SILENT NIGHT

US, 2023, 104 minutes, Colour.

Joel Kinnaman, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Scott Mescudi, Harold Torres.

Directed by John Woo.

Movie buffs will have great memories of Hong Kong director, John Woo. He was prolific in the 1970s, came to greater attention with his crime thrillers, violent action and stylish filmmaking in the 1980s, making his mark in the US in the 1990s, especially with Face/Off, moving then to a range of films but many focusing on Chinese history.

Now he is back in the USA (though filming in Mexico with a Hispanic team), very much as we used to appreciate him but this time with a great difference. His title is Silent Night, and the Christmas Carol does play in the early part of the film as well as, ironically, and more forcibly in the violent climax. However, he puts the emphasis on Silent. This is very much a silent film. We hear only four words throughout the film (and, unfortunately/realistically, the perennial four letters) – but there are all the sound effects and some muted musical score. This is something of a tour de force, audiences gradually realising that they are not going to hear word spoken, but, as in the old silent days, communication by facial expression and, strongly, by body language.

John Woo turned seventy six while he was filming Silent Night. But he does not seem to have lost any of his verve, especially in staging chases, shootouts, martial arts training, violent fights and spectacular climaxes. All here.

The action focuses very much on Brian, played by Joel Kinnaman. We see him running at first, desperate, looking at a red balloon, hurrying down streets, encountering two cars and a shootout, finally cornered, a tattooed criminal confronting him, shooting him in the throat. But, he survives, unable to speak.

While this must have been a great challenge to Kinnaman and his acting skills, he is completely convincing, recuperating, tensions with his loving wife and her leaving him, the introduction of flashbacks to his playing with his young son and the tragic revelation of what happened.

But, this is a revenge drama, Brian going into vigilante action, audiences sympathetic to the calling to justice of the criminals but also wondering about the destructive effect on the psyche and moral behaviour of a man out for vengeance. On his calendar, he marks Christmas Eve 2022 as the day of vengeance, the anniversary of the death of his son. And, for months, we see him training, using video programs, martial arts, weapons, buying and fortifying a car.

Apart from the criminals, the other main character is a local detective, played by Scott Mescudi (in no way of relying on his musical identity, Kid Scudi).

As mentioned, John Woo has not lost his pace, and this is particularly so in the violent and ultimately fiery climax, high body count, choreographed fights, and Brian turning into something like a human Robocop (and then this reviewer suddenly remembering that in the remake of Robocop, Robocop was indeed played by Joel Kinnaman).

Obviously, a film for the fans rather than for audiences who shun the sight of blood (in close-up early in the film during the throat surgery)!

1. Title, the Christmas him, played at the beginning, during the climax? Christmas Eve, Brian and his being unable to speak, silent vengeance?
2. The career of John Woo, his heyday in Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s, the US in the 1990s, mixture of films, making this film at age 76? His themes, his style, pace, action?
3. The introduction, Brian and his desperate running, the balloon, the pursuing cars, the lanes, crashes, the rival gangs and shooting? His being trapped, shot in the neck?
4. The hospital sequences, reviving him, his wife’s presence and support, the visit of the detective? His being unable to speak? The scenes of rehabilitation, getting strength back, going home, morose, his son’s room, unable to speak, with his wife, her going to work, texting? Her giving up, packing, leaving? His later watching her and her painting?
5. His memories, the insertions in flashbacks, playing with his son, his wife taking photos, the drive-by, the violence, the shooting, his son’s death, Brian in desperate pursuit?
6. John Woo and his decision to have a silent film, communication by face and by body language, keeping the sound effects, more subdued music, Silent Night, some texting, only a few words heard? The equivalent of a silent film and its drama, communication, audience response?
7. Brian going to the police, the office, the range of photos, criminals, most wanted, his taking photos of them all, leaving, putting them on the wall of his workshop? His decision for vengeance, the film as vigilante vengeance? The effect on the criminals? The effect on the vigilantes himself?
8. Buying the car, driving, speed, turns and twists? His bodybuilding, studying the video, the dummy, weapons, building himself up over the months? The calendar, the aim for Christmas Eve, the anniversary of his son’s death? To kill everyone?
9. Taking photos, surveillance, his killer and the girlfriend, luxury, the drugs? The drug deals, the money people? The range of thugs?
10. His abduction of the money man, tying him up, freeing him, the fight, wounds, defeating him, finding him and leaving him at the detective’s door? Map and indications? The effect on the detective, his mission, following through?
11. The climax, Brian becoming the human equivalent of Robocop? In the car, the shootings, in the middle of the gangs, his strengths, his limitations, worms? Infiltration into the building, setting the bomb and the fire, the shootouts?
12. The detective arriving, following through, intervening, confronting Brian, shooting the girl? His being wounded?
13. Brian, the threat of the girl, her malice, her death, going into the adorned room, seeing his adversary, the fight, wounded, killing the murderer, lying on the floor, with the detective?
14. The final sequences, moving from the violence, to the happy memories of former days, the son, his potential for growing up? Regrets, achieving his mission, death?