Whereas he could also be a reliable director for essentially the most half, the title John Woo (Paycheck) isn’t one which instantly screams “substance.” Nonetheless, Silent Evening showcases Woo’s means to serve up one thing way more significant than the typical popcorn flick.

Healthful household man Brian (Joel Kinnaman) is an almost picture-perfect husband and father, however his total worldview is shattered when his neighborhood turns into the most recent battleground in an ongoing gang battle. He loses his son within the crossfire, whereas one other stray bullet deprives him of his voice. What seemed to be an attractive Christmas simply moments earlier than turns into a grief-stricken tragedy that finally drives his spouse (Catalina Moreno) away from him as his focus narrows on revenge.

There’s not a lot to say in regards to the story itself. Regardless of following a slightly predictable and trope-laden plot thread, it’s additionally curiously muddled at occasions. For example, Brian goes out of his strategy to contain police detective Dennis (Scott Mescudi) by presenting him with proof linking the assault to gang chief Playa (Harold Torres). This, nevertheless, happens when he already seems set on retaliation. Contemplating how rapidly Brian trains himself within the artwork of homicide, it’s arduous to think about him being absent-minded sufficient to attract police consideration proper earlier than embarking on a bloodthirsty rampage. Like most of the movie’s story beats, this second clearly solely exists to ahead the plot.

Even so, viewers in a position to forgive headscratchers like these will discover that the movie doesn’t excel on the premise of what the story is about, however slightly within the method it’s introduced. Brian is way from the one wordless participant within the movie, but Woo embraces the idea of “present, don’t inform” with gorgeous artistry. To name it a contemporary silent movie can be inaccurate, because the music and gunfire nonetheless ring clear all through. Even older silent movies typically relied on textual content to talk for the characters, whereas Brian’s emotional arc is informed solely by way of Kinnaman’s tortured expressions. In the meantime, Woo continuously employs overhead photographs to point out the total scale of demise and destruction that Playa and the person he’s wronged have wrought upon their environment.

Though wordless expression pervades all through, Kinnaman handles it higher than anybody. There’s one notably chilling scene through which he appears unable to just accept his lack of speech. Though his useless son serves little extra perform than as a prop to arrange some old style bloodletting, Kinnaman’s efficiency on this scene captures a way of helplessness acquainted to anybody who’s suffered PTSD following a violent prison encounter. He’s caught in a world far completely different from the one he thought he lived in solely days earlier than. Trapped on this new existence, he has nowhere to show apart from vengeful ideation. Even when he begins taking steps to make that vengeance a actuality, his eyes hardly masks the vulnerability that’s taken over this once-joyful father.

In fact, it wouldn’t be a John Woo film if this didn’t set the scene for some insane bullet ballet. True to kind, Woo manages to make each single motion scene stand aside. Among the finest scenes deprive Brian of firepower altogether, with one fisticuff duel specifically standing out as among the many most grueling, tension-filled fights put to movie. What actually makes the motion stand out, nevertheless, is that Woo ends most of the movie’s battles with quiet moments that give the viewers time to course of what they’ve seen. Fairly than shoveling handfuls of popcorn in between shootouts, viewers are reminded that these demise battles are fairly actual for the characters partaking in them.

Silent Evening most likely lacks the franchise potential of a John Wick film, however that’s okay. Along with his first American movie in a long time, John Woo has proven that he has way more to supply than over-the-top motion and tacky dialogue. Apparently, an previous canine can be taught new methods. If he continues to make the most of these methods in future outings, your entire panorama of motion movies could also be higher for it.