Brutal realistic action. None of those infinite ammo scenes. Interesting script
How many fucking times are they going to remake the same movie with different plot points and put on a different title. This is literally John wick, peppermint, death wish, salt etc with a new cast a maybe 10 different plot points. No Hollywood! No! I will not watch this trash
I do love a revenge film, yeah the plot has been done before, similar films out there, nothing new but John Woo has done a good job with this (silent) film, decent action, good acting from Joel, sound plot and some cool slow mo effects.
This movie stands as the worst movie I've seen all year.
I think the director forgot that the character lost his voice, not his hearing. Why the F*** is nobody talking to him, including his wife who chooses to text him while literally looking at him in another room. Why did everyone just stop speaking to him?!?
This movie was filmed in Mexico by John Woo's mexican cousin Juan Quién, while on drugs. And still has better VFX than a marvel movie. Don't recomend.
Also, the wife couldn't take down the christmas tree and presents in all the time the guy was in hospital?
Standard revenger. Some good visuals and fight choreography. Wasn't too sold on the gimmick, but it didn't bother me either. remember that "mmm watcha say" SNL skit from like 15 years ago? The ending reminded me a bit of that at one point.
FFW past the first 50 minutes to get to the action. The buildup is just self indulgent melancholy. Slow motion, flashbacks, weeping and regrets. I almost stopped watching. Luckily I could fast forward.
Fight scenes are where the real meat is. Knives? U got it. Handguns? Check. Automatic weapons? Sure. Hand to hand melee? Yes, that too. Oh and if you crave car vs car fights, car vs motorcycles, gang vs gang... yes, you will be happy.
There's a cop in the background who comes without backup and manages to not get shot by our hero who by then has killed a million men (I exaggerate) and has berserker eyes... but who somehow doesn't shoot.
Gory, almost within touching distance of Korean movie violence. Intellectual it is not. Nudity there is none.
Has the “Face-Off” essence but not the quality. The whole movie being silent works but on some occasions feels unnatural. The story is very generic and overused. However, it is still entertaining but if you are limited on movie watching time, pick a better movie.
Dear Joel,
Whatever bet you lost to have had to star in this movie has been fully paid. You even have some left in the bank.
No it wasn't amazing, but I had so much fun watching it! I was genuinely impressed with the amount of storytelling done without dialogue, although a few scenes making things stupidly obvious felt redundant and like they may have been added later for viewers who couldn't follow the plot. The action was good although I wish it had started a little sooner but all in all I had a great time watching this and it definitely got me in the Christmas spirit!
Too grim to be truly exciting. This isn't the best movie John Woo has ever made. At least you won't have to worry about missing any dialogue if your phone rings midway through,
A must Watch. John Woo never disappoint.. Joel Kinnaman is becoming Hollywood new lead Action man. CONGRATS. Great movie.
The film takes a good time to develop its protagonist and his motivations, something better than coming up with some random guy who happens to be an ex-CIA badass killer. However, when the action finally happens, it doesn't match the expectations.
I don't even know what to say about Joel Kinnaman, his acting always feels campy, not sure if relying solely on facial expressions was a good choice. The main antagonist(s) are poorly written, there is no contrast between them and the hero to make the history more engaging.
The muteness of the protagonist is not used cleverly, and the absence of dialogues from pretty much anyone in the film makes things more silly.
What a disappointment
I thought the trailer for this was sick but the movie was far from it.
Seriously the decision to make this with no dialogue was a painful watch. I didn’t know before going into this that the way they made it because honestly, I was shouting at the screen begging for any of the characters to f-cking speak.
Joel Kinnaman's performance was probably the best part of the movie with some decent fight scenes.
One could certainly argue that the dialogue in John Woo's English-language films is both their greatest strength and their greatest weakness, due to its unintentional humor. That's why it's a bit of a shame that the director's Hollywood return after 20 years doesn't feature any dialog at all. It should be clear to everyone that this is just a gimmick, and it loses its appeal rather quickly. I understand that the main character lost his voice, but Brian, played by Joel Kinnaman, still has his hearing, so why the hell are all the other characters silent? What's really absurd, however, is that Woo manages to direct the non-dialogue in quiet scenes even more awkwardly than in his previous Hollywood films.
The plot revolves around a family man seeking vengeance on the murderers of his son. All of the bad guys are Latino/Mexican gang members. Woo initially spends an excessive amount of time establishing Brian's relationship with his son. This has roughly the same depth as with John Travolta's character in "Face/Off," except this is "Voice/Off." If rolling your eyes gives you a headache, you should definitely avoid this film.
The second third of the movie is a drawn-out training montage. The lack of any dialogue is a real strain on the viewer's patience, especially as everything is staged without any subtlety so that even the last moron can understand what's going on without the help of spoken words. It's not until the finale that the action kicks in, which is Woo's trademark after all. But unfortunately, other filmmakers have overtaken him in this regard. The action is certainly well-made, but it doesn't even come close to works like the "John Wick" films.
