A One Mann’s Movies review of “Violent Night” (2022).
The trailer for “Violent Night” painted a movie that was in the “so wrong, it might be right” category*. A Christmas movie aping many famous Christmas action movies. But – sigh – for me, the script didn’t quite live up to the promise.
(* By the way, I saw with this a trailer for “Cocaine Bear”, which looks to be the next movie that could be also placed in this category!)
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
Santa Claus (David Harbour) is a drunk who is about to quit his job, disenchanted by the greedy, ungrateful and irreverent kids of the present day. But then he drops in to the Lightstone family mansion where a bunch of mercanaries are commiting a heist. Santa has to re-learn tricks from his violent Viking past in order to survive.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC: “Strong bloody violence, gore, language, sex references”).
Talent:
Starring: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Beverly D’Angelo, Leah Brady.
Directed by: Tommy Wirkola.
Written by: Pat Casey & Josh Miller.
Twitter Handle: #ViolentNight.
“Violent Night” Review:
Positives:
- It has a fair few irreverent laughs, mostly involving Santa dishing out bloody mayhem to the guys on the “naughty list”. Some of these are gruesomely messy (with the demise of “Scrooge” really taking the biscuit!). Where the movie really becomes entertaining is when it fully embraces one of the Christmas classic movies it is evoking. This is notably the case for a very clever “Home Alone” sequence, where young Trudy (a very personable Leah Brady) sets Kevin-style traps in play. It’s what John Hughes would have written if “Home Alone” had been R-rated!
- David Harbour is excellent as the rough and gruff Santa, spewing out his catchphrases with glee.
Negatives
- Now, call me a fun-sponge, but the whole concept of the movie is a bit icky. In films like “Bad Santa”, the lead character was a store-Santa… not the ‘real thing’. Here he is a drunken lout, vomiting and urinating from his sleigh and commiting acts of extreme violence (albeit when suitably provoked). As Ian Malcolm from “Jurassic Park” might say “Just because they could make it didn’t mean to say they should have made it”. What’s next? The tooth-fairy in a gang-bang sex comedy*?
- * If this idea gets taken up, I want at least a “Based on an idea by Bob Mann” credit!
- The script just wasn’t as quick or clever as it should have been. One of the lines I really liked in the trailer – Santa in the Bristol bar saying “I started the whole damn thing” – wasn’t even in the final cut! For me, it missed opportunities to riff on its ‘source’ movies (“Die Hard”, “Die Hard 2”, “Home Alone” and a smidgen of “Miracle on 34th Street”). There were many scenes – the gate-guard getting shot; the vault being opened, etc – where a gentle nod to “Die Hard”, in music or dialogue, would have been a delight. And couldn’t one of the thugs have wanted a “Weenie Whistle”, as Judge Reinhold did in “The Santa Clause”? When it DID lean into those references – case in point again, that “Home Alone” sequence – it was hilarious.
- John Leguizamo, fresh from “The Menu” was fine, but I’m afraid he’s no Hans Gruber (or rather the late and much missed Alan Rickman). He resorts too much to violent sweary outbursts: the calm and terrifyingly urbane Gruber was much more chilling.
- Tonally, it felt a bit all over the place. It tries at times to slot in the gooey, fuzzy, Christmas feeling. All this while dismembered limbs and gore are lying all around them! It felt to me like trying to stick the “concert bird woman” sequence from “Home Alone 2” into the middle of “Alien” or “Predator”.
Summary Thoughts on “Violent Night”
I know a lot of people love this film. And I thought it was “OK”, having its fun (albeit exceedingly grisly) moments. But I must admit to having come out disappointed. This was another case for me where the premise of the film, however sick, had great promise but the execution fell short of that potential.
This is high praise though compared to the illustrious Mrs Movie Man. She hated it, giving it just 1.5 stars out of 5!
Trailer for “Violent Night”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a53e4HHnx_s .
Do you get the feeling that sometimes, the studios come up with a “play on words” title and then try and create some kind of a premise and a script to justify the “clever” title? Doesn’t make for a good movie – almost ever.
Yes indeed! Not sure whether the title or the premise came first here. But this one was at least pretty novel and I did think it had a lot of potential. The script just didn’t fully deliver.