Silent Night
Silent Night
A tormented father 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.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 2, 2025
I love a good gimmick. (obviously 🥓) But the no dialogue schtick just didn’t work at all for me. Kinnaman’s character being shot in the throat may explain why his character didn’t speak, but it did not at all explain why no one else says any words to him. It really felt like his wife, the firing range instructor, and literally everyone else he comes across would more likely be over-communicating to him rather than defaulting to non-verbal communication. I fully admit this complaint is very nitpicky, but I just did not feel any emotional stakes as a result of the no dialogue. His wife in particular, I would have expected to be emoting to him much more than just somber silent embraces. It really took me out of t he movie and I really don’t think it made the film more compelling simply by being able to claim there’s literally no dialogue in the film. Adding some dialogue could have gone a long way to telling a more moving story and I still think audiences could still latch on to the Silent Night title with a silent protagonist.
John Woo can still direct action though, that’s for sure. The action is easily the best part of the film. The last third of the film is entertaining in that regard. The training montages which lead up to it just really challenged my patience though.
I was not a fan of this. Really hope Woo grabs a new project soon, though, and doesn’t wait too long to get back into the director’s chair again.