Overall, "Silent Night" is a major letdown. John Woo should have skipped this Hollywood return.
This felt like proper John Woo to me. It’s been a while since something with his name attached had this feel. The build up may be a bit slow for some, but to me it was paced well.
And the dialogue! Give the script writer all the awards! Logies, Grammies, Oscars, you name it!
Welp. Dunno what I expected. First things first --- no doves in this but there is a small bird which I think is a small parrot called a lovebird. That was my highlight.
It's true there's no dialogue but there's plenty of sound, and some cheating when you hear radio DJs and police scanners basically give exposition. The lack of dialogue wasn't the issue though. A big throwback to early 2000s John Woo but not even that good. Depiction of gangs is just out of touch, women are just props for the men. Best parts were the prep and training for revenge, which was unintentionally funny but enjoyable. Bad melodramatic moments that also made me laugh. Big ending fight was hella anticlimactic.
On one hand I appreciate how earnest the film is around a man dealing with the loss of his child. On the other hand it is an action movie that takes place during Christmas season about a man that can’t speak called Silent Night.
Much like No One Can Save You, the gimmick kind of becomes annoying at a certain point, which would be fine but the action never quite delivers to the setup. And at certain points becomes kind of laughable and not in an intended way.
I did appreciate that we haven’t seen a grimy, shit hole city like this since an 80s Carpenter movie. Does this mean we are back? We randomly cut to all out gang shoot outs in the street and during a car chase we turn a corner and stumble upon an over the top drug deal. I’m salivating at the think pieces that will be written about the vigilante white guy mowing down all the brown people in the city.
One thing the movie nails is that every sigma male out there is 9 months away from peak physical form. Let’s get started in April for next December boys, renew our mind, body and soul. Do it all with our deep thoughts and without saying a word.
See?! No need to talk much!
Lots of action but I found it boring. The shooting & whipping around in the car 100 times was repetitive. The revenge plot has been done to death but it can still be done well with fresh material.This didn't have any of that!
Concept is pretty cool but the movie was kinda weird. Sometimes it felt like you needed someone to talk, but it didn't happen
And anything that we want to go
From just a beginner to a pro
You need a montage
(Montage)
Even rocky had a montage
(Montage)
I did not expect the "Silent" Night to be so literal. It was a pretty clever spin in that regard, but also does not add anything to the enjoyability. This is a standard revenge flick that is in the same vain as Punisher or John Wick, but not quite as good as either. If you like the genre, then its still certainly worth checking out!
Rating: 2.5/5 - 70% - Worth Watching
Decent movie but I was expecting more. The action is decent although scarce. I was waiting for more of a John-Wick-carnage, but it is what it is. I appreciate the effort to make it almost mute movie (at least dialogue-wise) and still give it a meaning to it. Plot is nothing new, but it was executed a bit worse that what it could have. If they had put a couple of one-shot scenes (like in the stairways) it could have improved the movie a lot. A middle of the road for me
I've enjoyed several projects that Joel Kinnaman has acted in. This was not disappointing. All John Woo movies are a little far fetched to me, but entertaining, none the less. It's easy to understand why Joel's character feels the way he does, but his behavior & actions aren't very realistic. The price tag alone of the equipment, guns, ammo, Kevlar, training, gym equipment, etc... would would have been over 40-50k easily. But again, suspend reality for almost 2hrs & be entertained. Gazing over Joel's beefed-up body is a bonus! Interesting about the dialog too. I'd recommend this movie for a good, solid "shoot 'em up & let the Devil sort 'em out" kind a flicks.
Movie used cheat mode with infinite life and infinity ammo lol
From director John Woo comes the holiday action film Silent Night. The story follows a father grieving over the loss of his son as he trains and prepares to get revenge on the LA gang responsible on Christmas Eve. Joel Kinnaman leads the cast and gives a pretty strong performance; especially considering that he has to convey everything through looks and body language. The dialog free motif of the film is rather interesting but requires a number of conceits (too many really) to work; however, overall it does a pretty impressive job at conveying plot information nonverbally. Additionally, the fight scenes are dynamic and exciting, with a visceral feel to them. Silent Night is a captivating film with a unique vision that, while it doesn’t completely work, is entertaining and full of thrills.
Very slow. Can tell the car is going no more than 10mph
Typical action only nonsense. Don't waste your time with this junk. Too many pointless flashbacks.
My eldest nephew recommended this to me, I was hesitant as It's a John Woo film
8 minuets in and I'm thinking I should probably watch something else......
I'm no ballistics expert, However I have served in military and fired Live ammunition, A Bullet fired from short range through the neck would have gone straight through. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:
The plot reminded me of The Punisher and so many other 'Revenge movies'
It's like Robocop, but he's not a cop... or a robot. Yay revenge!!
