Violent Night

Dir Tommy Wirkola

Written by Pat Casey, Josh Miller

David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Beverly D’Angelo, Alexis Louder, Leah Brady.

On Christmas Eve, the family of uber rich Gertrude Lightstone (D’Angelo) head to her mansion for the yearly Christmas gathering. However tonight, a group of mercenaries led by one with the codename ‘Scrooge’ (Leguizamo), break into well guarded compound to steal the $300m hidden in a safe below. The only thing that Scrooge and his men didn’t count on was Santa Claus (Harbour), who before he became Santa was a ruthless viking.

The second of my reviews of the ‘Santa fights back’ movies released in the last few years, and this one was quite different. This Santa does lean into the magical element more so (even he doesn’t know how it works), which I found works well. Santa, when we meet him is too disappointed by the youth of today, who mostly have a ‘me me me’ attitude. He is a borderline alcoholic, who spends his time at bars, and drinking the alcohol of the houses he visits.

The film does take a little while to get going, and it is hampered by some either underwhelming casting, or poor direction notes from some of the supporting cast. The family, are mostly insufferable so there’s really no empathy for them. Linda and Trudy, are the exception, the latter is a one of the best parts of the film – especially her ‘Home Alone’ style traps, that are a little more ‘realistic’ in the damage that they might cause. Fort the first twenty minutes or so I thought this was going to be another ‘Fatman’ rating.

There is a fun Christmas themed score, and soundtrack that plays underneath the film, especially throughout some of the more thrilling aspects of the film. One memorable moment is Bryan Adams Christmas Time playing during the ‘Barnyard’ scene – which was equal parts gruesome and hilarious.

I liked the notion of Santa not ‘always’ having been Santa, which seems to be a recurring theme in some of the movies I’ve reviewed. His past as a Viking which is touched on throughout was a great idea.

 As with the other ‘Santa Fights Back’ movie, the cast who seem to having the most fun are  the two leads, Harbour and Leguizamo. They both play their roles brilliantly and bring it home.

Well worth a watch.

4/5