Review: ‘Violent Night’ is an unconventional display of Christmas spirit

One of the fun things about Christmas movies is you can enjoy them in almost any genre. There’s countless animated films, many heartbreaking and heartwarming dramas, a number of comedies, and even a few action movies and horror pictures. There are debates whether some narratives count as a holiday story since they’re only set during Christmas, but not necessarily about it (see Die Hard and Gremlins). But nonetheless, there’s something for everyone, including traditionalists and non-conformists. This year brings another movie for the latter as the big guy in red finds himself diverted on his biggest night of the year in Violent Night.

Santa Claus (David Harbour) is feeling less than merry this year, disheartened by the greed that permeates the holiday. Drunkenly slogging through his deliveries, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of an armed hostage situation. Unable to leave little Trudy (Leah Brady) at the criminals’ mercy, Santa sets out to make his naughty list shorter by taking out the bad guys himself. While “Scrooge” (John Leguizamo) effectively keeps the defiant Lighthouse matriarch (Beverly D’Angelo) and her cutthroat family in check, he has greater difficulty taking care of the guy in the red suit gumming up the works — but their bah humbug attitudes are no match for real Christmas magic.

This is a movie in the same spirit as Die Hard and Home Alone (with direct references to the latter), pitting the good guys vs. the bad guys on Christmas Eve. The confrontations vary from hard-hitting hand-to-hand combat to weapon-heavy standoffs to clever booby-traps. The action sequences aren’t the most exciting and at least a couple run too long, though they deliver rousing conclusions. But the script is filled with so much frequently and expectedly dark humour, it mostly maintains an entertaining pace that compensates for those conflicts that overstay their welcome. Director Tommy Wirkola also helmed Dead Snow and its sequel, so he utilizes his experience blending comedy and violence in this picture.

Harbour has a lot of fun in this role, taking his protective Jim Hopper personality a step further to become a total badass. Like flipping a switch, he can be very tender with Trudy and then tear into one or more of the hostage takers. However, one of the more disappointing aspects of the picture is the hints about Santa’s life before he took up residence at the North Pole. It teases audiences with his past and never follows through with the story, which is incredibly frustrating. In the meantime, the brother (Alex Hassell) and sister (Edi Patterson) have been competing for their mother’s attention and money all their lives, making for an amusing dynamic, particularly as the sister and her family (Cam Gigandet and Alexander Elliot) try super hard to impress. Leguizamo has always been an excellent villain and it’s great to see him back on the wrong side of good, while Brendan Fletcher is the immoderate psychopath in the group.

As far as over-the-top holiday movies go, this could definitely become an annual tradition in some households.

Director: Tommy Wirkola
Starring: David Harbour, John Leguizamo and Alex Hassell