge creates a rift between himself and Saya, but he's focused on killing those who killed his son one year later and nothing will stand in his way - not even Detective Dennis Vassel (Scott Mescudi).
The Good:
John Woo is a master cinematographer, and his films are tight and confined. He keeps the focus driven on one solitary motion, and the scenes effortlessly move from one moment to another with a fluidity that makes it feel like one take. It's visually beautiful to behold, especially a scene were Brian is mourning his young son by laying in his bed, with the camera focused on him before panning out to see his son laying next to him, then the camera going back to Brian and zooming out again to nothing. It feels like one take, and there's numerous scenes like this in the film that drives home that this isn't just an action film, but a deeply dramatic one at that.
The drama comes with Joel Kinnaman's performance, which is something rather dangerous. Much like films that focus on only one actor, there's no room for error (such as Tom Hardy's "Locke" or Ryan Reynolds' "Buried"). Here, Kinnaman has absolutely no lines whatsoever, so he has to convey his thoughts through his facial expressions and motions. You feel that Kinnaman didn't even know what he had inside him, as his performance is downright awe-inspiring. You sense the loss in his eyes, the anger in his motions, and the sheer brokenness in his entire role. Though he spends a year training, when it comes time to do the deed, he throws up after killing his first man. He receives as much torment as he gives, and he doesn't come off as a John Wick character - but rather more realistically a man who sees nothing but red and will stop at nothing to quench his thirst for revenge.
No one in this film speaks full sentences, but instead uses grunts, moans, screams and the like to illicit their emotions. Again, this could've led to the film's downfall, but it only heightened its emotional resonance. Apart from Kinnaman, Catalina Sandino Moreno's Saya is given the most to work with. She struggles as Brian does, but Brian is so set on revenge it drives a rift between them, and it's something that they can't come back from. Moreno's silence speaks volumes through her own gestures, gazes, and actions.
The action, as you'd expect, is amazing and reminiscent of the 90s style Woo is known for. There's no aerial drone shots or Michael Bay crack-induced shaky cam motions, but instead it's delivered with a steady hand and a knowledge of the craft that goes beyond most people. Brian's ascent up a small confined staircase serves as the film's bread and butter, with such close quarters there's again no room for error. The violence is intense but not over-the-top, and again it feels like a 90s film that was released in 2023, and that's not a bad thing.
The Bad:
The film is a bit longer than it should've, and could've cut down about ten to twenty minutes of his montage preparation, but other than that there's not a lot of bad things I can say about this film.
The Summary:
By silencing his actors and letting their actions do the talking, John Woo proves himself an action master with a sense of the dramatic in "Silent Night," a film that'll have you anything but quiet.
The Score: A
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