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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.

A wealthy family home is invaded by a group of criminals, their only hope is Santa Claus.

I think this film may surprise a few, I was pleasantly surprised, action packed, violent, quietly amusing, I have a feeling that for those of us that adore Die Hard, and embrace it as a Christmas movie, this is probably going to be up your Street. I'm not sure it's deserving of cult status, but don't ask me why, I have a feeling that in years to come, this may well develop something of a following.

The clue is in the title, Violent Night, and boy this film doesn't hold back, in terms of violence and manner of deaths, this film packs a real punch, you will see all sorts, people dismembered, shot, impaled, it really doesn't hold back.

If Santa did actually pop down for a visit, I can imagine him being this disillusioned, this irritated, with a genuinely low opinion of people, this is where the film scores in my opinion, the performance of David Harbour, who is genuinely very good.

Enjoyable music throughout, good special effects, plenty of action, Violent Night was a Christmas surprise.

7/10.

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.

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.

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.

Such a wonderful spin on a horror/comedy where Santa Claus is the hero! David Harbor is absolutely perfect for this role has the best voice and great thrill to see in anything he's in! To me this is one of the best Christmas movies out there along with Bad Santa. I would defiantly agree with anyone that loved Violent Night, it's a great mix of Home Alone, John Wick, and any horror Christmas movie. Tommy Wirkola directed a pure blast of entertainment! I sorta can see how it could get hate the family was a little obnoxious at times but I void that out cause everything else positive outweighs heaps.

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.

Plot

When an elite team of mercenaries breaks into a family compound on Christmas Eve, a disgruntled Santa Claus must take them out to save both the hostages and his Holiday.

Cast

David Harbour leads supported by John Leguizamo, Beverly D'Angelo and a fantastic performance by Brendan Fletcher.

Verdict

I didn't exactly rush to see Violent Night when it was released. I despise Christmas, I'm not an action movie fan and the trailer made it look like a mindless movie with an unimpressive gimmick.

Well, I eventually yielded and what I watched was exactly 100% undeniably emphatically everything I expected it to be.

Santa vs Criminals, oh so exciting (Insert sardonic tone here). But what you come to realize quickly with this is it's in an endless tug of war with itself and its identity. On one side it's a hyper violent mindless action flick and on the other it's a sappy cutesy Christmas film complete with obligatory cute kid and festive musical score. These two did not blend well, it reminded me of that Family Guy/The Simpsons cross over! It just didn't sit right with me at all.

Violent Night is for action die hards who have a soft spot for all things Christmas and don't mind a movie flipping the script every few minutes. This guy isn't any of that.

Rants

Bleh! I'm the offspring of the Grinch and Scrooge, I hate Christmas and everything it stands for. What does it stand for these days anyway? It's an amalgamation of Abrahamic lunacy and European mythology all dressed up in a capitalist bow. Santa? Jesus? Infantile lights, horrible songs, awful movies, excessive spending. Eggnog!?!? It's gross and I'll have no part of it. I'll be the one in the corner pretending its not happening with a whisky and lots of money I don't have to spend on toys that will be forgotten about within the year for spoiled children. Bah humbag!

The Good

Has a couple of interesting moments Harbour is passable here Brendan Fletcher

The Bad

It's a Christmas film Most of the film is very generic Inconsistent tones.

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free thoughts, please follow my blog to read my full review :)

"Violent Night is one of the biggest surprises of the year, instantly becoming a contemporary Christmas classic! David Harbour expertly embodies a shockingly brutal, savage version of Santa Claus that somehow still delivers lovely messages.

Fighting sequences feature truly violent practical stunts, taking advantage of the R rating to provide unmeasurable amounts of gore. Creative use of Christmas songs will leave audiences crying with laughter.

A brilliant homage to the seasonal genre classics that should be seen in a packed theater!"

