John Woo has been directing movies longer than most of the cast in Silent Night have been alive. But in 1986, he made a name for himself with A Better Tomorrow, a story of friendship, loyalty and family caught in the crossfires of law enforcement and the triads of organized crime. The movie was also known in Chinese as True Colors of a Hero and it made Chow Yun-fat an international star as young teenagers wore dusters despite Hong Kong’s very warm and tropical climate.
It didn’t take long for Hollywood to come calling for both. Unfortunately Yun-fat didn’t have much luck with some mediocre crime movies and some supporting roles in bigger movies like The Pirates of the Carribbean: At World’s End. But Woo seemed poised to hit it big. Following Hard Target, which garnered some good reviews rare for a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, he made Broken Arrow with A-listers Christian Slater and John Travolta. Reviews were about the same as Hard Target.
But then he made Face/Off with Travolta and Nicolas Cage. And it seemed like he was set. He had directed a Hollywood summer blockbuster that had received good reviews. Next up, he was going to direct one of the biggest stars in the world in one of the biggest franchises ever. And that’s where the problems started. Rumors persisted that Tom Cruise kept Woo from the editing room on Mission: Impossible 2. Then, audiences were who worn out their VHS copies of The Matrix slammed it saying it was a rip-off.
To this date, people consider the second Mission: Impossible the worst. Not I. It’s one of the best. The third is the worst. Oh, well. Woo seemed to branch out with Windtalkers about Navajo in the Marines during World War II. It was a nice attempt but just a white savior movie. After that, he did Paycheck, which you probably don’t remember and for good reason.
Hollywood wasn’t for Woo and he went back to China and made movies for the rest of the 2000s and 2010. Silent Night is called his first American movie since Paycheck, even though it was filmed in and around Mexico City. I think Woo would prefer to be away from the Hollywood studios. There might have been some American-based backers who ponied up the money, but this was distributed by Lionsgate which usually releases more independently made movies.
The concept of Silent Night works on a gimmick that reminds me of a joke I read in Mad Magazine about how Rambo III’s script being a blank piece of paper. There’s little dialogue in the movie. By that I mean, most of it is background actor’s talking or chatter from police scanners or radios. The protagonist Brian Godlock (Joel Kinnaman) survives a gunshot blast to the throat thus losing the ability to speak. He was chasing down some gangbangers after his son, Taylor (Alex Briseno) was killed in the crossfire of two drive-bys.
Brian is shot twice (once in the back and the other in the throat) by crime boss Playa (Harold Torres) and left for dead. He slowly makes a recovery but grieves the death of his son. His wife, Saya (Catalina Sandino Moreno), is supportive but they become distant over time. At first, Brian drowns his sorrows in booze. Taylor was killed on Christmas Eve and when Brian finally is able to return home a month later, the tree is still up and the presents are still under it.
As Easter approaches, Brian decides to seek revenge. He stops drinking and begins to exercise in the garage as well as practice fight moves. He goes to the firing range to learn how to shoot targets with perfect accuracy. However, Saya leaves. And at the same time, Brian has piqued the interest of Det. Dennis Vassal (Kid Cudi) by showing up to his office. The movie takes place in the fictional Texas town of Las Palomas. This is an appropriate name since it’s Spanish for “the doves.” Woo always tries to include doves in his movies.
Evenually, Brian hopes to seek justice against Taylor on Christmas Eve one year later tracking down the gang responsible. It’s your typical revenge action story like John Wick, Kill Bill or older movies like Rolling Thunder. Some people have criticized the lack of much dialogue. I’ll admit the movie does slog a little in the middle. But these images of Kinnaman and Moreno trying to hold on to their marriage are the emotion an action movie needs.
This is where the lack of dialogue works best because their relationship gets strained as they just communicate through text messages. There’s a great moment of the two sitting on the couch holding each other, and you think things will get better. But we realize as Saya gets up and heads toward the door that she’s leaving as Kinnaman’s expression changes. Both of them lost a child but are dealing with it in opposite ways.
A lot of people have criticized the lack of dialogue but they’re not familiar with Woo’s work. You don’t need a lot of talk during shoot-outs but it’s the way Woo has framed his movies. Take The Killer, the 1989 HK action thriller. A lot of scenes take place with minimum dialogue. Or in Face/Off, there’s little dialogue in the flashback prologue but we see more through Travolta and Cage in how their characters act.
Just as most communication is non-verbal, so is acting. Anyone can read dialogue like a bored high school student forced to recite a Shakespeare soliloquy. When the revenge part happens in the third act, it happens with a vengeance as bullets go flying and blood goes splattering. Because he has to adhere to the MPA standards, it’s not as violent as his HK action flicks. However, fans of action won’t be disappointed. It works best if you can get past that you’ve seen it in the John Wick or Matrix movies.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 