Summary
- John Woo's newest movie, Silent Night, lacks dialogue but still manages to captivate audiences with its action-packed revenge storyline.
- The lack of dialogue in Silent Night forces viewers to reconsider what makes a good story and appreciate the basic elements of filmmaking.
- Joel Kinnaman delivers an excellent performance without uttering a single word, and the film's soundtrack adds emotional depth to the visceral experience. John Woo is back.
John Woo might have had his start at the Shaw Studios, which produced some of the most epic Hong Kong movies of the late 1960s and '70s, but it took him decades before he managed to make a name for himself as a director. Known for his action movies, done in the tradition of the industry that had raised him as a filmmaker, Woo has become one of the biggest names in the action genre. Revered for his specific stylistic elements throughout his filmography, like the Mexican standoff or incorporating elements of wuxia into what looks like contemporary action on the surface, Woo's definitely got his trademarks. He's won awards for his films across Asia and even in the United States, and this year, the holidays wouldn't be complete without John Woo's newest movie.
The return of the legendary action director to Hollywood may not have been on many people's bingo cards for what 2023 had in store, but Silent Night has quite a bit of power in its punch. The movie's been getting buzz online about its lack of dialogue, and it is, indeed, a movie without any spoken dialogue. While some might express doubt at this, thinking that this might be to its detriment, many will be surprised at what this holiday movie has in store. Starring Joel Kinnaman in the lead role, Silent Night clocks in at a little under two hours, but manages to be pretty captivating throughout, offering new twists and tricks the deeper we dive into the story.
A Classic Story of Revenge
Silent Night
- Release Date
- December 1, 2023
- Director
- John Woo
- Cast
- Joel Kinnaman, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Kid Cudi, Harold Torres
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 1hr 44min
- Main Genre
- Action
At the core of Silent Night is a classic tale of revenge. East Asian cinema has been dwelling on these themes for decades now, especially when it comes to gangster and yakuza movies coming from the region. In the film, a tragedy happens on Christmas Eve: the main character (Joel Kinnaman) is happily married with a son. But that day, his son, who has so much of a life left to live, gets caught in the crossfire between two rival gangs. This is the loss that sets the tone for the rest of the film, the inciting incident that drives the force of the movie and the sense of revenge the main character feels.
There aren’t a ton of frills when it comes to the story from this point on. The main character, suffering from a wound that leaves his voice incapacitated, decides to get revenge against the people that caused his son’s death, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to get the job done, even if it means getting himself harmed in the process of doing so. This is his life’s mission now, and his son’s death has become a vicious, bloody source of vengeance for this protagonist. These gangs don’t know what’s coming to them, and they now need to prepare for the worst.
Silent Night isn’t the typical Christmas movie, but it certainly makes a splash for John Woo, who’s returning to American movie theaters for the first time in a long while. The Christmas-adjacent storyline might not be the source of joy and happiness for the main character, but audiences are going to love this one when it comes to the action. There are plenty of fight scenes jammed into the film, and some emotional notes tie it all together in a nice little bow that’s worth having a conversation about afterward.
Bringing Back Silent Movies
In an interview with Collider, producer Erica Lee discusses how Silent Night could have been disastrous without its lack of dialogue. Modern audiences might be able to sit through a three and a half-hour movie like Killers of the Flower Moon, but Silent Night might be a test when it comes to actively going against what most people are used to nowadays. Talkies might’ve been first introduced in the movie world during the late 1920s, but Silent Night is deeply unusual for the decision to not include any dialogue. Contemporary movies like Babylon might like to nod back to this period, but typically don't look to the past in terms of technical inspiration.
Viewers might find this lack of dialogue polarizing, but it surprisingly works really well for what it tries to exemplify. This is a movie that finds its legacy in the birth of cinema, as once upon a time there was no sound in movies. There was music and slide cards, and while Silent Night doesn’t take it all the way back to our distant memories of what film once was, it gets pretty close considering the way movies are made nowadays.
The premise of Silent Night is pretty straightforward when it comes to plot. There aren’t many surprises packed into the movie’s story, but by stripping away the dialogue, it forces the audience to reconsider their priorities when it comes to what good storytelling is. Dialogue can be a key part in coming to understand the characters and their backgrounds in a typical movie, but this isn’t a film where one really needs to dig deep. It has the core parts of what makes a good story: a hero with a motive, a problem to solve, and how they solve it. There’s no fluff or cheesy conversations, monologues about how the protagonist is going to get justice. Instead, we’re left with all we need to know, boiling it back down to the basics in a way that works well.
There’s a twist to Silent Night with action elements woven into it — after all, this is a John Woo movie. Woo is well-known for his action sequences, and the ones packed into Silent Night certainly rank among some of his finest, bringing back many of his most signature techniques after ten years of taking time off from filmmaking. However, there are moments where John Woo has introduced some new visual styles to his work, making this a fresh new take on his filmography overall.
A Tantalizing Work of Art
Joel Kinnaman certainly is in his element when it comes to performing without dialogue. The world might make endless jokes about an actor without a script, what they might do in a situation where they have to do improv on the spot, but Silent Night embodies that energy. There are narrative anchors to keep this performance going, as well as the emotional cues and the action, but Kinnaman certainly does an excellent job in nailing down all of those characteristics without having to utter a single word throughout the movie.
Silent Night utilizes a soundtrack by Marco Beltrami, adding in the emotional notes through a melancholy sound as the camera becomes fuzzy, the violence on-screen happening through a charged conduit that feels heightened because of all the technical elements coming together. It certainly is a visceral experience throughout that feels like a layered journey.
In the end, it’s movies like these that serve as a reminder as to why we continue watching movies for not just entertainment, but for art as well. Some big directors might choose to live within the comfort of their aesthetic and style of screenwriting when it comes to the plot, but John Woo returns after a decade to remind the world of the basics of filmmaking. Sometimes, all a movie really needs on a superficial level are excellent performances, some movement and action to keep it going, and a plot to keep it all together.
Silent Night truly is an experience, and it’s John Woo at his finest. While it might not be a traditional Christmas movie, it certainly is a lot of fun to watch, and it is worth a journey to the movie theater to see it with a crowd of other people. It’s also the first time John Woo has made an American film in 20 years, marking it a momentous occasion for a director who’s hit his stride in Hong Kong and Chinese cinema since then.
Silent Night is out in theaters on December 1, 2023. You can watch the trailer below:
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