The shooting, was fun. The "no talking", was stupid.
There is only one thing that really bugs me in this movie:
Why was he living in such a bad neighborhood if he had the money, and if he hadn't, then how could he afford hospital bills, car, training lessons, equipment and a year away from work to prepare.
One of the worst movies of the year! John woo has lost his way, everything about this movie is bad, I mean really bad! Avoid it, trust me you will thank me and the gods you did....
Silent Night - :heart:x5
This is a dialogue-free movie. It is also just another version of The Punisher. Nothing special to see here.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
These are the worst gangbangers I've ever seen. I didn't realise it was a John Woo movie till the end, I don't like John Woo movies. Though I'm a Joel Kinnaman fan, this didn't quite do it for me.
A brutal revenge movie, that is at the same time realistic. No infinite ammo magazines here. I wonder if there will be a sequel.
I wonder how many children died during his rampage.
A John Woo Christmas action movie? Sounds good! Unfortunately, it's actually not. It only loosely has anything to do with Christmas and doesn't actually have much in the way of action. Honestly, outside of the final 30 minutes this is an absolute snoozefest. I'm all for watching a brooding Joel Kinnaman, but this is just too much. And the action is some leftover C-level Woo stuff. It almost feels like someone imitating him. I wanted a new xmas classic to watch each year, but this definitely isn't it.
not worth the time. absolute crap.
Meh.
This was certainly a letdown for me. John Woo is a legend and I love Joel Kinnaman. Did not like either in this. The no dialogue got ridiculous and overwrought. I could not connect with Kinnaman’s character; they made so many dumb decisions, and he was a complete asshole to his wife (the only “character” I liked in the movie). The action scenes were alright, but I just couldn’t get into them because I did not care in any way about the characters involved.
Dec. 24: KILL THEM ALL
Thrilling first couple of scenes with the car chases and the jump, followed by something I didn't expect. Nice practical effects bloody scenes in the hospital. Love the twist of what the events cost the character. The emotional scenes regarding his son at the beginning was hit and miss. Considering the 'no words allowed' rule, the actors did a decent job but I can't help but wonder how much better it would be if, at the very least, the wife talked. It's unrealistic that she wouldn't talk with everything happening before her.
It lost me a little in the 'training' arc but got me back once the action starts in the garage. You can say whatever you want about this movie but the action sequences are top notch. So many car chases. Lots of signature John Woo slow motion and bright colors. Good camerawork. So much action in the third act. The staircase scene was peak. I never got emotional during the movie but I imagine some people might get emotional.
Although held back a lot by the scenes with no action, Silent Night more than delivers in the action department. A decent revenge action flick overall.
Budget John Wick meets Siso. However, those movies are fun action romps, while Silent Night is an exploration what you can express with grunts in different tones and intesities. Don't be fooled by the classification: This is not an action movie, as an action movie generally has action. This has grunts. And moans. Best I can describe it is "The audio track of a g*y p*rn movie over the visuals of a man having a very intens midlife crisis". It took me 3 tries to watch the movie in its entirity, and that's not because of the silent action. I watched Sisu on the edge of my seat, for instance.
If you have nothing else to do with your next 90 minutes, and have a high tolerance for men groaning and moaning, this might be worth your time. I'd advise doing anything else though. Like shaving your privates with a cheese grater. Much more satisfying, and the same level of moaning and groaning.
(Silence) (More Silence) and (More Silence)
I usually love these types of movies but I just felt like this one was super slow. It took around an hour before any of the action got going and even after the montage he was still not very good mostly failing. Films like John Wick get going with great scenes within 1/2 hour but it was just so slow getting to the point. On the style, I get him being silent but having the whole film silent just made the slow pacing even worse. Kinda just felt like this film trickled along then ended which is a shame. Marks for effort but C for execution sadly.
It's very old style, but it's the style I personally like. They got a little bit over the top with not saying anything for the whole movie, but overall don't you just love it when all the bad guys get what they deserve. At least sometimes... and him losing a kid makes any parent heart cry along.
idk it was just too boring, i thought this movie was older but when I made sure that this movie came in 2023, sadge, reminds me those movies in tiktok, people with heavy accent, no story line or action even though it marked as an action movie, ehhh thought it would be better
Boring just dumb barely got into it had to stop
And it got overheated, imagine they killed his son in a gang shootout. I liked the action scenes. They talk very little
Shout by Saint PaulyBlockedParent2023-12-05T06:16:07Z
Like candy cigarettes: a fun idea but very old fashioned.
The gimmick of having (practically) zero dialog because the protagonist is voiceless starts out as cute but finishes as annoying because there are moments when it would be ridiculous not to say something yet no one does so it is.
Also, Woo apparently is stuck in the 80s because the real hero of this film is the wife who's relegated to the background and not the macho vigilante who takes her for granted and treats her like shit.