Legendary Action Director John Woo is back with the lean and mean Silent Night.
Make no mistake. John Woo is here to kick ass and chew bubble gum this Holiday Season and the action-directing legend is fresh out of bubble gum. Silent Night is a return to the gun-fu slow-motion balletic action with a huge dollop of emotion that the director made his career with. The dialog-less film is so vibrant and stylish that no (dialog) was needed.
Running at a lean 100 minutes the film wastes no time as we’re thrown into the tragedy of Brian Godlock’s (Joel Kinnaman) life. It’s Christmas and his son has been killed by a stray gunfire. He almost gets the better of the man responsible Playa (Harrold Torres) but inexperience and emotion get the better of him. Playa doesn’t kill Brian but leaves him with a metal pole in his throat for all his troubles. Unable to communicate or find a way out of his grief, Brian sees one solution: kill them all. Not just Playa but the entire organization that Playa runs. The father gives himself a year to train, plan, and execute the vengeance he feels his son has earned.
Screenwriter Robert Archer Lynn and director Woo wisely make this a slow build of a film. Brian isn’t an instant killing machine ala John Wick. The film sets up that he’s an ordinary man putting his entire life into this one mission. The way that the duo builds their hero into a force to reckon with is part of the great first half. The film understands that the payoff must be earned and isn’t just something we jump cut to. They take their time with showing the character’s inexperience and earning the character’s vengeance.
Silent Night could have been an exercise in style with its no-dialog conceit, but it isn’t. The film’s secret weapon, Editor/Co-Producer Zach Staenberg, ensures this. The Editor who’s worked with the Wachowski’s for most of their careers is not just an ace action editor, he fundamentally understands how to cut for emotion and visual storytelling. Silent Night is as sharp as an edged weapon in Staenberg’s editorial hands and is never weighed down by plot mechanics. Staenberg focuses on character and emotion even in the action scenes giving us a rare treat, undiluted John Woo storytelling.
In fact, the most brazen aspect of Silent Night isn’t the action but the arched emotions brimming to the surface throughout the film. A hallmark of Woo’s best work and lacking in most of his English Language films. Those emotions – like in musicals – are so overwhelming for the characters that the only solution is action. In these moments where emotions and action collide, Silent Night soars into the upper echelon of the very best of John Woo’s English Language work.
Silent Night delivers on the promise of John Woo’s return to the Action genre. Making it the most welcome of Holiday Seasons Presents for Action Fans everywhere. Do not miss this one. See it on the biggest screen possible.
Legendary Action Director John Woo is back with the lean and mean Silent Night.
Make no mistake. John Woo is here to kick ass and chew bubble gum this Holiday Season and the action-directing legend is fresh out of bubble gum. Silent Night is a return to the gun-fu slow-motion balletic action with a huge dollop of emotion that the director made his career with. The dialog-less film is so vibrant and stylish that no (dialog) was needed.
Running at a lean 100 minutes the film wastes no time as we’re thrown into the tragedy of Brian Godlock’s (Joel Kinnaman) life. It’s Christmas and his son has been killed by a stray gunfire. He almost gets the better of the man responsible Playa (Harrold Torres) but inexperience and emotion get the better of him. Playa doesn’t kill Brian but leaves him with a metal pole in his throat for all his troubles. Unable to communicate or find a way out of his grief, Brian sees one solution: kill them all. Not just Playa but the entire organization that Playa runs. The father gives himself a year to train, plan, and execute the vengeance he feels his son has earned.
Screenwriter Robert Archer Lynn and director Woo wisely make this a slow build of a film. Brian isn’t an instant killing machine ala John Wick. The film sets up that he’s an ordinary man putting his entire life into this one mission. The way that the duo builds their hero into a force to reckon with is part of the great first half. The film understands that the payoff must be earned and isn’t just something we jump cut to. They take their time with showing the character’s inexperience and earning the character’s vengeance.
Silent Night could have been an exercise in style with its no-dialog conceit, but it isn’t. The film’s secret weapon, Editor/Co-Producer Zach Staenberg, ensures this. The Editor who’s worked with the Wachowski’s for most of their careers is not just an ace action editor, he fundamentally understands how to cut for emotion and visual storytelling. Silent Night is as sharp as an edged weapon in Staenberg’s editorial hands and is never weighed down by plot mechanics. Staenberg focuses on character and emotion even in the action scenes giving us a rare treat, undiluted John Woo storytelling.
In fact, the most brazen aspect of Silent Night isn’t the action but the arched emotions brimming to the surface throughout the film. A hallmark of Woo’s best work and lacking in most of his English Language films. Those emotions – like in musicals – are so overwhelming for the characters that the only solution is action. In these moments where emotions and action collide, Silent Night soars into the upper echelon of the very best of John Woo’s English Language work.
Silent Night delivers on the promise of John Woo’s return to the Action genre. Making it the most welcome of Holiday Seasons Presents for Action Fans everywhere. Do not miss this one. See it on the biggest screen possible.
Silent Night is only in Theaters December 1st
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