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Review | Silent Night movie review: John Woo makes satisfying Hollywood return with almost dialogue-free action thriller, starring Joel Kinnaman as an avenging father
- Joel Kinnaman plays a father out to avenge his son’s killing by a crime gang in a film with some stunning action that’s notable for its lack of dialogue
- Many of Woo’s trademark flourishes are missing, however, and Silent Night doesn’t stand comparison with the fast-paced John Wick and The Raid franchise films
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3/5 stars
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It’s been 20 years since Paycheck, the last Hollywood film by Hong Kong director John Woo Yu-sum.
Touted as his US comeback, Silent Night is more a repackaging of his greatest hits. Fans will appreciate the action in this bloody revenge drama, even while acknowledging the steep drop-off from classics like The Killer (1989) and Hard Boiled (1992).
Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag in the Suicide Squad films) plays Brian Godlock, a grieving father whose young son is killed in gang violence. It takes a year for Godlock to recover from his own wounds and plot his revenge. “Kill them all,” he writes on his calendar for December 24.
Godlock has a lot to learn. Training, YouTube how-to videos and determination get him only so far. Initial efforts to track down gang leader Playa (Harold Torres) leave him bruised and breathless; cops like Detective Vassell (Scott Mescudi) only get in the way.
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Eventually Godlock finds enough clues and kills enough enemies to make his way to an abandoned warehouse, where Playa has surrounded himself with an army of mercenaries and killers.
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