Violent Night

Possibly the most tedious film question ever asked is, "is Die Hard a Christmas movie?" Violent Night says "what if Die Hard WAS a Christmas movie?"

Its an excellent mix of two genres. First and foremost it's a (very violent) man in a tight spot action movie but hidden beneath is a traditional Christmas story of people becoming believers and a jaded main character getting their feative mojo back.

The film success is largely down to David Harbour's fantastic turn as a disillusioned St Nick. His ability to project charisma even when appearing tired and fed up carries the day, or in this case, night. He also cleverly avoids the trap of playing Santa too dark, for all his boozing and necessary killing he is still recognisably Father Christmas. The rest of the cast are all decent as well, with John Leguiziamo making a fun villian. Even the child character manages to not be annoying, although some of her dialogue hints that they had originally wanted a younger actress than Leah Brady.

The other big plus Violent Night has is its, well violence. The set pieces go above and beyond, with villians being impaled, burned and dismembered. Highlights include a Home Alone inspired sequence (turns out the invaders in this film are a lot less durable than Harry and Marv) and a Mortal Kombat worthy finish to the final showdown. There's also a decent vain of comedy even if you won't exactly be guffawing in the aisles.

There are a couple of things that take you out of proceedings, like the bad guys refusal to just shoot their guns and some very generic family interactions, but overall Violent Night is a very fun couple of hours.

8 lumps of coal for 10 naughty mercenaries.

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.

Violent Night may be just 10 mins too long but thankfully that doesn't stop it from executing it's beautiful premise extremely well. A super violent and really funny action movie that doesn't forget to bring the necessary heart and festive spirit as a Christmas movie.

David Harbour gives a terrific lead performance as Santa, displaying an emotional range way beyond what's expected and delivering some truly heartwarming moments with Leah Brady who brings a boundless optimism to her adorably innocent character.

Tommy Wirkola's direction is great, the action scenes are so much fun to watch, really inventive and always comprehensible. The music by Dominic Lewis is really good, combining the epic action movie pieces with more traditionally festive moments.

I would've liked to see more and funnier comedic moments, but there are still some fun laughs in this film. It sure beats all the romantic cheesy Christmas films that are in abundance this time of year. The directing was decent, and the pacing was spot-on in the comfortable 112 minute runtime. The story was pretty much predictable, although there were many refreshing references to past iconic Christmas holiday films. All casting and performances were excellent. Even the score and holiday soundtrack was on point. It's certainly an enjoyable one-time watch of mindless entertainment, and a well deserved 7/10 from me.