In Violent Night, David Harbour reinvents what Santa Claus is all about. Home Alone meets Kill Bill as a drunk and depressed Saint Nick is tasked with saving the day. Maybe Christmas is a magical time after all.
★★★★✰
Most Christmas films are content in focusing on the romantic side of life. There may be some element of happily ever after in Violent Night, but the path that it takes to get there has many twists and turns. In what may well be the biggest hit of his directing career so far, Tommy Wirkola has found an entertaining balance between humour and brutal, brutal violence.
Harbour’s Father Christmas is under the impression that he is on a routine stop along his route around the world. All isn’t as it seems though, and after landing in the mansion of wealthy businesswoman Gertrude Lightstone (Beverley D’Angelo) he is quickly thrust into a holiday nightmare, with bullets flying left, right and centre. The Lightstone family has enough issues as it is, from financial drama to relationships on the rocks, without the self-proclaimed ‘Scrooge’ (John Leguizamo) and his band of merry men coming to spread anything but cheer.
Besides Harbour, Violent Night doesn’t have several household names in its cast to show off and prior to it hitting cinema screens, there was very little publicity being built (here in the UK, anyway). It’s pretty safe to say most people would approach something like this with pretty low expectations. Most Christmas films can be labelled something resembling nice, but that is the last word that fits this bill.
The youngest of the Lightstones, Trudy (Leah Brady), is a modern-day Kevin McCallister, thwarting the deadly advances of Scrooge’s sidekicks by any means possible. There are nails through mouths and bowling balls to eyes—Violent Night isn’t for the squeamish. The pinnacle of the violence comes from Santa himself though, a star stabbed into an eye that brings a certain Ellie Goulding song to mind.
Talking of star performances, the film was at its best whenever David Harbour was on the screen. The New York native announced himself to a new generation playing Jim Hopper in the hit Netflix show Stranger Things, and this will surely be the next stage in endearing himself to any young fans.
Language and lethal shots were aplenty in this Christmas cracker, but after all’s said and done, there is a positive aurora surrounding Violent Night. Festive films are at their best when they can be watched over and over again, and that is certainly the case here. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, and Trudy and the Lightstones reminds Santa of that in the best way possible.
The Verdict
It might not be a film that knocks your stockings off, but it is definitely something out of the ordinary. Harbour’s stock is on the rise once again as he plays the most multi-faceted Santa we’ve seen in years.
Words by Jamie Rooke
Violent Night is in cinemas now.
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