Nothing says Christmas like a low-rent British gangster film.
Whether it’s the lack of humour, gratuitous violence or miserable characters, Silent Night is full of festive spirit. Who needs It’s a Wonderful Life when you can watch a man deliver a box of body parts to a branch of Wimpy?
Packed with tough blokes, shotguns and very little enjoyment, Silent Night comes from a specific brand of British gangster films, which confuses shouting for drama and is destined for a life padding out streaming services, pushed by algorithms to fans of Guy Ritchie.
Plenty of films like this have ‘graced’ our screens since Ritchie made his name with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but few have been any good. With sub-B-movie production values and dialogue that would be flattered to be considered pulpy, the genre has somehow maintained a foothold in the home-viewing market and these cheap ‘thrills’ just keep coming out.
Directed by Will Thorne in his feature debut, Silent Night is typical British gangster fare. It follows Mark (Bradley Taylor), a south London hitman, who has been released from prison and is trying to clean up his act for his daughter Daisy (Oriana Rodrigues-Cova). However, when he runs into his former cell-mate Alan (Cary Crankson), he is drawn back in to the world of crime for one last job.
It’s pretty predictable stuff – a standard set up for such a film. Mark is down on his luck and working in poorly-paid manual jobs in order to help provide for Daisy and her mother Julia (Angela Terence) in the run up to Christmas. Struggling to make ends meet, Mark then falls for the lure of a return to crime and its potentially lucrative results.
However, the ‘one last job’ for which Mark is coaxed back in has very little to it. Aiming to deal with a dispute between rival criminals, he works alongside Alan for his former employer, mob boss Caddy (Frank Harper). Performing quite routine operations, Mark gets on with it and, in all honesty, not much happens bar a few mishaps. The set-up is sorely lacking in tension and intrigue, while there are no exciting set-pieces to help pass the time. Thorne’s direction is fine, but offers nothing to elevate or catalyse the drama, as the narrative trundles along to its predictable destination.
There is plenty of wasted comic potential when Mark and Alan’s jobs go wrong. The film has no desire to see the amusement, instead going for a dark, brooding tone. It makes for a solemn and turgid experience – one lacking in entertainment. Everything here is very serious, as the film has ambitions to delve into what leads people like Mark into a life of crime, but doesn’t succeed in doing so.
In spite of an unengaging and one-note performance from Taylor, Silent Night tries its very best to make you care about Mark and understand his turmoil. However, he makes for a very boring protagonist, who has precious little to him and wears an unerring, distant frown throughout proceedings. His backstory is not developed and his character barely changes, while his relationship with Daisy and Julia exists for no other purpose than to provide some stakes.
Similarly, the Christmas setting appears to be used only to hammer home the importance of family – it doesn’t affect the story or provide a difference in tone from any other genre entry. Beyond the prominent role of cranberry sauce in the plot, there is not anything here to set it apart from any British gangster film from the past 20 years.
Likewise, the film’s rogues’ gallery of shady criminal figures have little to them. Mark spends much of the film alongside Alan, who swiftly becomes a very irritating figure. Hackneyed discussions between the two about their mistreatment by the ‘ruling classes’ allows Silent Night to posit itself as a meaningful film, providing some social commentary. Yet, like much else here, it falls flat. One-note and not properly developed, any mentions of the harsh realties of life feel like an after-thought.
A veteran of this sort of film, Frank Harper is meant to add a bit of gravitas to proceedings as mob boss Caddy, but he is burdened by a laughably clichéd character. Clearly meant to be a Ray Winstone-esque figure, Caddy unfortunately best resembles Winstone’s role in the Bet365 adverts, doing little more than giving out instructions and shouting. Joel Fry’s Seamus and his flatmate Pete, played by Nathaniel Martello-White, are the closest that the film gets to entertaining characters. Seemingly on the fringes of south London’s criminal world, they work well as an odd couple and are regrettably underused, only coming to the fore as the film draws to an end.
Plot developments in the third act suggest that Thorne may have had loftier ambitions for the film than a generic B-movie. However, a specific and significant turn does not land with the desired impact. Similarly, a tracking shot through the kitchens of a social club hints at GoodFellas, but does more to emphasise this film’s own level than draw comparisons with the best of the crime genre.
The Verdict
With a running time of just over 90 minutes, watching Silent Night should not be so much of a chore. Languorous and subdued, characterised by a dull story and full of one-note performances and perfunctory direction, there is little to enjoy here. Stay well away – you don’t need this level of misery at Christmas.
Rating: 2/10
Silent Night is in UK cinemas from 11 December and digital download from 14 December.
Words by Dan Haygarth
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