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SILENT NIGHT MOVIE REVIEW
It’s hard to believe but it’s been 20 years since Hong Kong action maestro John Woo directed a Hollywood film. While Woo retains his taste for melodrama, his latest bullet ballet trades in his usual operatic flair for a grittier, more grounded approach to violence. Shot in Mexico City on a modest budget, Silent Night is a back-to-basics genre exercise but with a high concept twist: the movie has zero spoken dialogue. It’s a gimmick to be sure, but Woo seems to relish the challenge of telling a story primarily through visuals, performance, and action. One fateful Christmas Day, Brian (Joel Kinnaman) and his family are caught in the crossfire between two rival gangs. A stray bullet kills Brian’s nine year old son, while another bullet permanently destroys Brian’s larynx. Months go by and the police still haven’t made an arrest. Unable to speak, or to process his grief and rage, Brian decides to take the law into his own hands. On the first anniversary of his son’s death, Brian will avenge his son by single-handedly taking down the drug cartel responsible. It’s a good thing he gave himself until Christmas because it’s going to take some time for Brian to acquire the skills and gear he needs to become a one-man army. Our reviewers Alan, Mike the Editor, and Marco discuss whether this silent but deadly thriller belongs on the naughty or nice list.
DIRECTED BY: John Woo
STARRING: Joel Kinnaman, Scott Mescudi, Harold Torres, Catalina Sandino Moreno
YOUR REVIEWERS
Marco Noyola (Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Audio Editor)
By day, Marco is a mild-mannered office worker, but by night he is a mild-mannered movie watcher. He does other mild-mannered stuff too.
“You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody!”
Alan Galinsky (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)
Born and raised in Texas, Alan Galinsky is a lifetime movie fan. As a youth, he would rent multiple movies every weekend and go to the theater for the latest releases, and that pace has remained steady. When Alan isn’t watching movies, you can find him talking about movies. When he’s not talking about movies, you can find him playing music in the band Delicate Boys.
Mike J. McAllister (Screener Squad, Staff Writer, Head Video Editor)
Mike J. McAllister is a filmmaker, editor, writer and animator. He is also a film junkie, dog lover and Surge-aholic (Hi, Mike). He grew up in a small town in Western Pennsylvania, where he earned the reputation as the “human IMDb” and was on a first-name basis with every video store clerk in town. He later studied film in Pittsburgh. He has since written several unproduced screenplays and TV pilots. He has also produced a number of short films, some of which have appeared in festivals across the country. He is a ninja with Final Cut Pro and is armed with a mind full of mostly useless pop-culture trivia. He also enjoys animation, MST3K, classic video games and being the “music geek” among his friends (which really just means he buys vinyl and listens to music that doesn’t come from an anime soundtrack). He resides in Austin, Texas, and can be followed on the Instamagrams at @ohheyitsmikejm.
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