Merry Christmas to me, because Violent Night is my new favorite Christmas movie. Is it perfect? No. Does it become predictable and annoying at times when it single-handedly delivers a cute-as-pie “good girl” at its center to spew forth all the sentimental crap you can handle? Yes. But, hear me out. Christmas movies are generally genre-specific.
There are many different types of cinematic experiences you can have that involve Christmas. The Hallmark Goop wants you to be grateful for everything no matter what you have going on.
The comedic Christmas schlep wants you to laugh at either romantic folly or reckless hijinx to get you through the holiday season. And let’s not forget religious Christmas films which are remarkably similar to a funny Christmas movie. Then there is the horror section that promotes all kinds of vicious and spatter-filled scenarios that revolve around the silly season and a slew of things going awry. I have time for a few of these cinematic playing fields, but Violent Night is the kind of action-filled Yuletide version I ultimately want.
Action Christmas Movies
I guess it all depends on what type of festive season sentiment you like in December. Violent Night is not original fare and never claims to be. The likes of Billy Bob Thornton from Bad Santa in temperament is all but clothed in a David Harbour suit as the film opens with Saint Nick in a bar drowning his sorrows. He groans and moans about the throwaway society he faces every year. A fitting rhetoric if you ask me, the mother of two boys who open presents with a vapid disregard each year.
At the center is a greedy wealthy family helmed by an evil matriarch, Gertrude. The Lightstone Family has amassed a fortune only rivaled by the members’ willingness to backstab each other. Aside from the youngest and more generous of spirits, Trudy and her mother, everyone else seems eager to prove to Gertrude that their spot in the one-day inherited wealth should fall on them. In the middle of the cringeworthy display of brown-nosing, the staff that has been busy attending to the impending dinner shake off their uniforms and quickly switch into assassin mode. They want the $300 million grandma has been squirreling away in an impenetrable high-tech safe.
Violent Night Official Trailer
Violent Night Movie
The Home Alone classic feature film overtone comes into play early with young Trudy tooting one-liners from the movie having just seen it for the first time. Later when the heist is in full swing Trudy deftly applies what she learned from Home Alone and shifts into something more in line with the horror movie based on it some years later (Better Watch Out.) Tonal elements of Fatman shade the latter stages of the film when Kris Kringle handles weaponry while evolving into a facade more suited to the series, Vikings. In Violent Night, people on the naughty list inevitably get splattered by Baba Noel and his trusty weapon of choice, Skull Crusher.
Special effects in Violent Night were outstanding. Choreography and fights were the types that made you glue your eyes to the screen. There is something mesmerizing about watching Santa kick some ass. Much of the R-rated label is dialed back. Low light used in one scene in a barn deescalated the use of mulchers and other extraneous kills. Off-screen graphic violence was favored instead of in-your-face gore. Nonetheless, most of the kills were inventive glorious, and fun.
The Lightweather family and their drama play second fiddle to the man in the red suit because no one really cares about anyone else. What I wanted out of this title wasn’t to have my faith in Santa Claus restored. The family proclaiming their investment in believing in the final scene wasn’t meant to force a tear from my eyes. The only thing I cared about was that Sanctus Nicolaus was the last man standing.
Violent Night movie is rated
4.5 Best action Christmas movies out of 5
Watch the Video of Violent Night Stunt Actors in Action
Who Stars in Violent Night
The cast for the 2022 movie, “Violent Night” is David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Beverly D’Angelo, Alex Hassell, Cam Gigandet, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, and Leah Brady.
Directed by Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow and What Happened to Monday.)
Written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller.
Violent Night Streaming
Violent Night 2022 is streaming on:
