Kinnaman stars as Brian Godlock, a father whose life is shattered when a Gangland Drive-By shooting takes his voice… and his son's life. Enraged, he vows vengeance upon his attackers and sets forth to kill them all on Christmas Eve. The film is almost dialogue free, due to the father's injury - hence the title - and was released in theaters December 1, 2023.
Previews: Trailer
Silent Night will include examples of the following:
- Advertising by Association: Aside from John Woo's involvement, the trailer also mentions that the film is from the producers of John Wick.
- An Ass-Kicking Christmas: Godlock makes a point to note on his calendar - on December 24, no less - to "kill them all," exactly one year after his son was killed.
- Artistic License – Biology: Godlock is depicted as having completely lost his voice due to his throat injury, but for some reason he's still able to vocalize grunts and wails at various points in the film.
- Badass Longcoat: Godlock wears a leather trenchcoat over his arsenal of guns, apparently just for the coolness factor, since he has no reason to try to conceal his weapons.
- Big Bad: Playa, the leader of the GI-7 that killed Godlock’s son and took his voice.
- Bittersweet Ending: Leaning heavily towards bitter. Godlock gets his revenge, at the cost of his life and his marriage and there's little to suggest the other gangs shown in the movie won't simply take over the business of the one he eliminated.
- Bookends: The murder of Godlock's son happens on Christmas Eve, and so does the final showdown with Playa and his men.
- Boom, Headshot!: Some instances of this, but a special mention must go to the death of Ruiz. Basically, once he and Godlock engage in a melee fight with empty rifles and carbines, the latter gets wise and load one of them when he is caught in a chokehold, managing to blow a hole in the former's head and send blood flying everywhere. This crosses over into Blood from the Mouth, since Godlock shot Ruiz through the chin.
- The Cameo: Overlapping a bit with Creator Cameo, the policewoman who dies before Godlock's eyes when the Gang War kicks off is played by the director's daughter Angeles Woo.
- Car Fu: Godlock learns to stunt drive a Mustang, which he uses to hit several gangsters when he finally goes on his Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Chaos of the Bells: The trailer uses a mix of "Carol of the Bells" and "Ode to Joy" with lots of Orchestral Bombing synchronized to gunshots and explosions.
- Chekhov's Gun: Yes, Godlock does find a moment to use that home-made bomb.
- Creator Thumbprint: There are several sequences of Guns Akimbo, a John Woo trademark. A bird also makes a prominent appearance, although it's not a dove. Godlock also has a pair of Woo's favorite gun, the Beretta 92, but only fires one at a time.
- Dark Action Girl: Playa's floozy Venus turns out to be great with a submachinegun.
- Deconstruction: The movie analyzes what it would be like for an ordinary guy who teaches himself to do action tropes. Fittingly, his first attack on the gang—which includes cool action moves like him tricking an enemy gangster into running into a forklift such that the forklift's prongs decapitate the gangster—ends with Playa shooting him in the neck and permanently muting him. His attempt to pull off an Enemy Civil War gambit by starting a gang war does get two gangs shooting at each other, but also kills some innocent policemen. Every time he pulls off an action stunt he pays for it in some way, and in the end, he dies after killing Playa. His letter to Saya also explains how he already considered that he might not make it that far, but had nothing else left to lose.
- The Dragon: Playa's right-hand man is Ruiz, a burly gangster. He throws Godlock to the ground for bumping into him early in the film. When Playa gets the video of Godlock killing his men, he first messages Ruiz. In the third act, Godlock and Ruiz have a big fight.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Godlock spends a couple months drowning himself in alcohol until he decides to get revenge.
- Empathic Environment: When Godlock sits on his porch in the California springtime, the sun is grey and his lawn is colorless and filled with dead leaves. He then flashes back to happier times in winter, with golden sunshine beaming down on bright green grass.
- Enemy Civil War: Godlock tries to do this by getting two gangs to fight each other. He succeeds, but the collateral damage (including a police officer who is killed even as he tries to rescue her) disturbs him.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: Godluck, Detective Vassel, and Playa all die at the end.
- Gun Fu: Godlock engages in this, particularly during the finale battle. Since he is a largely inexperienced civilian with a year to train, though, his close-quarters gun combat is less polished and more seat-of-the-pants than his obvious inspiration.
- Guns Akimbo: In true John Woo fashion, Detective Vassel dual wields pistols at one point during the final shootout.
- The Hero Dies: The penultimate scene has Godlock dying after finally getting his revenge.
- Hope Spot: During the Enemy Civil War, Godlock tries to save a wounded female police officer, only for her to be shot In the Back as he tries to get her in his car.
- Idiot Ball: Godlock decides to leave a knife within a few inches of the reach of his largely unbound hostage, allowing the hostage to grab it and free himself for a big fight.
- In Medias Res: The film begins with Godlock chasing after the killers of his son. At the end of the first act, we Flash Back to the circumstances leading up to this point.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Godlock rarely even attempts to use cover. A good chunk of the gunfight has him simply driving in circles in the middle of a gunfight and never getting hit. When invading Playas compound, he's frequently alerted to new enemies when they shoot and miss him.
- Just a Flesh Wound: Godlock gets stabbed in the thigh by his own combat knife. By the end of the night, he's not even limping, and the wound is completely forgotten by the time he's suiting up for his rampage the next day.
- Logo Gag: The "o" in the Lionsgate logo at the start of the trailer is a Christmas wreath.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Godlock plans and execute a killing spree on the gang that was responsible for the death of his son.
- Silence Is Golden: There is virtually no dialogue spoken onscreen, save a few simple words like "No!" and "Fuck!" The only clear speech is through radio chatter.
- Signature Style: A mild example for John Woo. It's a gun-heavy action film with one guy taking on hordes of goons, occasional use of Guns Akimbo, and a number of motorcycle stunts.
- Skewed Priorities: One of Playa's goons is apparently tasked with livestreaming the gangland shootout. When he gets attacked and critically injured, he tries to crawl toward his phone rather than get a weapon to fight back.
- Standard Snippet: Ode to Joy is played over the ass-kicking montage section of the trailer.
- Storming the Castle: The climax has Godlock launching an assault on the GI-7's hideout to take down Playa and destroy the gang.
- Training Montage: Godlock spends eight months training to get his revenge, shown in scenes of him struggling to learn how to fight, shoot, and stunt drive.
- Undignified Death: Rather than getting a spectacularly gory or flashy demise, Playa is instead slowly strangled to death by Godlock, with plenty of time to see and feel his illusions of power and invincibility completely dissolve as Godlock crushes the life out of him. He finally dies with a look of primal terror frozen on his face.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Playa is shown handing out money to kids outside of a local hardware store.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Brian's first kill has him stop his car to vomit afterwards.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Even though she's been shooting at them both with a machine pistol, Godlock hesitates to shoot Venus once he has the drop on her, giving her the opportunity to pull a backup weapon and critically wound both him and Det. Vassel. He quickly comes to his senses after that and puts a bullet in her brain.
