Silent Night is a 2023 action thriller film directed by John Woo, from a screenplay by Robert Archer Lynn. The concept of the film is unique as it includes no dialogue whatsoever with the story being driven solely by sight and sound. Principal photography began in April 2022 in Mexico City but was delayed due to an on-set injury involving a crew member. The film is Woo's first American feature film since Paycheck (2003).

A gritty revenge tale of 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 to avenge his son’s death.

The cast includes Joel Kinnaman, Scott Mescudi, Harold Torres, and Catalina Sandino Moreno.

Silent Night made its debut in theaters on December 1st, courtesy of Lionsgate.

THE GOOD

I love me a good revenge thriller, which has been proven time and time again by my obsession with the John Wick franchise, as well as my willingness to go down the rabbit hole of watching some of my favorites over and over again. Now I have gone as far as to dabble in the I Spit on Your Grave franchise, but those are a VERY tough watch and not movies I would recommend watching more than once. But when we are talking about the Gerard Butler film Law Abiding Citizen or the Jodie Foster film The Brave One, I am more than happy to watch those whenever I am in the mood. I think it is natural to enjoy seeing bad people get what they deserve, and the only way to avoid the bureaucracy of it all is good old-fashioned vigilante justice. Am I wrong?!

But a common theme of these films is some dark and downright depressing subject matter, like Gerard Butler’s character watching his wife and child murdered in front of him as he lay there helpless, or Jodie Foster and her fiancé falling victim to a random attack that costs him his life. For a revenge tale to get viewers invested, the reason for seeking revenge needs to be good and that is what all of these films have in common. Now I know that Silent Night has the backstory a great revenge flick needs, but is the unique element of no dialogue a bit too much? Keep reading to find out!

Silent Night is a unique film, and boy is it dark and pretty damn depressing for the most part, but all things considered I enjoyed it. From the opening sequence it felt like a John Woo film, and that alone is something to get excited about. The film opens in the midst of the action and starts to backtrack a bit after this with flashbacks, a storytelling technique that I have a bit of a love and hate relationship with mainly because it can be a bit of a distraction when it comes to viewers getting invested in the story, but I will talk more about that later. In the end the approach worked for this film, and that is all that matters.

For the most part I thought Woo stuck with his style and it paid off in the end, as he refuses to skimp on the action and provides some badass action sequences and fight scenes. Silent Night is a stylish action thriller that in many ways feels like a blend of John Wick and the Max Payne videogame franchise. And yes I am referring to the same franchise that churned out the 2008 Mark Wahlberg movie, which was enjoyable but a letdown in terms of the subject matter.

Silent Night is the ultimate story of revenge by any means necessary, and it also delves into a real problem plaguing many big cities, which is gang violence. The heart of the story is this seemingly normal suburban family that encounters unimaginable tragedy as their little boy is struck and killed by a stray bullet from a gunfight between rival gangs while riding his bike in his front yard. Just brutal. I saw the trailer before seeing the movie of course so I knew what to expect in terms of what brought on this revenge mission, but I liked how they pieced together the sequence of events bit by bit before giving viewers the full picture. At the beginning of the film the main character is in an operating room with blood just gushing from his throat as “Silent Night” plays in the background, and let me just say that is a pretty good indication of what to expect going forward. I was invested in the characters and I felt the pain they were feeling. It was clear from the start that healing was not an option for this family who lost their son, and although revenge on those wouldn’t bring him back, it was the only option. I will say that as dark as the story was, I was genuinely impressed by the fact that it still found a way to tug at the heartstrings during the film’s final act.

As far as the cast is concerned, it is hard to dig too deep for a film without any dialogue, but I was honestly blown away by the performance from Joel Kinnaman. To say this was a difficult role to take on would be an understatement, and I thought he crushed it. His character had no dialogue whatsoever during the entire film, meaning that he had to make his mark with raw emotion and body language and boy did he ever. I was first exposed to Kinnaman when he did the crime drama series The Killing, and in my opinion, he has more than proven the fact that he has a ton to offer as an actor. Silent Night is quite the notch in his belt, and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to see him working with John Woo again in the near future. I thought Catalina Sandino Moreno was great as Kinnaman’s wife, and I barely recognized Kid Cudi in his supporting role as a detective more or less along for the ride during this inevitable mission for revenge. The supporting cast in general was fantastic, but again this was the Joel Kinnaman show, and a show it was.

From a technical perspective, Silent Night was fantastic, which should come as no surprise considering John Woo’s involvement. One thing about Woo is his films tend to hit harder than other films, and the action scenes primarily the fight sequences were next-level good. Similar to the John Wick films, Silent Night is more interested in showing viewers that although this man on a revenge mission is mortal and can be hurt, nothing aside from death will slow him down. I know people tend to get annoyed by these revenge thrillers that take this nerd office worker who has a 5-minute training montage and all of a sudden he is a straight badass, but that is not the case here. Kinnaman’s character nearly dies, and while recovering physically he also deals with the emotional pain of losing his son.

The pain he experiences is so severe that he makes his mind up pretty quickly, and he will either get revenge on the people who took his son from him or die trying. Nothing more, and nothing less. I thought they did a fantastic job of making his transition to badass as realistic as possible, to the point that he was bleeding the entire movie. The fight scenes were crazy intense, and I liked the focus on hand-to-hand combat. Now his character does get familiar with firearms including some great work with a shotgun, but he doesn’t’ just magically become legendary hitman John Wick overnight which helped to reinforce the believability of the story. So kudos to the stunt team for kicking ass and taking names, and also shoutout to composer Marco Beltrami for a great score, cinematographer Sharone Meir for creating this authentic feeling of criminal underworld, and Zach Staenberg for doing his thing in the editing room.

THE BAD

The bottom line, this movie is not for everyone. As I talked about during my review not only is the lack of dialogue something certain viewers will have a problem with, but the subject matter is difficult, to say the least. Now not only does this father and mother tragically lose their son, but the father is so brutally tormented by the loss that he can focus on nothing more than revenge with little concern for his well-being or his marriage.

Also, this movie is dark and depressing from the start and that never really changes. Now getting back to the lack of dialogue, the fact that viewers are essentially forced to marinate in the pain of the main character just adds another level to what is already a difficult watch. Now make no mistake I am of course referring to your average moviegoer, and not the hardcore genre fans like myself who will happily relish in the pain knowing that sweet revenge is right around the corner. I will say though as a father the movie does hit hard, which again speaks to how effective the story was. I will also point out that Silent Night does feel a bit slow at times so you will need to be a bit patient to enjoy the inevitable payoff.

THE VERDICT

An intensely dark revenge thriller featuring a gut-wrenching performance from Joel Kinnaman, Silent Night is a pleasant surprise for genre fans and serves as a return to form for director John Woo. This movie will hit you like a freight train, and if you aren’t prepared it could be a little much as far as the subject matter as I touched on during the review. The lack of dialogue takes a bit to get used to as well, but in my opinion, the story is so powerful and Kinnaman just embodies the main character in such a way that I was still bought in pretty quickly.

Instead of trying to appeal to a broader audience Silent Night goes all in on the genre, and for that I am thankful. Also by the end of the movie, I felt satisfied with how everything came together in terms of the story, and for me, that says a lot especially considering the unique approach Woo took with this film. Give it a chance and go in knowing what to expect and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.