A Savage delight! Violent Night (2022), Movie Review.

This is the best Christmas movie of the year for me and it gave me a thrilling experience that I won't forget. It's a new classic Christmas movie that has the reference combination of Die Hard and Home Alone together and I must say it was FANTASTIC! Whoever thought of the idea of Santa Claus fighting bad guys is a genius and also I think the Santa Claus of this movie has won my heart, I am in love no questions asked.

When I saw the trailer of this movie last month, it made me so curious about the movie because the trailer did show or expose much of the movie. It was a good trailer with suspense and mystery. I commend those who put together the trailer as they did a fantastic job without spilling spoilers or revealing too much about the movie. I expected the movie to be a big disappointment as other Christmas movies have been, but after I finished watching it, I was blown away, and honestly, I wanted a prequel and a sequel, that's how amazing this movie is.

Violent Night is an American Christmas-themed action comedy movie. It was written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller and was directed by Tommy Wirkola. This movie stars David Harbour as Santa Claus, one of the lead characters together with other supporting actors like; Cam Gigandet, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, and Leah Brady, the beautiful girl who stole the spotlight.

A little About The Synopsis.

The movie revolves around badly organized mercenaries who came to steal a large amount of money from a rich family estate, but as fate will have it, Santa Claus was in the estate so he had to fight the bad men off from harming the family. The movie starts off with Santa in a bar drinking while lamenting to the waiter how he is getting detached from being a Santa and how he is beginning to lose hope in humanity which makes me wonder if being Santa Claus is worth it. From there we were introduced to a character, Jason Lightstone who travels with his estranged wife and daughter, Trudy to the Lightstone's estate to spend Christmas with Jason's mother.

Santa leaves the bar drunk as he begins to deliver presents to children who matter. Coincidentally, Santa came to the Lightstone estate to deliver presents but got carried away with delicious cookies and vintage wine he found in the Lightstone estate. So he starts to drink the vintage wine while he makes himself feel at home by sitting on a massage chair. Meanwhile, Jason had arrived at his mother's estate with his family but his daughter, Trudy, seems to be sad that her dad didn't take her to the mall to see Santa. So Jason looks for his old walkie-talkie and gifts it to Trudy telling her it is a direct line for speaking to Santa Claus.

As the Lightstone get together to catch up on their lives, the caterers working for the night reveal themselves as mercenaries with Christmas-themed code names by shooting and killing other domestic staff of the estate who were not part of them. Santa wakes up from his sleep on the massage chair from the gunshots and the chaos caused by the mercenaries, but he was discovered from his hiding by one of the mercenaries. They both get into a fight, and the mercenary's gun scares away Santa's reindeer. So Santa was stuck with no means to get away and had no option but to stay behind and fight off the bad guys. From here the adventure and fun of the movie started.

My Review.

This is the best Christmas movie out there. It is not about the same message about “all you need is family” or “giving is better than receiving” which is portrayed in every Christmas movie. This movie is just a wonderful Christmas movie in which we see Santa as a brutal hero and a movie that thriller/horror fans would like to watch.

Tommy Wirkola, the director of this movie and also the director 'Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, 2013' (in which sequel is in the works) and co-writers Pat Casey and John Miller who were the screenwriters of `Sonic the Hedgehog' films have given us the best Christmas gift. The movie is an extremely violent and funny Christmas-themed movie slasher, lavished with a Savage Santa Claus who is the badass hero of the movie. The director did an amazing job with the filming of the movie, scene arrangements, the location, the selection of the actors, the cinematography, and the soundtracks. I commend his efforts in this movie and the work all the filming team put into this movie. Wirkola has delivered to us an instant holiday classic that will not be forgotten soon and will be talked about for a long time.

The plot of the movie was written well even though it contains some little details from the movies Die Hard and Home Alone, it still managed to have its unique originality. Santa was represented in a totally different way, warrior, a hero, and not the Santa with a pot belly that we all are accustomed to. If you are not careful, you would fall in with this Savage Santa and you will want more. The plot contains genres like comedy, thriller, slasher, crime, and mystery and with all these genres, the plot still upheld the Christmas theme brightly that as you watch the movie you feel the Christmas spirit.

The characters were fantastic except for a few that felt like they did know what they were doing, but you see David Harbour (Santa Claus) was incredible! Though he had given up on humanity, he found a renewed purpose and redemption for Christmas. David was absolutely perfect for this role, has the best voice, and executed all the killing scenes brutally. He wasn't just Santa in a suit but he acted as the real Santa Claus. Let's not forget Leah Brad's (Trudy)performances which help give this movie so much of its heart, charm, and some emotional connection. Leah and Santa had this beautiful connection that I did expect to be in this movie. Leah got to steal the spotlight when she connected with Santa on a deep level which gave us the privilege of knowing the background story of Santa's life before he became Santa Claus and also his emotional side.

Also, let's not forget the villain! John Leguizamo (Scrooge) performed as the head of the mercenary team. His performance was fantastic. I enjoyed his sense of humor and he was the naughtiest of the naughty villains in this movie. He created an interesting and funny bad guy. He was the perfect villain for this movie.

One of the positives of this movie is the heart-pounding, well-paced, and brutal violence that leaves you with dropped jaws and widened eyes as the scenes hit loud and intrinsic. All deaths are a lot more creative than I expected them to be, even if the violence leads which gives a vibe of close range of a horror flick. Also, let's not forget how the music team of this movie was unexpectedly fantastic with the creative use of Christmas songs during the violent scenes that made me dying of laughter.

My Rating and Recommendations.

Director Wirkola has delivered an instant holiday classic for those seeking a good Christmas-themed slasher. I highly recommend this film to anyone looking for the right mix of violent action and warm spirits around the holidays. I recommend this movie specifically to Horror flick lovers, and thriller/crime lovers.

Rating this movie, I give it 4.8 stars out of 5, that's how amazing this movie is. If you can't stomach bloody and crazy killing scenes, don't watch this movie. Also, this movie is not suitable for the family. If you haven't watched it yet, hurry now and see it and you won't be disappointed. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

All images above are from the movie screenshots

Poster image source

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