'Violent Night' Review: David Harbour Kicks Yuletide Ass in Solid Fun Action Flick
Violent Night
R: Strong bloody violence, language throughout, and some sexual references
Runtime: 1 Hour and 52 Minutes
Production Companies: Perfect World Pictures, 87North Productions
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Writers: Pat Casey, Josh Miller
Cast: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Cam Gigandet, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Beverly D'Angelo
Release Date: December 2, 2022
In Theaters Only
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 (David Harbour) is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.
Ever since John Wick double-tapped his way into cinema, the trend of contemporary action-thrillers has gotten stale. Everybody wants to be the next John Wick. Many projects have retooled the “average Joe you’d never expect as an assassin” premise. Just look at Atomic Blonde, Nobody, and Bullet Train. Now that the formula has overstayed its welcome, it’s getting a holiday-themed twist. Despite being from production company 87North (which produced the aforementioned films), Violent Night is less John Wick and more Die Hard. I assume the pitch meeting went something like, “Imagine if John McClane was St. Nick and had to save Christmas from mercenaries,” and they made a nearly two-hour action-thriller out of it. At least it kicks ass and is genuinely a Christmas movie. Well, chuck a lump of coal at my head, will you?
David Harbour has proven that he can commit to a role no matter how absurd. With Violent Night being his second leading vehicle after (ugh) Hellboy, Harbour provides a more confident showcase that suits (no pun intended) his array of comedy and action. By golly oh jolly, David Harbour’s Santa is one of his most incredible roles yet. Harbour is aware of the material's absurdity and gleefully takes it in. He exudes an endearingly jolly spirit while being a badass. Through his mowing of mercenaries, Harbour menacingly retorts every cheesy Christmas-themed one-liner. While every fiber of my being told me to cringe, his onscreen joy made it work.
Initially more jaded than jolly, Santa has lost the spirit of Christmas. Who can blame him when he has to compete with Bezos's company of consumerism and kids who prefer money and video games? So, he becomes a grumpy drunk who spends his annual gig drinking while driving reindeer. Meanwhile, a young girl named Trudy (Leah Brady) is forced to spend the holidays with her estranged upper-class family of the Righteous Gemstones variety because her parents, Jason (Alex Hassell) and Linda (Alexis Louder), are getting a divorce. Trudy’s only holiday comfort is the new walkie-talkie Jason gives her that serves as a direct hotline to Santa. Just like that, she summons him to the mansion for cookies. Alas, their party is interrupted by a grinchy Scrooge (John Leguizamo) and his mercenaries who want to nab the $300 million in the family vault. Trapped with no reindeer and motivated by Trudy being on the nice list, Santa pulls his best Kevin McCallister/John McClane impression to kick a can of yuletide ass.
As easy as it is to write off Violent Night as a one-note joke that goes on for too long, director Tommy Wirkola offers enough substance with his action sequences to capture a free-spirited form of nostalgia. The tone doesn’t take itself too seriously, for it balances being a straightforward action thriller that falls into many tropes and adding holiday camp to its gleefully gory action. It knows it's a Die Hard and Home Alone clone, and writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller (the Sonic the Hedgehog guys) are quick to point it out every chance they get. How they wear it on their sleeves to justify its existence outside of feeling like an extended joke is endearing. Despite most of the film taking place at night, with hardly a light source to fill the scene, Wirkola’s lens focuses on the combat sequences with decent editing.
Part of the exhilaration that he achieves involves the various fatalities Santa conducts. Santa uses anything object to the best of his ability, and those money fatality shots add excitement to the violence. The best thing about the action is that Santa takes damage. The fight sequences and choreography are grounded in reality. Both sides take damage, and the exhaustion raises the stakes. Wirkola lets his Home Alone influence get the best of him as he does an homage that would make Chris Columbus proud.
A fear I had while walking into Violent Night was expecting it to exude an extended SNL skit vibe that would test my patience. Those fears came true. Casey and Miller aim for low-hanging fruits of ‘90s South Park levels of juvenile humor. Trudy’s family is annoyingly unfunny. Judy’s aunt Alva (Edi Patterson), Alva’s self-obsessed actor boyfriend Jason (Cam Gigandet), and Alva’s son Bert (Alexander Elliot) are all unbearable. Worst of all, they grovel under the tree of the family matriarch Gertrude (Beverly D'Angelo). Wirkola’s staging for the humor—which he’s not used to, given his line of work—is awkward, relying on the word “fuck” so often that only a 13-year-old would laugh at it. The sexual tension between me and the exit door began to rise, but I stayed for Harbour.
Most of the film’s issues fall on writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who are terrible at fine-tuning a project's pace due to a lack of focus and unnecessary material getting too much screen time. The first act is rough, and there’s a significant lull in the second act. They intended to make this action plot a character piece by adding Norse lore to Harbour’s Santa. That said, it's interlaced in the worst possible area that drags down the pacing. It’s not as disruptive as Natasha Rothwell stealing 15 minutes of screen time in a Sonic the Hedgehog movie, but damn, it comes close.
Violent Night is all the violence and fun one can ask for during this magical time of the year. David Harbour is sublime as Santa in a leading role that showcases his range. Serving as a fun, bloody action-thriller with sincere Christmas cheese that takes some getting used to, it’s both a naughty and nice R-rated popcorn flick.
