User Reviews

Watching John Woo's "Silent Night" and as much as I hate to admit it, I'm kind of bored.

Also, the lack of dialogue from ANYONE is just weird. Sure, he can't talk due to being shot (it's in the trailer, hardly a spoiler) but the others haven't been shot. Having no one else speak just takes away the impact of the MC losing his own voice.

I'm also struggling with the fact this guy has zero training but thinks he is going to take on the whole criminal underworld - training himself with YouTube videos in his basement.

I guess, all I'm saying is, if you want a decent "You shot my kid, I must kill you all" revenge film - check out Kevin Bacon's "Death Sentence".

Hated this film, most tedious action movie ever. It oversells the opening credits death of his son. While I understand it's the crux of the motivation, we get 30 minutes of his suffering before he decides to do a thing. Feels emotionally manipulative, wringing every last drop of milk from the tragedy to the point where it can't be called a fun action film in the least. The entire film is dialogue free, which works for him since he loses his voice, but becomes a big, dumb gimmick as every character in the film is given an excuse not to speak. One is gagged, one cries and texts the entire film, one is simply quiet and stoic and the rest grunt and groan to fill the gaping void. So finally, after a long cliched montage of him body building and gun training (and why he needs to be extra ripped I don't understand, but I'll buy it). He has a year to plan the perfect revenge and what does he do? Drives up, makes a lot of noise, makes every mistake imaginable & is constantly getting beat up and luck saves him every single time. Bad guys aim for his bullet proof vest over and over again, they give him long cool looks instead of just shooting him as he loudly makes himself an eye sore in every situation, never using even the smallest amount of stealth. He decides not to shoot a woman who just unambiguously just shot at him to kill him, which obviously doesn't go well for him. He tells the bad guys he's coming for him and is surprised that they best him. The lead bad guy decides to dance with his girl for like 10 minutes in slow motion as he is killing all his guys in what is possibly the most over decorated art direction ever in a movie... his lair looks like a groovy Los Angeles art installation or something meow wolf would dream up, hardly a gang member's decorating style. He sees his son in things and plays with his toys over and over stopping the action in its tracks. And finally, why are all the gang members cliches from 1990's movies? Why are they squatting and squaring off in abandoned ruins of buildings? Don't they have anywhere better to be? This movie was a boring, ridiculous, mess. John Woo tried his best to make it interesting visually, but the hyper style that worked in films like Face/Off never stops and makes it feel even more dramatically over the top.

I hate to say, I'm overall disappointed. I really wanted to enjoy this but it fell flat for me. I figured John Woo going back to straight up action will be a treat. Instead of using the idea of a dialogueless action flick as an interesting device he creates a very drab story that is less than appealing. He makes little effort in trying interesting ways to propel the story within the confines he set up. It's like he never watched a silent movie and saw how you can tell a compelling story with minimal dialogue. He just leans on lame cliches. Also there's too many logical errors, even for an action movie. And Joel Kinnaman, who I normally like, makes a less than appealing protagonist. Even without speaking his character seems annoying. An unfortunate misfire from something that had a lot of potential.

This is not up to John Woo's talent. I found the material entirely like a one-trick pony. All rage, and sadness, verging on insanity, without any real character development, or pathos. There is nothing in the lead character's story that allows the audience to sympathize with him, other than the loss of his son. There are no positive events to draw us into the story. Instead, we are faced with an ever-increasing level of horror, rage, and madness. Woo has been known to give violence an almost ballet type of choreography (Bullet time slow motion) but that is not what we are seeing here. With the rage of the main character, we are faced with depression, rage, and madness which causes an ever-increasing degree of violence that continues to the very end of the film. This film should have ratings of extreme violence attached. While I watched the entire film I was left with a deep feeling of disatisfaction when it was over. It almost feels like the film was only part of a story.

This movie is probably not going to satisfy a lot of people who would rather watch a movie with few million dollars in budget and loads of CGI work. Yes you might have seen a similar movie about revenge and sadness, but everyone griefs differently, so don't listen to haters and moaners.

It is definitely not a movie you'd watch with kids under 15 (plus/minus 2) years old.

For a movie that doesn't rely on heavy and deep conversations, this one gets the point across and delivers more than you would expect. It shows a person's will to make peace with themselves and not give up until they reach their goal.

Watch it with an open mind, and enjoy the movie with not much of distractions of talking.

