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
3/5 stars
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
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.
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.
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.
