Violent Night
December 3rd, 2022 / Kevin Ward
"Violent Night" can be described as a combination of "Die Hard" and "Home Alone." When mercenaries suddenly attack an estate on Christmas Eve while Santa Claus is on the premises, the gruff and hardened Santa gives them much more than they bargained for. As the odyssey of violence and death begins, Claus dispatches the villains in various and creative ways. Enemies are impaled, burnt, shot, and even thrown off buildings. One of director Tommy Wirkola's greatest strengths is his ability to naturally mix extreme violence and comedy. He is in top form again here. The audience was undulating between wincing and laughing throughout the film's runtime.
David Harbour is perfectly cast as Santa Claus. His large stature makes for a believably foreboding physical presence. Still, he also has enough emotional range to pull off the tender moments with the young daughter Alva. The script from Josh Miller and Patrick Casey strikes a beautiful balance in establishing that there is, in fact, some existing Santa Claus lore that the film is adhering to while simultaneously not getting caught up with trying to explain it to the audience. Even Santa admits several times that he's unsure how or why all of his Christmas magic works.
Though the "Die Hard" and "Home Alone" homages work exceedingly well, any time spent away from Santa feels unnecessary and significantly drags the pacing down. Consequently, the 112-minute runtime felt much too long. The hyper-violent action comedy genre operates at its best when it falls in the sub-90 minute runtime.
Packed with intense language, a fair amount of gross-outs, and a considerable body count, "Violent Night" earns its R rating. It's a highly entertaining movie and one of the best times I've had at the theatre this year. I highly recommend checking it out, as this has instant Christmas classic written all over it.
— 4 / 5⭐
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Screenplay: Pat Casey, Josh Miller
Cast: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder and
Beverly D’AngeloProducers: Kelly McCormick, David Leitch, Guy Danella
Executive Producer: Marc S. Fischer
Runtime: 112 minutes
Rated: R