Plot
When an elite team of mercenaries breaks into a family compound on Christmas Eve, a disgruntled Santa Claus must take them out to save both the hostages and his Holiday.
Cast
David Harbour leads supported by John Leguizamo,
Beverly D'Angelo and a fantastic performance by Brendan Fletcher.
Verdict
I didn't exactly rush to see Violent Night when it was released. I despise Christmas, I'm not an action movie fan and the trailer made it look like a mindless movie with an unimpressive gimmick.
Well, I eventually yielded and what I watched was exactly 100% undeniably emphatically everything I expected it to be.
Santa vs Criminals, oh so exciting (Insert sardonic tone here). But what you come to realize quickly with this is it's in an endless tug of war with itself and its identity. On one side it's a hyper violent mindless action flick and on the other it's a sappy cutesy Christmas film complete with obligatory cute kid and festive musical score. These two did not blend well, it reminded me of that Family Guy/The Simpsons cross over! It just didn't sit right with me at all.
Violent Night is for action die hards who have a soft spot for all things Christmas and don't mind a movie flipping the script every few minutes. This guy isn't any of that.
Rants
Bleh! I'm the offspring of the Grinch and Scrooge, I hate Christmas and everything it stands for. What does it stand for these days anyway? It's an amalgamation of Abrahamic lunacy and European mythology all dressed up in a capitalist bow. Santa? Jesus? Infantile lights, horrible songs, awful movies, excessive spending. Eggnog!?!? It's gross and I'll have no part of it. I'll be the one in the corner pretending its not happening with a whisky and lots of money I don't have to spend on toys that will be forgotten about within the year for spoiled children. Bah humbag!
The Good
Has a couple of interesting moments
Harbour is passable here
Brendan Fletcher
The Bad
It's a Christmas film
Most of the film is very generic
Inconsistent tones.
