Silent Night

I have a suspicion that the wide variation in how this film was perceived probably depends on whether you're British or not. As a Brit - and from South London to boot - I was pleasantly surprised by this film, and especially the lead (Bradley Taylor), who was outstanding throughout. Twist was unexpected, well executed but fell down slightly on the originality front. Full of South London grit and black humour, and the director somehow managed to eke sympathy for Taylor's character out of me when I'm not convinced much was deserved. Time well spent with this one.

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.

Pretty easy to watch, can't fault the script / acting / jokes, was all pretty good and the movie goes along nicely.

The one thing that i found extremely annoying is the main 'twist', it's too obvious and been done thousands of times before i can't believe people can still be surprised by it.

Aside from that the story takes different twists and turns and keeps you watching till the end as the main character goes through a seemingly unwinnable situation.

Nothing great but def worth a watch as a bit of a festive comedic ganster movie. Although i think alot of the movie was obviously filmed away from christmas so the outside shots aren't very festive.. but the christmas dinner at the end is very good.

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.

I cannot believe some of the poor reviews solely because it wasn't a Christmas film!! This film was grim but realistic, superbly acted with a great story, I think if you're not British then you won't get it. Highly reccomended.