Silent Night

The setup has been done to death, so beyond its Christmas backdrop I wasn't expecting much. It is entertaining enough until the contracts begin, at which point it sort of picks up steam.

The final act is full of twists and turns that while not entirely original, were a pleasant surprise given what I thought would be a much more straight forward "seen this setup a hundred times before" type ordeal (guy out of prison, tries going clean, drawn in for "one last job" etc).

I start all movies at neutral 5 and go from there. Most tend to get a 6 (slightly positive +1) if they generally entertain, but for its unforeseen twists and turns and what was a genuinely enthralling final act, this rose to +2 (7/10)

Because this movie has plenty of gunfire and violence, surely enough for most fans of the crime thriller genre. The cast all make their characters believable and interesting, even those with small roles like the cop. The dialogue has some clever bits, and Silent Night's director, Will Thorne, did a fine job dealing with all the challenges of making a by no means simple gangland revenge story entertaining. If this comes out as a DVD with a director's cut, it could well be worth buying just to see how movies are made in gritty urban settings.

What really sets Silent Night apart, however, is a twist in the plot. Can't say much about that without taking this review into spoiler territory, but the twist certainly puts Mark in a whole different light. Not necessarily a better light, however.

This is definitely my kind of Christmas film. Absolutely loved the performances between the two leads and loved spotting all the familiar South London locations, felt real and raw but with some great touching moments and some humour that made you feel like you were with old friends. I'd definitely watch it again!

After being released from Prison, Mark is determined to go straight for the sake of his round daughter, but his former cellmate Alan convinced him to do one final job.

Once again, I was hooked in by a number one on Netflix tag, only this time I quite enjoyed the choice. I'll be honest, it does have a low budget feel about it, but I think that's part of its charm. There will be obvious comparisons, Lock stock for example, but it's not trying to be.

So it's not exactly Die Hard, you're not going to want to dig this out every December, but as a one off, it's worth seeing, and the good outweighs the bad, just about.

I really liked Bradley Taylor as Mark, I really did buy a guy down on his luck, trying hard to make changes and desperate to restart his life. Joel Fry also very good, nice to see him in a serious role.

Favourite scene had to be that surreal Christmas dinner, that really was off the wall, a cracking and unexpected twist.

6/10.

Was expecting a one dimensional gangland thriller but this delivered a lot more. Gritty and remarkably well shot, yes...but there's elements of dark humour in there and decent performances, particularly from "Mark" the lead. Well worth a watch.