I’m in the midst of a disheartening streak. The last three movies I’ve reviewed have been, to varying degrees, pretty disappointing. That’s because each one was directed by a renowned filmmaker whom I greatly admire, yet each film acted as a cinematic reminder that they’re all clearly past their prime. Thus, when I went to watch legendary director John Woo’s latest action flick, Silent Night, I was really hoping that it would break the streak. Alas, the streak continues, as Silent Night is conceptually frustrating and dramatically inert, despite a handful of riveting fight sequences.

When his son dies and he’s shot in the throat during a gang shooting at Christmas time, the now voiceless Brian (Joel Kinnaman) takes it upon himself to get vengeance on the shooters. The following Christmas, after a year of training and reconnaissance, he begins his assault and leaves a massive body count in his wake. That’s the basic plot of Silent Night, a movie that’s shamelessly unoriginal. That said, the film adheres to an intriguing and unique concept: there’s virtually no dialogue. As Woo has already admitted, that was the hook that drew him to the project, since it enabled him to cut loose with the visuals and violence in his first American picture in 20 years.* In theory, that’s the kind of project that I and other longtime fans have been beckoning for – we just want flare and firearms. In practice, however, Silent Night spends a perplexing amount of time on setup, and when it finally does kick off, the bloodshed is both overly realistic and distractingly fake.

In regard to the setup, Kinnaman and the actress who plays his wife, Catalina Sandino Moreno, are both trying their darndest to make it work. Their efforts are admirable, with Kinnaman’s deep immersion into his mute-avenger role being a highlight, as he’s both compelling and unnerving. Sadly, of Brian’s two modes – angry and sad – too much time is wasted lingering on sad. Or at least, it feels that way since there’s barely any dialogue, the result of which is that I ended up scrutinizing every other detail more than I usually would. This means that while I was admiring the emotional physicality of the actors, I was also becoming increasingly aware that the film’s concept was undermining everything. There’s really no reason that Brian’s wife cannot speak to him, and in a number of instances, she absolutely should have. It’s frustrating. And it’s not just in the first act that this zero-dialogue approach is annoying; it wears increasingly thin throughout the movie’s 104-minute runtime. By Silent Night‘s halfway point, my growing impatience made me desperate for some action. When it finally arrived, that moment should’ve been cathartic, but because I was already so tired of the overriding gimmick, the incoming violence felt more like liberation instead.

If there’s any filmmaker who’s mastered the art of gunplay – blanks and squibs and all – it’s John Woo. His action movies of yore were choreographed bullet ballets that greatly influenced Hollywood in the 1990s. Nevertheless, this is 2023. CGI and VFX are the name of the game now, and not even the inimitable Woo can resist them. This is really not a good thing. In the first car chase of Silent Night, there’s a terrible-looking, CGI-rendered accident that 80s-90s Woo would’ve spit on. Later in the film, a villain tumbles through a pane of CGI glass, in slow-motion no less, and I couldn’t have been more unimpressed. And worst of all, nearly all of the bullet hits are added via VFX rather than done practically with squibs.** Gone are the days of Hard Boiled (1992) and bullet-riddled baddies, I guess. To be fair, Woo does use a ton of blanks in Silent Night’s action sequences, providing some authenticity and thump to its shootouts. Also, the hand-to-hand fights are really entertaining, moving the needle more than any of the gunfights.*** Overall, though, the action is an unconvincing blend of (somewhat) realistic violence and artificial-looking special effects. Had Woo leaned into the preposterous nature of this movie and opted for his usual stylized carnage, the end product would’ve been much more satisfying.

I think I’ve known for a while now that Woo’s best days are behind him; I just didn’t expect that he’d craft a movie that so glaringly underlines it. While slightly better than his last Hollywood film, Paycheck (2003), Silent Night is in no way the return to form that action buffs so desperately desire. If anything, it’s the exception that proves the rule that even the most predictable genre movies need a bit of dialogue to help things along. Look at Keanu Reeves in John Wick 4; he wasn’t exactly loquacious, but he got the job done. Oh, also, Silent Night is NOT a Christmas movie, as it egregiously fails to take any advantage of its holiday setting. Seeing as last year’s similarly titled Violent Night did the exact opposite and was extremely festive, it makes this movie seem even worse. Heck, Silent Night makes Die Hard look like Miracle on 34th Street.

If I had to score it, I’d give Silent Night a 4/10.

Notes:

* Woo and his cinematographer, Sharone Meir, do compose a number of eye-catching shots and sequences. In Woo’s case, this demonstrates that the master is still in there somewhere, which makes the movie’s general failings even harder to stomach.

** There were even a few times where I could tell that they used squibs, but then added fake-looking VFX blood splashes in post. I mean… why?

*** The big scrap in the finale features a suplex that’s so well executed, I reacted audibly to it. Maybe more than anyone, the stuntmen deserve praise for what they accomplished in this film.