Rating: A-

'Violent Night (2022)' is surprisingly earnest in its themes of Christmas magic and rekindling your Christmas spirit. What initially seems like a sardonic anti-Christmas movie soon reveals itself to be genuinely interested in spreading Yuletide cheer, although that's not to imply it doesn't also feature all the brutality, bad language and bodily fluids its concept promises. Merging 'Die Hard (1988)', 'Home Alone (1990', 'Bad Santa (2004)' and 'John Wick (2014)' (or, perhaps more accurately, some of its lesser imitators), the piece provides a stockingful of festive fun despite its undeniably derivative nature. David Harbour and John Leguizamo make up for the cast's general lack of charisma, as they're eminently watchable and sell even the silliest of dialogue. Though the piece is certainly self-aware, it's also really sincere and it establishes a strong sense of character for its central figure. In fact, Papa Noël actually has a relatively convincing character arc which prevents his inclusion from feeling as half-baked as it may initially seem. Although the flick sometimes comes closer to feeling like 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)' than 'Die Hard (1988)' (particularly when it comes to most elements not directly associated with Santa), it features plenty of well-choreographed and exciting set-pieces that revel in all the gory mayhem you could want. The action never rises to the level of something like 'John Wick (2014)', but it's better than a lot of similar American stuff and it continues the welcome post-'Wick' trend of having clean camera work that favours wider compositions. The movie is really fun when it gets going. It has a few issues here and there, and it's arguably a little too sappy for its own good, but it's an entertaining actioner with a strong central performance and several accomplished set-pieces.

I have heard great things, I expected a very good, fun, thrilling movie. No, it's none of these things. It's not very good, because the direction is lacking and the script is poor. It's not very fun because there's not much of witty and funny dialogue in the script. And its not really thrilling. The fight scenes are mediocre, shot in close ups, often in the dark. Only the final fight, between the Santa and the Leguizamo character, got me excited. The tone of the movie is very uneven, it jumps between irreverent brutality mixed with gross cussing and the overly sweet, syrupy moments of family-friendly melodrama. It's like a weird mixture of a Tarantino movie and a Hallmark Christmas one. Apart from the Santa and the little girl all other characters are lazily written, even Leguizamo is a bit bland. The score is irritating, at least for me. So, the idea was excellent, but the execution pretty disappointing. 4/10 from me.

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.

Feels very much like Agatha Christie wrote the script and had to mix it with a part of Die Hard 2 and a part of Bad Santa and a little Home Alone.

Although nothing is especially new, it's a very standard action movie after all, it managed to feel refreshing and entertaining, and funny at the same time. The violence is so over the top, it almost becomes funny and something that makes the movie more appealing to a gore enthusiast like me.

It's only real flaw lies in some scenes that do not make sence. I would also have appreciated more background information on the characters, but it had taken too long. For me it will be a seven, but it was very close to an eight in rating.

I can strongly recommend this movie to enyone who likes to be entertained!

The trailer for this one was excellent. Santa versus the robbers in a kind of ultra-Christmas variant on DIE HARD, itself a perennial Christmas favourite. David Harbour riding high from the success of STRANGER THINGS, and John Leguizamo a reliably entertaining villain. What could go wrong, right? Well, the presence of the writers behind the SONIC THE HEDGEHOG films (!) is the sticking point here, because VIOLENT NIGHT struggles with a puerile script and a tone that bounces back and forth between gory black humour and saccharine schmaltz presented unironically. Seriously, who thought the kid would be a good addition here? It should have been much harder and darker, more like the MOTHER'S DAY remake with Rebecca De Mornay. A shame, as the DEAD SNOW director works his socks off and the action's fun.

It is too boring to be an action flick, the slow parts kill that possibility. It is not funny enough to be a comedy, most of the jokes fall flat. It is too stupid to be a movie about crime, the plot is too simple.

Although it contains child-like elements (believing in Santa) it cannot be recommended for children because of the violence. Also, the acting is annoying and the spacing is all over the place.

Even if you feel like you don't have anything better to watch it will disappoint you.

This movie is really just a hastily thrown together mishmash of ideas in order to rake in some cash in the holiday season.

