#Rawleigh Clements-Willis

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have Violent Night 2022

[rookie-critic]

Violent Night (2022, dir. Tommy Wirkola) - review by Rookie-Critic

Violent Night sees Wirkola in familiar, but strangely light-hearted territory. Equal parts Home Alone and Bad Santa, David Harbour plays a Claus that's at his wits end with how greedy and capitalist Christmas has become; set to drink himself through his job forevermore to escape the mundane task of delivering video game after video game to endless houses. Harbour was practically born to play this version of Kringle, and the anti-charm he brings to the role is endearing in a lovable grump kind of way. Then there's Trudy, the little girl at the film's center who is almost too sweet to be apart of a movie this committed to being vulgar. Her love of the "magic of Christmas" and general innocence is infectious, and it makes this movie from the director of both Dead Snow movies seem like Miracle on 34th Street in comparison. John Leguizamo plays a very convincing smarmy, "anti-Christmas" villain, and the opposing chemistry he has not just with Harbour, but with pretty much everyone he interacts with on screen is entertaining to watch.

I think that's really what it boils down to. This is just a solid, fun joyride with a more vulgar, violent Santa. It is absolutely derivative of similar "adult Christmas" films that came before it, and it is capitalizing on a very popular trend of Christmas movies leaning away from the clean, shiny, magical films of decades past, but I don't care. Tommy Wirkola weaves it all together to make something that, if not memorable, is sure as hell fun to watch. The action scenes are engaging, with needle drops (consisting of alternative Christmas tunes to match the alternative feel of the film) that instantly make you smile and perk up, eager to watch Santa bash that robber's head in with a sledgehammer. Speaking of the sledgehammer, I won't give too much away, but they introduce this wild Santa backstory out of left field about halfway through the movie, and it was so unbelievably interesting that I would have loved for them to expand on it. They kind of do, but there are a lot of implications about Santa before he was Santa, and questions about how he even became Santa at all, that go largely unaddressed, which is a bummer because it was the aspect of the film I was easily the most invested in. I highly doubt we'll ever see a Violent Night 2, but if we ever do, I really hope Wirkola answers some of these burning questions I have.

The only other complaint I have with the film, and it would be a bigger complaint if it committed to it more, is that this film seems to subscribe to something that a lot of Christmas-related media seems to convey, which is this philosophy that Christmas is somehow greedier than it used to be, not as magical as it used to be, that Christmas was better in "the good old days" (whatever that means). I just can't get on board with that state of mind. Sure, Christmas isn't as magical as it was when we were kids, but that's because we're not kids anymore. I'm sure a lot of kids nowadays still feel about Christmas the way we all did when we were young. I'll admit the kinds of gifts children receive nowadays has largely changed, but that doesn't mean they're worse or less magical. The kid receiving a copy of Kirby and the Forgotten Land or even something a little more adult like God of War: Ragnarok is probably just as excited and reveres that gift with just as much childlike wonder as the kid that received a model train set or action figure 30 or 40 years ago. Thankfully, Wirkola doesn't really seem to commit to this idea too hard before the film just becomes Santa vs. the Home Invaders.

Violent Night about met my expectations. It's an entertaining, bloody Christmas movie that manages to capture the essence and spirit of the holiday in the most interesting, off-beat way, and Harbour proves himself as a compelling lead actor in a way that his past efforts just haven't allowed him to show (I'm looking at you, Hellboy).

Score: 8/10

Currently only in theaters.