Silent Night movie review: John Woo makes a satisfying return to Hollywood with an almost dialogue-free thriller, starring Joel Kinnaman as a vengeful father

November 27, 2023 Bollywood

3/5 stars

20 years have passed since then Salarythe Hong Kong director’s last Hollywood film Jun Woo Yeo Sum.

It is described as his return to the United States, A quiet night It’s more of a repackage of his greatest hits. Fans will appreciate the action in this bloody revenge drama, even while acknowledging the sharp decline in numbers from classic films like… the killer (1989) and Hard boiled (1992).

Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg in Suicide squad Movies) plays Brian Goodlock, a grieving father whose young son is killed in gang violence. It takes a year for Goodluck to recover from his wounds and plan his revenge. “Kill them all,” he writes in his calendar for December 24.

Godlock has a lot to learn. Training, how-to videos on YouTube, and determination have only gotten him so far. Initial efforts to track down gang leader Playa (Harold Torres) leave him bruised and breathless; Cops like Detective Vassil (Scott Mescudi) just get in the way.

Eventually, Goodlock finds enough evidence and kills enough enemies to make his way to an abandoned warehouse, where Playa has surrounded himself with an army of mercenaries and assassins.

How filming Hard Target taught John Woo some hard lessons about Hollywood

The trick is in A quiet night It is the almost complete absence of dialogue. Aside from TV and radio excerpts, texts and lyrics do all the communicating here. Robert Archer Lane’s screenplay is so elemental that the story is always easy to follow.

Forty years ago, Wu helped set the standard for bloodstained labor. But in a market saturated with franchises e.g taken, Raid And John Wick, A quiet night It seems slow and old-fashioned – almost irrelevant.

The director remains a master of camera movement, building suspense from simple situations that escalate into chaos. Every now and then, a stunt sequence raises eyebrows, as when Goodlock kicks a bad guy through a glass railing down two flights of stairs.

Joel Kinnaman in a still from “Silent Night”. Photo: Carlos Latapi/Lionsgate. — Joel Kinnaman in a still from the movie “Silent Night.” Photo: Carlos Latapi/Lionsgate.

The fight between two people in the garage is amazing, thanks in part to work overseen by stunt coordinator James M. Churchman and stunt coordinator Bernardo Boccio.

Woo thrives as a director: no doves, few candles, no camaraderie, limited slow-motion dancing. This may be due to producer Basil Iwanyk, who is famous for his work John Wick.

A quiet night It’s arguably a step up from the 2017 Japanese-produced film Woo Chasebut it still lacks the precision and manic energy of his best work.

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How filming Hard Target taught John Woo some hard lessons about Hollywood

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