“Holiday Vengeance”
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What You Need To Know:
SILENT NIGHT is very well directed. While the crux of the movie is based on the idea of vengeance, it eventually does show that violent revenge is a vicious cycle and is an incorrect response. Played by Joel Kinnaman, the father clearly loved his son, but he lets revenge control his life. SILENT NIGHT is also excessively violent and bloody and contains four strong obscenities and some drug references. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises excessive for this thriller about retribution.
Content:
Light moral worldview about a father who clearly loved his some who died a violent accidental death because of violent street thugs, but the father lets revenge control his life, plus the Christmas carol “Silent Night” is heard in one scene, and there’s a light metaphorical reference to resurrection;
Brian cannot speak after being shot in the neck, but there are four “f” words, two of which are written out, plus some vomiting in one scene;
Very strong bloody violence, shooting, blood, and death throughout, a young child is shot and killed, other characters are shot in the head, lots of blood is shown, a body is beheaded, multiple people are stabbed, a man has his fingers cut off, a vehicle crashes, and the main character says he will “kill them all”;
No sex;
Upper male nudity; Alcohol Use/Abuse: To cope with his son’s death, protagonist first turns to drinking vodka;
There is a suggestion of injecting some sort of drug via rubber tube, and the bad guys snort cocaine; and,
The movie centers around Brian’s hunger for revenge, but there is no one redeemable character.
More Detail:
The movie opens with the father, Brian, in a bloody Christmas sweater on Christmas Eve. He and his 7-year-old son were caught in the crossfire of a shootout, and both of them ended up getting shot. Brian’s son is shot and killed, while Brian can no longer speak.
After a longtime recovering in the hospital from severe injuries, Brian is overwhelmed by grief from his son’s death. He turns to drugs and alcohol to cope, but soon finds a new motivation, revenge.
Seeking vengeance on the people who killed his son, Brian begins to train in various forms of combat, buys a bunch of guns and other weapons, and plans to kill everyone involved in the shooting. Christmas Eve rolls around, and Brian goes on a tear, killing anyone by any means necessary.
SILENT NIGHT is very well directed, with a message about the ultimate futility of vengeance. However, the movie is excessively violent and bloody. It has an opportunity to be more than a holiday John Wick-like movie, but it fails to have any meaningful themes prevail over the revenge. The protagonist clearly loved his son, but he lets revenge control his life. SILENT NIGHT also contains four strong obscenities and some drug references. MOVIEGUIDE® advises excessive.
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