Violent Night stars the likeable David Harbour as a heroic Santa Claus. This is a movie that will make you believe Santa Claus is real. As the title warns us, it is violent, and it takes place at night. Like all good action thrillers, there's also a lot I found hilarious about it, including some dialogue and certain predicaments the characters find themselves in.

It has the good sense to acknowledge up front the homage it is to Home Alone when young Trudy announces she just watched that movie for the first time and really seems to have enjoyed it. Later in this movie she shows she learned something from it. But Home Alone is not the movie this one most resembles. Rather I was reminded of a certain other Christmas time movie with a character named John McClane. Not that one, the other one with the airplanes and the snow on the ground.

I have always admired the acting skills of John Leguizamo, and here he delivers another powerful performance, this time as the main villain. The way he delivers his lines and does not hesitate in his actions, is actually pretty scary. But unfortunately for these bad guys, they picked the wrong time and place, because Santa and his little helper just happen to be there, and they are not prepared to deal with what they have coming for them.

I watched this on Christmas Day. I should've watched it on Christmas Eve. Better late than never. Check it out while 'tis still the season.

Look no one is coming here to be intellectually challenged and Action Santa flics isn't exactly an oscar-batting genre. That being said this movie hit 100% of its potential. It surpassed the restrictions of the genre and made it a little deeper. I went in expected some solid action and that was it. The cast all over performed. It's not Shawshank redemption nor could it ever be but it was the absolute best movie it could have been. The best part of the movie was the score. Dominic Lewis delivered a master piece of emotion all while keep the music within holiday theme. I'm not sure if there will be a sequel but if there is I'll be in the front row.

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".

I loved the idea of having a badass Santa trying to save the day and all the scenes with David Harbour (Santa) . And that's about it.

Most of the dialogues and plot lines were extremely cheesy and cliche. I found the acting of the rest of the cast very poor and cringy, the script was very repetitive (how many "I believe in you Santa" can you squeeze into one movie; well take that and triple it).

In summary, +1 for the attempt to differentiate from traditional Christmas movies; the whole concept of seeing Santa beating people up while dropping cheesy Xmas lines is indeed entertaining +1 for David Harbour who portrayed Santa +1 for the production.

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.

"Slaying the competition, one present at a time."

*Pros:*

• David Harbour's performance as Santa Claus is a highlight, bringing a fun and rugged edge to the character.

• The action sequences are well-choreographed and entertaining, making for a thrilling ride.

• The movie's tone is generally lighthearted and humorous, making it a fun holiday watch.

*Cons:*

• The story lacks imagination and depth, relying on familiar tropes and cliches.

• Santa's magic is underutilized and poorly explained, feeling like a missed opportunity.

• The supporting characters are underdeveloped and feel like cardboard cutouts.

• The movie's themes of commercialization and family are touched on but not fully explored.

*Overall:*

"Violent Night" is an entertaining but forgettable holiday action-comedy. While David Harbour shines as Santa Claus, the movie's lack of imagination and depth holds it back from being truly special. With a more thoughtful approach to the character and story, this could have been a standout holiday classic. Instead, it's a fun but superficial watch.

*Rating:* 6/10

*Recommendation:*

If you're looking for a lighthearted, action-packed holiday movie, "Violent Night" might be worth a watch. However, if you're seeking a more thoughtful and imaginative take on the Santa Claus character, you might want to look elsewhere.

I love it that this is a action Christmas movie because we haven't got this in a while. The jokes are good but not always hit me hard. Santa Clause is a scene stealer and by far the best Character. All the family members are ok but have no depth even the ones who should have depth.

Also the movie is very brutal for a FSK 16 but it's funny to see a real Santa Clause fight some bad guys. This is the heart of the story and it makes sooo much fun watching. The story is ok. We are supposed to see a movie where Santa stops bad guys who want to steal from this family but we don't really care about that plot, but that's ok cause that plot isn't that great.

Overall it's a good brutal Christmas movie that is something different.