I respect John Woo's decision to try to make a film with no dialog and the story to be expressed through his imagery rather than a script. The problem is, however, that his imagery is not strong enough to hold my attention for as long as the film demanded, and the film's plot was also paper thin.

A lot of scenes come off as awkward, and unnatural because the characters should be talking, but for some inexplicable reason are not. I was starting to wonder if I had missed a scene where everybody gets shot in the neck, and not just the main character? It was ridiculous! Even when the wife is grieving with him and he goes all insane, throwing things and raging, she just stares at him and says nothing. Same with Kid Cudi's character. A lot of his screentime is just him staring at some photos or into a room without saying anything. Made the film almost unbearable to watch.

The plot itself was ripped right out of Death Sentence, which was also a ripoff of Death Wish. I'm thinking Hollywood needs either better ideas, or better filmmakers. I don't mind a reused idea, but reuse it with purpose, to expand or better the previous product. Neither happened here.

I also want to touch on how cheap the film looked. I'm not sure what the budget was, but surely they could have done better than this. The vast majority of the film is shot frenetically, so it's hard to see the action most of the time. It's also shot in some pretty low light, also making it difficult to see anything. The cinematography is what should draw people into this movie, considering that it probably didn't even have a script, and they couldn't even pull that off.

Overall, this film is a mess and a shame. Such a simple premise and you make one of the most boring and irritating action films I think I've ever seen. I'm going to rewatch Face/Off to make me forget this film ever happened.

0.5 shots in the neck out of 5.

John Woo is a filmmaker I admittedly haven't seen a tonne of work from, but he undeniably has a vision for action sequences. That is what he is known for and he has stuck to that throughout most of his career in the business. Face/Off and Hard Boiled are awesome action films, so if I ever get the chance, I'll check out his latest. Well, Silent Night is his latest American effort and I must say, he hasn't lost his touch with action. With that said though, it was just okay overall. It has a lot of promise and some great ideas, but something bogged it down for me. Here are my thoughts.

After a gang accidentally kills the son of a couple just trying to live a happy life, the husband, Godlock (Joel Kinnaman) decides to go after them. He ends up shot in the neck, preventing him from ever speaking a word again. His mission then becomes to train his body to take on this gang and kill them all. The unique aspect of this film is the fact that it is told entirely without dialogue. Not a single one of the characters speaks one word. I enjoyed that aspect, but I do wish it was utilized more than just having nobody speak. Nothing was interesting past the point of just not having him talk. It was clear that Woo just wanted to focus on the action and that was worth the price of admission.

There wasn't a lot of originality in terms of the action set pieces, but it was all very well-choreographed. From a standout fight that takes place in a house, to a great stairwell scene, the action held my attention. With that said, the good aspects of this film are bogged down by the sappy nature of the backstory. The way his past with his child is presented is kind of cheesy at first and there is a specific moment towards the end of the film that almost made me chuckle when it was clear the film was trying to be very emotional. The schmaltz of it all overtook the film and ruined a few moments.

Joel Kinnaman is an actor I like very much and his performance here is quite solid, but I'm not sure he was given enough to do, other than either be incredibly angry or sad. It's a very thin story and screenplay and the final product shows that. Still, if you enjoy action, there is enough here to satisfy viewers. The absent dialogue is a great idea, but this type of film needed some in my opinion. Silent Night is a little too cheesy at times, but I still think it's worth a watch if you are already interested. Now playing in theatres, there are worse options to watch than this one.

It's crazy to me now to think I was actually excited to see 'Silent Night'. I'd been looking forward to this one for a while. Boy were my Spidey-Senses off on this one. When the film set itself up in a way that meant there was going to be very little dialogue I thought, oh no, that's not going to make for a good film. The crazy thing is that I had no idea just how bad it was actually going to be.

I've never been so bored and lacking interest in a film before - and I absolutely love revenge movies. Here though, I couldn't have cared less. I must've checked my watch a hundred time over the course of the film. It felt like time wasn't advancing.

You'd think with the patience the film is asking us to have that the action sequences would have to be downright amazing to make up for it, right? Nope, they nothing special at all. I really don't know how anyone successfully pitched this movie. Also, the Christmas theme? Where did that come from? If there were references to Christmas they were absolutely minimal. Just a way to sell the film I assume? This was a miserable experience and one of the worst 2023 has to offer. 3/10.

