Another year, another long slate of cable Christmas films and rewatchings of the classics. Nothing wrong with that, but it can get stale. Violent Night aims to fix that by adding a little bang and blood to the holiday season.
Starring David Harbour as Santa Claus, Violent Night is the story of Santa stumbling into the robbery of a wealthy family while making his Christmas Eve rounds and going to his particular set of skills in hopes of saving the day.
Watching Violent Night is like going to a Maxwell concert expecting his greatest hits only to have him remix those songs into something he uses to see if he has Meg the Stallion’s knees. The belief of seeing a film that’s not the typical holiday fare lures you, but something else is on the screen once you’re in the theater.
The issue doesn’t lie with Harbour. In his first star vehicle since the ill-fated 2019 Hellboy reboot, Harbour is worth the price of admission. His take on Santa isn’t a departure from his Stranger Things, Hellboy, and Black Widow roles, and you could argue they’re all the same person – flawed brawlers with a heart of gold and wit for days. Yet, Harbour plays the imperfect but charming hero part so well that it isn’t repetitive.
His work in combat scenes is believable and impressive despite not physically fitting the mold of an action star. His well-timed, deadpanned delivery adds just the right amount of humor and reality to keep things from going too dark or unrealistic. His screen time with young co-star Leah Brady is right out of the Jim Hopper-Eleven playbook but gives Violent Night some welcomed heart. Harbour’s Santa is the character you want to see in a movie like Violent Night.
The problem is the lack of Harbour and violence in Violent Night. Instead of staying true to what Violent Night is or should be, the decision-makers behind the camera made the baffling choice to force the movie into being something it's not.
When Violent Night embraces its place as a graphic R-rated holiday alternative to the plethora of lighthearted holiday films, it’s refreshing. It’s a hilarious, action-packed substitute for the monotony of Yuletide-themed offerings that make Santa into a Christ-like deity without flaws. While the holiday magic or combat skills to take out highly-trained assassins are a reach, this iteration of Santa is more relatable and entertaining.
However, Violet Night becomes a mess when it tries to become the very thing it never was – a traditional Christmas movie. Like most holiday movies, Violent Night borrows from earlier films in the genre. It has elements of Die Hard, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol, Home Alone, and even National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in its DNA. The homage or appropriation of those films is fine to an extent because the Home Alone and Christmas Vacation pieces are highlights.
The time spent incorporating the other films is what forcefully attempts to pigeonhole Violent Night into a classic holiday film. Plot points such as the strained marriage of Trudy’s parents or the Ebenezer Scrooge backstory are unnecessary and unaffecting. With less time spent on those tropes and more time spent getting to know this Santa more or seeing him in more action, Violent Night would be up there with Die Hard for kickass holiday films.
The Isley Brothers were on to something when Ron crooned the lyrics “at your best, you are love…” and it’s a concept that the writers of Violent Night should have given more attention. At its best, Violent Night is a bone-crushing good time with a bit of humor and heart to balance it out. At its worst and sadly for most of the 112-minute runtime, it’s a contrived carbon copy of every other Christmas movie imaginable with some broken bones and busted heads thrown in for good measure.
Violent Night isn’t the worst way to spend a couple of hours, but you could undoubtedly wait on this one to hit streaming.
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