In one of the first scenes of Silent Night, by Tommy Wirkola, Santa Claus (a funny David Harbor) vomits on the snow. Of course, the image is a statement of intent. This is a Christmas story, but not the way most well-known ones are supposed to be.
Definitely, nor is this the good man who embodies the magic of Christmas. Rather, he is a rowdy figure with a drinking problem who, even so, has the best intentions. A mixture that can be explosive, if not directly brutal.
Silent Nightin fact, it takes a considerable amount of time to establish that this grumpy, enraged, good-hearted Santa defies all expectations. He wants to do good, even though he no longer quite remembers how to do it. He also carry out his ancestral work, despite the fact that he does not care as much for him as in other times.
Harbor endows his character with a rare mix of cynicism and an urgent need to vindicate. With a more than obvious resemblance to his Red Guardian in Black Widow, the Harbor Santa has a colossal physical presence. Also a tired perception of time, good and evil. The mixture supports the mocking speech of Silent Nightwhich crosses the action genre to tell its story.
Silent Night
The most interesting of Silent Night begins when Santa must weigh his options in the face of violence. In particular, facing a John Leguizamo who brings a cartoon sense to an unscrupulous criminal. The latter leads a gang of kidnappers that is about to commit its big heist of the year. Right at Christmas and very close to the place where Santa Claus – this grumpy and violent version – is. The combination, which with a less malicious script would have been ridiculous, becomes hilarious and sarcastic. Even more so when the screenplay by Patrick Casey and Josh Miller turns the entire film into a dark Christmas reverse.
The funny and realistic Santa of Silent Night
Of course, it’s not the first cinematographic experiment to use Santa Claus as a twisted and darker-than-usual reference. Less than two years ago kill santaby Eshom and Ian Nelms, turned the iconic figure into a brutal lone hero.
But the version with the face of Mel Gibson of the Christmas character was much more mundane than Harbour’s. On this occasion, the premise of Silent Night it is not so interested in proving that the North Pole dweller is fallible. She rather makes a deeper and less predictable exploration of his personality. What allows the actor provide nuances to what could be an inevitable stereotype.
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The most interesting of Silent Night begins when Santa must weigh his options in the face of violence. In particular, facing a John Leguizamo who brings a cartoon sense to an unscrupulous criminal. The latter leads a gang of kidnappers that is about to commit its big heist of the year.
Right at Christmas and very close to the place where Santa Claus — this grumpy and violent version — is. The combination, which with a less malicious script would have been ridiculous, becomes hilarious and sarcastic. Furthermore, when Patrick Casey and Josh Miller’s script turns Silent Night in a dark Christmassy reverse.
The little pains of a sinister Christmas
The Lightstone family, millionaires and unhappy, are at the center of a conflict that unleashes the perception of Christmas goodness from a twisted point of view. Much more when the argument insists on presenting his domestic life as a kind of arid and vulgar terrain that he will have to face the unimaginable.
Perhaps the premise needs more depth, or in any case, be much more eloquent in order to bring more depth to its characters. But, even with the more or less superficial look that the plot gives you, Silent Night manages to function as an ingenious mechanism. He does, especially thanks to his lighthearted tone and never taking anything too seriously.
With obvious references to Home alone, in combination with the ultra-sophisticated violence of John Wick, the film shines at its most inspired moments. Especially when Harbor must provide his character with a veteran and well-constructed notion of responsibility. Santa, who has the knowledge, experience, and powers to take on violent criminals, will do it.
Furthermore, for the best reasons and protected under the notion that it is their duty. This unique twist is what makes Silent Night not in a mockery of Christmas or Santa Claus, but in an exploration of its importance. Of course, with a good dose of blood spilled and a hail of bullets amid the Christmas carols.
Silent Night It’s a great Christmas movie
The film plays on its duality in an inspired first installment and two that lack its liveliness and enthusiasm. But, for his ending sequences, Silent Night find what is perhaps its greatest attribute. The crazy combination of a pure action plot with a well-constructed nostalgia artifact. All the more so, when he adds a sarcastic and violent sense of humor that is made elegant by his take on the great Christmas dramas.
Silent Night plays with its most obvious pieces to create a journey through a surprising story. One that avoids the cliché by force of the absurd and a full self-awareness of its transgressive nature.