SILENT NIGHT (2023) ** Joel Kinnaman, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Kid Cudi. John Woo's disappointing action revenge flick with Kinnaman seeking vengeance on gangbangers who accidentally killed his son on Christmas has so much potential but is squandered in its hole-laden script by Robert Archer Lynn (i.e. Namely the sadly misused talent of Sandino Moreno as the spouse who basically just passively cries while her husband for months on end is holed up in their basement preparing for war). While Kinnaman's character is literally silenced due to his being shot in the throat renders him mute and his impressive implosive performance can't make up for the pedestrian trope-laden story (i.e. The police not doing their job). A few decent set pieces sadly cannot make up for a half-baked update on DEATH WISH and its ilk.

Director John Woo got world famous for his fabulous action visuals during the nineties. This picture still looks the part, but that is about the only positive I can find...

The bad: the action only starts after 50 minutes. Besides an action packed opening scene of a few minutes no thrilling action to be seen during the first 50 minutes.

Is the action any good then? Well yes and no. As I said before, the action looks great visually, but the action choreography is a bit lame, because gangsters get shot and stabbed and just keep on figthing as if nothing has even touched them. Pretty lame. Credibility near zero.

More bad: the leading actor hasnt got any charisma. He looks like a dork. And although there is one big, bad crime guy who was supposed to be the ultimate evil, but he wasnt impressing me either.

I had hoped for a thrilling action packed gangster movie, but it was quite a bit of a dread to watch though...

I'm not sure if the reviewers watched the same movie as me. I found this film packed with cool stunts and action sequences. I got both John Wick and The Raid vibes while watching it. Some scenes even reminded me of something out of GTA V.

Even though there wasn't much plot in the movie and no dialogues whatsoever, I think the film is carried forward by Joel Kinnaman's excellent acting. Not many big action stars could pull off the same.

All in all, I found it an entertaining and excellent action film. Just switch of your brain and enjoy it. I'm probably going to watch it again. I'll rate it 8/10.

John Woo's "Silent Night" has no right to be this good; it's an emotionally devastating, brutal action flick that truly hits you hard and then some. The movie, devoid of dialogue which never gets annoying or irritating is filled with immense emotional heft, and it delivers ridiculously entertaining, ludicrous almost john wick style action. While the storyline is a variant of "Punisher" and "Death Wish," it's crafted with such style and panache that you're utterly captivated throughout. I was pleasantly surprised-Joel Kinnaman is an absolute force in this.

It was like being transported back to the 90s.

Painfully stupid, albeit fitting for the time we're living in.

I can almost hear the original pitch. This movie has a GIMMICK. Almost no one speaks a word of dialogue through the entire film. Does it work? NOPE. NOT AT ALL. Because film makers believe the audience is incredibly stupid, now more than ever. And without character motivations carefully explained through words all that is left to do is make every single action that appears on screen cartoonish beyond belief. I kid you not, what appears on screen in this film also works as a perfect parody of modern action movies. This film can be hilarious if you choose to view it from that perspective. I laughed out loud a lot.

I am giving it 3 stars because it is filmed competently. Visually appealing, well edited, well choreographed action. But without believable situations and characters to care about it all falls flat.

And, for the love of all things good, WIND UP MUSIC BOXES MUST BE BANNED FROM CINEMA FROM THIS POINT FORWARD.

The idea of having NOBODY speak in the film except on a radio and a couple of mumbled words must have got someone excited in the pitch meeting. The reality is that it's awful. Just awful. The film is only 1hr 40 mins but it's still 40 mins too long!!!!! The whole middle can be cut out. Utterly pointless!! The action!!! Woo may have directed but the action scenes were devised by a 4 year old!!! In the car chase, despite the engines revving to the extreme, they are moving about 5 miles an hour!!!! The shoot outs see the bad guys about 10 feet from each other and nobody can hit a thing!!!!! Two cars driving side by side shooting at each other with about 200 bullets and they hit nothing!!!!!!!! I found myself laughing out loud and swearing profusely at the screen!!!! Woo's use of slo mo is still there but it just made scenes funnier!! The opening shows our main character running in slo mo and it looks awful as he is clearly pretending to run!!!!!!! CGI blood splatter galore! Don't bother!

John Woo makes it look so easy that you pounder why so many people get it wrong. With less than a paragraph being uttered in this movie Woo got to express Action and drama and it was excellent.

This movie says something about Joel Kinnaman's skill as an actor perfectly pulling off the role of a grieving father thirsty for revenge without having to use words to tell you that's what's going on.

