Violent Night (2022) Review

 "Christmas dies tonight!"
-Mr. Scrooge



Santa Claus (David Harbour) has lost his belief in the Christmas Spirit and is consider giving up the holiday all together.  Everything changes as he is delivering presents to the Lightstone family and discovers they are being held hostage by a group of thieves led by Mr. Scrooge (John Leguizamo).  One of the hostages, Trudy (Leah Brady), hasn't lost her belief in Santa and is on his "Nice List," so Santa decides to save her and her family, no matter how many skulls he has to crush.


What Works:

This type of movie is really hard to get right.  I was worried that it would possibly be a movie that worked better as a trailer with all of the good comedy and Christmas moments appearing there.  That wasn't the case and it didn't go the other way either.  It doesn't go overboard with the Christmas references.  This is an action/-comedy that just so happens to have Santa as the protagonist and it works beautifully.

David Harbour is prefect as Santa.  He manages to balance being brutally violent as well as having a softer side.  He genuinely loves kids and he is fighting to protect one.  He's very funny and does great in the action sequences.

The action is a lot of fun.  The fights are well shot and choreographed.  There is also a lot of creativity in the kills and they don't hold back on the gore.  This movie is very violent and I'm so happy they didn't pull their punches.

John Leguizamo does a great job as the villain.  He manages to combine the energies of a Die Hard villain with a Christmas movie villain.  He's the ringleader of a gang of thieves and he also hates Christmas.  We get the best of both worlds with him.

Leah Brady adds a lot to the movie as Trudy.  She's the innocent character in all of this and is exactly the type of precocious kid you would see in a Christmas movie.  All she wants for Christmas is for her parents to get back together.  Drop this character in a R-rated action movie and it's amazing.  The Home Alone sequence with her is one of the best parts of the movie.

Most of all, I'm just glad this movie exists.  This isn't a movie for kids, but it has some of those classic Christmas movie themes.  There's a ton of swearing and horrific violence, but they actually mesh together well.  Like I said before, this movie manages to be the best of both worlds and I think it will be a must-watch for me every Christmas.


What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.


Verdict:

Violent Night is one of my favorite movies of the year.  It's a great action-comedy that throws just the right amount of Christmas Spirit on top.  Harbour, Leguizamo, and Brady are all excellent and the action is nice and gory.  What else could you want in your Christmas stocking?

 10/10: Amazing     

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