Violent Night Review | Movie
It is Christmas and a jaded reasonably than jolly Santa Claus (David Harbour) is pressured to avoid wasting the day — as violently as potential. Reckoning with too many pints, a gang of mercenaries, and a household who’ve misplaced their Christmas spirit, he is received rather a lot to test off his record.
Right here comes Santa Claus. He’s received a sleigh filled with presents, a giant purple coat, and a struggle hammer coated within the blood of his victims. Ho ho ho! A mixture of candy-cane candy festivities and lashings of fatalities, Violent Evening follows within the tracks of Bullet Prepare, as the newest stunt-spectacular from David Leitch’s 87North Productions, with Tommy Wirkola (Useless Snow, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) guiding the sleigh this time.
Getting into the boots and beard, as a Nordic warrior turned immortal present giver, is a charmingly grizzly David Harbour. His Claus has beer on his breath, vomit in his bristles and a hatred for money presents, Amazon deliveries and apostatising kids. This Santa is cynical, however when one among his drop-offs lands him in the midst of a house invasion at a rich matriarch’s property, it’d simply convey him again to his jolly outdated self.
There’s a thrill in watching Harbour’s Santa tear by means of the invaders.
Held hostage, the unstable Lightstone household are sitting on a vault full of money: money {that a} scenery-chewing, indigestibly-trite John Leguizamo villain desires to get his arms on. When granddaughter Trudy (a captivating Leah Brady) escapes their clutches, she companions with Santa to cease the baddies and maybe spark some Christmas pleasure that might unite her household.
There’s a thrill in watching Harbour’s Santa tear by means of the invaders, utilising pool balls, darts and a star decoration to illuminatingly ugly impact, so it’s irritating when the story pivots to the Hallmark household reunion, which unnecessarily bulks issues out. Harbour is great, authentically wheezing round like a person who’s had centuries of worldwide celebration on his shoulders. He’s a present in comparison with the villains: an annoying, quippy bunch who desperately wish to be Hans Gruber, and assume escalating edgy expletives will make up for his or her coal-lump charisma. It’s a pleasure to see them despatched, however for each abominable use of an ice skate blade, there’s some boring household drama to sludge by means of and the joyfully macabre enjoyable melts away into unlucky mundanity.
Good enjoyable in locations, however boring for probably the most half, Violent Evening is serviceable Christmas viewing. It’s a disgrace, as a result of with such a enjoyable riff on the Santa story, it ought to’ve been good for goodness sake!