Also tells you something about Kid Cudi's talent as a thespian. He was on point.

Very refreshing watching a movie that relies so heavy on visuals after all, I went to see a movie. If i wanted to listen to a story the internet is filled with podcast to do that.

Welcome back John Woo!!!

I saw this movie for free and still wish I had not.

Every trailer that I saw for this movie alluded to this being an action packed revenge saga. However, you get a taste of action within the first 7 minutes or so and then you have to wait approximately 60 minutes for your next dose and even then, during the last half-hour, you get maybe 15 minutes of action. So, out of 104 minutes you get 22 minutes of action.

I do not like being lied to about the type of movie I am going to see and you probably would not like that either so I am trying to help you out here. What I would like to see is this movies gross drop off of a clip next weekend because of their deceptive practices.

The soundtrack was garbage and forgetable (those songs I do remember were trash and those I don't ... well I guess I forgot).

You want to know what else is forgetable? The antagonist. The detective. The wife. The son. Heck, this whole film is forgetable.

First and foremost, this movie will not be for everyone simply because it is mostly dialogue-free. Truly silent, minus a few bits of radio chatter and music with action sound effects. This is what sets it apart from other revenge flicks, though, and part of the reason why it is fresh, but also a little problematic. It has to get to the action as quickly as it can, but needs to fill the run time, so has a shaky first half, albeit a very rewarding second half.

Many movies, especially from the past 10 years, start twenty minutes later than movies used to begin. Character building is lost because we are thrown into the action. For this to truly work, on a quick popcorn movie, the film would have to be just over an hour. Since we are over that theoretical minimum of 90 minutes, there's a chunk of slow-moving scenes at the start. We get hit over the head with the reasoning behind the vengeance, and it's done in a slow, no dialogue way. Once you get past this, then you can settle in for some very good action scenes! Luckily these action scenes are rewarding enough to deal with a frustratingly unlikeable hero and a shallow supporting cast.

I could definitely see rewatching this, but only for the practical action that is very well directed. Some people may not get far enough into the movie appreciate some John Woo thrills, but if you give it 30 minutes (or chapter skips), then it's very worth your time.

There is no dialog in this movie. Zero. Not an intelligible word in the entire film and what a waste because Joel Kinnaman is a wonderful actor. This is where the pretentiousness of the creators of this movie shine through.

"Hey, let's make a movie where our lead character doesn't speak"

"Ok, that sound really interesting, but everyone else speaks, right ?"

"NO! That's the hook...there's NO DIALOG in the entire film. Even when other characters who are able to speak and you would expect them to, we're not going to have them talk EITHER!"

"But won't that be boring for the audi-"

"And I know, we'll set it at Christmas, but in a place that has no snow, because who wants to film in snow?... And, get this...we'll call it Silent Night...get it?..Silent...because people don't speak but everyone will think it's related to Christmas"

I was really looking forward to watching John Woo's return to directing but was left somewhat disheartened unfortunately.

This is your typical revenge film. Is the action shot well? Yes of course. Does the story do anything different? No not at all. A child accidentally gets killed then a father goes on a revenge spree.... When it eventually gets to that. The middle of the film is really slow and I was wondering at times if John Woo had forgotten how to direct, it could have been brilliant but something was just lacking for me aside from the action which doesn't come until the end. Watch if you've got nothing else to see but don't be expecting Hard Boiled, The Killer or Face Off level John Woo here, not even close.

John Woo's Violent, Silent Night is a Bold Experiment That Works. While John Woo's new film, which hits theaters December 1st, has many elements that embody the reasons international action film fans idolize him, it has one character trait that is distinct from other Woo films. In fact, it is unique from all modern, full length movies. That feature is that the film has no dialogue. When I use the phrase "no dialogue" it is not hyperbolic to mean limited dialogue. There is, literally, no dialogue, at all.

While this bold cinematic experiment could have been disastrous, it was not. In fact, it is critical to the film's appeal. This unique perspective, actually, elevates this film to a higher art form, without ever losing the raw grit and violent, action thrills that are at its core. The film's success lies in the fact that it is so well made, and the acting is so thoughtfully constructed, that the audience never longs for what does not even seem to be missing-spoken words. After viewing this one I had to remind myself that there was no dialogue. That is a tribute to the solid storytelling throughout Silent Night.

