Violent Night

As far as Christmas movies go, is this better than Die Hard? Of course not! However, it's no doubt a Christmas movie. David Harbor plays a Santa Claus who lost his Christmas spirit and gets it back by going total medieval on a gang of kidnappers looking to take a small fortune from the type of rich folks you hate the most over the Holiday season. Harbor's Santa reminds me a lot of his version of Hellboy, I think when it comes down to it both pictures are Metal as Hell, and it's like Mr. Stranger Things just doing vocals for both albums. Mr. John Leguizamo is in the flick as the naughtiest of naughty men (not as naughty as Hans Gruber, but who can be). Like a sick guitar riff Leguizamo brings his season experience as an actor to create an interesting and funny bad guy. Leaning towards the Home Alone factor, this movie is as violent as the title suggests, which is rare, really. The little kid in turns out to be worse than Kevin McCallister when it comes to projecting her home from criminal masterminds. It's like someone read the minds of every person that watches Die Hard on Christmas day and just wanted to give us something official. I appreciate that.

Simply put this movie is Die Hard mixed with The Santa Clause mixed with Home Alone (Macaulay Culkin would be proud). It's an enjoyable romp and should be included in any action movie fan's Christmas playlist. Sure there's some questionable content. I've noticed that directors love putting David Harbour in red, but he suited the role, and the teeny tiny bit of an origin story was, well, interesting. I'd love to see that made into an origin movie.

But, like I said, if you're an Christmas action movie person, who enjoyed Die Hard and consider it a Christmas movie, Violent Night is a good addition to your yearly play list.

Isn't it fantastic when everything you love nicely comes together? Especially around Christmas! What I like to do most during the holiday period is watching at least one - preferably more - Christmas horror movies, but the two mainstream non-horror Christmas movies that I've seen the most (that everyone has seen the most, for that matter) are "Die Hard" and "Home Alone".

"Violent Night" may not be a genuine horror movie, but it's excessively violent for sure, and - moreover - it's a love letter to the two aforementioned cinematic Christmas landmarks! Tommy Wirkola, who brought us the refreshing "Dead Snow", goes mainstream with this thrill-ride of an actioner about Santa Clause - the real one - battling a small army of evil scoundrels and protecting a cute girl and her rotten wealthy family during a heist/home invasion. It's not very original, it's not particularly sophisticated, but it sure is a lot of fun.

Certain ideas and gimmicks in the script are genius, like Santa having a Viking background, the casting of Beverly D'Angelo as a loathsome hag of a matriarch, or the killing of thugs with Christmas attributes like candy canes or electric lights. Other parts are clichéd and/or sentimental (but mandatory), like the overlong "true meaning of Christmas" conversations, but that's just a minor default. The "John Wick" type of battle in the bar is déjà-vu but nonetheless exciting, especially because it's to the cheesy tones of Bryan Adams' "Christmas Time". There are other jolly great songs on the soundtrack, like from Slade and Burl Ives, and a great role for John Leguizamo as über-villain "Scrooge".

This movie is a beautiful mixture of Die Hard, Home Alone, Thor... It also contains several cliches from other movies. Not a problem. Yes, it's predictable, but it is kind of different of what we usually recieve on Christmas, and I personally appreciate different movies.

First, action, gore and scenarios are great. Also the main cast. I think almost everyone here does a great job. I really enjoyed music used here too. Great choices.

Second, the script is predictable but at the same time, it keeps you entertained from beginning till the end. Raw action mixed with some goofy scenes.

So, overall if you want to watch a different brutal action Christmas thriller, this one is for you.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

When Violent Night is good, it's really good. It isn't always nearly as entertaining as it could be, but it definitely capitalises on its goofy premise in all the right ways at various points.

The violence is blunt and rudimentary, but there's something strikingly effective about it. Each hit is loud and visceral, and many of the actual deaths are a lot more creative than I was expecting them to be, even if the violence leads me up to each death is pretty by-the-numbers.

I was pleasantly surprised with the small but satisfying character arcs that the script weaves into the simple story. Santa is given a cynical outlook on humanity and himself to overcome, the family has tension to work out, and the mythology of Santa's backstory is actually given a twist to make his capacity for violence make sense in this movie.

There's nothing particularly groundbreaking about any of this, but it's all crafted with care and it's investing enough that I could easily see myself watching this in subsequent years.

Its aforementioned strengths help it largely overcome its weak supporting actors, dialogue that's sometimes so corny it's cringey, and its few too many scenes of characters sitting and talking.