Violent Night
When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage, the team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.
- Released: 2022-11-30
- Runtime: 111 minutes
- Genre: Action, Comedy
- Stars: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Beverly D'Angelo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, André Eriksen, Alexander Elliot, Mitra Suri, John B. Lowe, Sean Skene, Vance Halldorson, Thomas Lorber, Adam Hurtig, Ron Borges, Adrian Persad, Marc-André Brisebois, Dylan Rampulla, Maxime Laurin
- Director: Tommy Wirkola
Comments
- Bibliophile100 - 29 May 2024
Definitely lives up to its name
Bad guys (and girls) beware! Even if Krampus doesn't come down your chimney this Christmas, be good! Tonight, not the Tim Allen Santa, nor the Kurt Russell, nor the Tom Hanks Santa's will be visiting. This time, it's David Harbour...and he doesn't just give naughty ones coal...he gives a full on, sledgehammer wielding, butt kicking beat down!! Welcome to the most action packed Christmas film yet! Welcome...to Violent Night!
Directed by Norwegian film man, Tommy Wirkola, we see Santa as a drunk and depressed magic man, whom is actually starting to loose his own faith and happiness in the world's most beloved holiday. However, a miracle and chance has befallen him this fateful night. When he arrives at the large mansion of the Lightstone family, he discovers the whole family is in trouble! Trapped by large gang of evil thieves, led by the truly cruel and mean "Mr. Scrooge" (John Leguizamo), Santa must find it in his heart, and fists, to become a true savior of Christmas!
The Lightstone family are revealed to have a greedy and selfish side as well. However, two enstranged parents, Jason and Linda, are trying to keep the faith and love alive, especially for their daughter Trudy, whose Christmas wish is for her parents to make up again. Trudy (played by the talented Leah Brady) is without a doubt, the most sweetest, kindest girl I've ever seen! She and Santa have such beloved, touching, heartwarming chemistry together! I absolutely ADORED their conversations together while hiding from the bad guys!! Santa teaches a thing or two about adult lives in the real world to Trudy, while Trudy graciously encourages Santa not to give up hope himself.
I love the fact that Santa (as shown in The Santa Clause, with Tim Allen) is treated like a mantle, passed from jolly happy person, to jolly happy person. This Santa however, wasn't one of those. Before he became Santa, he used to be a greedy, mean, violent Viking thief, which explains why how today, he despises the naughty and greedy children out there, as they remind him of his past. But Trudy encourages Santa to use his past for good instead, and thanks to her kind loving words, Santa finds his lost faith, spirit, and inner strength to take a stand against Scrooge and his henchmen!
Prepare to be shocked! The action is incredibly powerful and aggressive (hence the name Violent Night)! Gruesome sights are sure to be seen, but you'll find yourself cheering Saint Nick all the while! You'll also like the rest of the cast, playing the bitter members of the Lightstone family, including: Alex Hassell & Alexis Louder (who play Trudy's parents), Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, Ray Strachen, and as the foul mouthed Grandma Gertrude, Beverly D'Angelo!
Sometimes, to cherish and enjoy the loving moments of the most beautiful holiday of the year, you must bring out a little bit of fight in you to make sure that any lingering evil threatening to destroy that joy and love, stays in its place! And that's just what Santa is ready to do!! Despite Violent Night literally living up to its name, I enjoyed it so much! Prepare for a hardcore holiday, before a heartwarming one! - talllwoood13 - 10 February 2024
boring night
Visually this movie they did a good job, a diverse set of scenes and.the plot, even though it was forgetful where I won't remember what this movie is about by next Christmas they did a good job. To an extent this is a love letter to actually good Christmas action movies. However this movie is like a blueprint of everything not to do in a movie. Everything is a cliche or satire. It's like that unfunny guy we know in work or school who is telling a joke. No one is laughing, yet they keep going and going. The pacing sucked, they just stretched it out as far as possible to get past that hour and a half of time.
There were some creative kills where it felt like a slightly dialed back Mortal Kombat fatality. However the cast sucked. Not a single memorable actor was in this. Is it possible for John Leguizamo to be in a good movie? I'd seriously consider watching that 1993 Mario movie over this again. This is like Gymkata, Blind Rage or Hobo With A Shotgun where it should have been laughed out of the room where the studio(s) shouldn't have touched it.
There wasn't enough fighting, thankfully they didn't hire Seth Rogan to be in this or I would have turned this off for sure. I'm still shocked this made money in the box office. Seriously skip this. Go watch Cobra with Sylvester Stallone instead. The opening to the worlds manliest movie is a Christmas movie, a better movie too.
