Violent Night (2022) - Matthew Puddister
9/10
Die Hard is an all-time Christmas classic, but after enough repeat viewings, one can’t help but yearn for an alternative holiday action movie. Enter Violent Night. Directed by Tommy Wirkola, written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, and starring David Harbour as a grizzled, hard-drinking, ass-kicking Santa Claus, the film takes the Die Hard template and amps up the Christmas elements to the max. This is a film that knows exactly what it is and delivers everything an action fan could hope for, with Christmas-themed kills and one-liners galore. Harbour instantly becomes the greatest movie Santa Claus ever. And unlike Die Hard, Violent Night includes a nice dose of Yuletide sentimentality and some genuinely heartwarming moments.
The plot is as simple as any other Die Hard-styled action film. A group of mercenary thieves, led by “Mr. Scrooge” (John Leguizamo), hold the wealthy Lightstone family hostage on Christmas Eve. They plan to steal $300 million in cash held in a vault at the mansion. But there’s one thing they didn’t bargain for: Santa Claus (Harbour), who happens to be delivering gifts there when the villains storm the compound.
Santa has become bitter and cynical, disillusioned by children who—he complains while knocking back beers at a Brighton pub—now “just demand. They don’t believe. They just want, crave, consume.” But when he sees little Trudy Lightstone (Leah Brady) is one of the hostages, Santa decides to take on the mercenaries. You see, this Santa Claus has a very particular set of skills beyond gift-giving, squeezing his bulk down chimneys, and eating copious amounts of cookies. Before he met Mrs. Claus 1,100 years ago, Santa was a Viking warrior known as Nicholas the Red who wielded a hammer called Skullcrusher. Now Mr. Scrooge and his holiday-codenamed henchmen are in for a world of hurt. As our hero warns them: “Santa Claus is coming to town.”
This movie is exactly what I hoped it would be. It’s got plenty of brutal action, incorporating everything from brutal sledgehammer attacks to henchmen stabbed with sharpened candy canes to Home Alone-style booby traps. There’s a torture scene involving nutcrackers, which I’m surprised I’ve never in a movie before. Though some supporting characters could have been more memorable, the script offers lots of funny dialogue. Santa isn’t the only one who gets holiday-themed one liners. Leguizamo makes the most of lines like “Bah humbug, motherfucker.” The latter makes a great Hans Gruber-style villain, who has deep-rooted reasons for hating Christmas. The actors playing the Lightstone family are fine. Beverly D’Angelo is probably the standout as foul-mouthed matriarch Gertrude Lightstone.
The emotional heart of the film, however, is Trudy, who plays a role similar to Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol or Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas! She helps remind Santa that Christmas gifts aren’t just meaningless material possessions. When Santa gave her a toy rabbit, Trudy says, Mr. Bunny “wasn't just a toy. That night, you gave me what I wished for: a best friend. 'Cause you're good and kind. And you mean more than just the presents you bring. That's why I believe in you, Santa.”
The idea of believing in Santa Claus plays a major role in Violent Night. In a sense, it’s a metaphor for believing in Christmas, or at least the values the holiday is supposed to stand for. (Christmas critics may scoff, but I always gets sentimental about the holidays, so it worked for me.) Santa’s own character arc starts from him not really believing in himself or Christmas anymore. “Maybe this is my last year,” he says at the start. “The last Christmas.” Mr. Scrooge echoes these words when he tries to kill Santa: “My life’s been leading up to this moment,” Scrooge says. “This year will be the last Christmas ever. Christmas dies with you.” But Trudy’s belief in him has given Santa a renewed belief in himself, and in Christmas. He won’t go down without a fight.
Violent Night wisely glosses over logical questions of a world in which Santa Claus is real, a major plot hole in the Santa Clause movies. Namely, if Santa is actually giving children gifts, who do parents think gifts from “Santa” are from? Trudy’s father Jason (Alex Hassell) and mother Linda (Alexis Louder) tell her parents buy their children these gifts and only pretend they’re from Santa. I’m going to say Santa uses “Christmas magic” to convince parents they bought the gifts. After all, that’s how the movie explains away various aspects of Santa Claus—as in the hilarious scene when Scrooge and minions “Gingerbread” (André Eriksen) and “Candy Cane” (Mitra Suri) interrogate Santa Claus, whom they’ve tied to a chair with Christmas lights, and find endless presents in his bag. “It's magic,” Santa says. “You put your hand in, out comes a present. I don't really understand how it works, either.”
Harbour’s Santa Claus alone is enough to recommend this movie. His Santa is cynical when it comes to Christmas, yet deep down still believes in the spirit of the season. In that sense he’s a stand-in for many adults who have become similarly jaded about the holidays, often for good reason. He also gives us the first Santa Claus we can add to the pantheon of great movie action heroes. A sequel to Violent Night is already in development. That’s definitely cause for holiday cheer.
ncG1vNJzZmilkanBqbHWqaydnJmowaa%2Bjaysm6uklrCsesKopGioX6u2sLjEp6tmppmctbV5kWlpaw%3D%3D