Joel Kinnaman stars in, and does much of the heavy lifting, in this one. Kinnaman, a relative unknown to American movie audiences, is the fulcrum around which the entire weight of the film rests. His stellar ability to solidly convey to the audience his angst and despair over the murder of his son, and his laser pointed focus in avenging his death without words is what propels the film from an ordinary action film to an extraordinary one. This is a solid performance that happens to be in an action film, and not in spite of it.

Catalina Sandino Moreno does an equally powerful job balancing the emotions of being the mother of a murdered son, who can not seem to break through the forcefield which is surrounding her husband's emotional descent. Moreno is the heart of the film, for sure.

John Woo is known for his masterful Direction of action sequences. His, The Killer (1989), is considered one of the best action films of the 20th Century. This film builds on his distinguished body of work with jaw dropping vehicular chase scenes, chaotic shootouts, and visceral hand to hand exchanges. These are filmed with magnetic precision, and the elimination of shaky-cam effects, leading to a riveting result.

While the film has the traditional martial arts theme of revenge, Kinnaman's lack of the conventional training of John Wick, Taken's Bryan Miller, and Nobody's Hutch Mansell is an asset to the film. His attempt to elevate his physical body and fighting skills to be able to obliterate his enemies is part of the film's brutal realism. This one is extremely violent, but it is all part of the roller coaster ride. He is a man driven by a singular cause, and we feel his pain.

The entire supporting cast here does an admirable job of telling their part of the story. They are very good. The villains are, certainly, a little over the top here, but that makes their demise so much more satisfying.

Marco Beltrani's musical score is as much a character in the film as any member of the cast. Music in movies is an important element of the storytelling; however, not all scores have the same level of importance. Perhaps, because of the lack of dialogue here, the score is vital and it does its job effectively.

The real question on my mind as I left the NYC screening was, "Like Die Hard, will people be debating whether Silent Night is, actually, a Christmas movie for years to come." While I am not sure of the answer to that question, I do know that John Woo's, Silent Night, is a winner. This Lionsgate release is greater than the sum of its parts. It is one of the best action films of the year, and I highly recommend it.

Short and sweet. Movie is no John Wick but it's not as bad as all these other reviewers are making it out to be. Confused on why so many negative reviews. It's slow but the acting is good and action is good when it happens. It's a decent movie to watch once. I would not purchase the movie as I feel like watching it once will do the trick. The only thing I can think of is, if you watch the trailer and watch the movie it can be misleading. Trailer shows nonstop action but the movie starts off pretty slow leading up to action and no dialogue which might have bothered some. For sure better action movies but this is a good watch.

This movie is complete garbage. I expected so much more from the director John Woo and leading role Joel Kinneman. 2023's biggest flop of the year. Keep in mind, John Woo directed Mission Impossible 2 back in 2002 and here we are 20 years later with this disappointment of a movie. The best part about the movie is that nobody speaks which tells you a lot about what to expect. Terrible writing and atrocious acting is something I never thought I'd write in a movie review with Joel Kinneman but here we are. This is what happens when the Writers Guild goes on strike and you have some random baboon writing your script. As most movies nowadays, the previews are the best parts of the movie. Stay home and wait for it to release on some streaming service platform. John Woo, just retire if you're going to make trash movies like this.

Whoever they had put the trailer together for this movie is who they should had make this movie because the trailer is way more interesting.

This movie is a huge disappointment from beginning to end. Nothing in this movie makes sense and nobody talks at all in this movie.

The movie starts off strong but immediately looses steam after the first 10 minutes. For the next 30-40 minutes the main character walks around the house drinking all day and looking up fighting videos on YouTube so that he can train to take on all the baddies.

The next half of the movie is just straight up stupid action sequences that make no sense and are so sloppy. I wanted to like them and I really tried but the first half of the movie drained everything from me out of pure boredom that I could not get back in it.

The ending of the movie is also pathetic and just mind blowing how a legendary director put this out.

Just save your money and stay far away from this movie. Watch Violent Night instead if you want a good anti holiday action movie.

I saw this movie for free and it still was not even worth it.

The build up was nice and along with the silence but the cop portion felt forced along with the ending with the bad guys chick scene at the end. It was okay, wasn't expecting most of the movie to be silent but the action and emotional aspect of the movie was for sure there.

Synopsis: 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 in order to avenge his son's death. Rating: R (Strong Bloody Violence, some Language, Drug Use)