'Violent Night' film review: Basically 'Die Hard' - but with drunk, bitter Santa
A drunken, cynical Santa Claus must take out hostage-taking terrorists in the gleefully bloody holiday action comedy 'Violent Night' (opening in theaters Dec. 2).
In short: When a group of mercenaries attack the estate of a wealthy family, Santa Claus (David Harbour) must step in to save the day (and Christmas). John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell and Beverly D'Angelo also star.
'Violent Night' is exactly as advertised: a ridiculously over-the-top actioner featuring a hammer-wielding St. Nick taking on a small army of faceless goons who have taken a family hostage. This flick borrows heavily from 'Die Hard,' right down to the reluctant, woefully outgunned hero forced to take on a group of terrorists trying to break into a safe. But beyond settling for some generic action flick, the not-so secret ingredient is the bitter, alcoholic Santa Claus thrown into pure chaos armed with only his magical bag of gifts.
It's impossible to imagine anyone other than David Harbour cast as this drunken, cynical ass-kicking Santa. This isn't the jolly Santa from the old Coca-Cola ads - this Santa prefers hard alcohol to a glass of milk. Hundreds and hundreds of years of being Santa Claus has embittered old Saint Nick who fondly recalls when children were grateful and wish for toys rather than feeling entitled to gift cards and video games. On some level, 'Violent Night' does feel like a drawn out SNL skit that would re-imaging Santa as a drunk and bitter old man over Christmas - but the key difference is how disarmingly and surprisingly rather sweet the movie is at times. It's just a dash of sugar amid and onslaught of happy violence and terrorists being utterly dismantled. Despite all the cartoonish action gore, the most surprising aspect of Harbour's take on Santa ... is how easily he pivots from ex-Norse raider warrior to genuinely sweet Santa.
At almost two hours in runtime, 'Violent Night' crackles when Harbour is on screen, but drags a bit when the movie has to advance its pretty basic plot. The script really has to bend over backwards to justify its ass-kicking Santa premise, and unfortunately these plot-advancing scenes lack the rest of the movie's energy or fun. 'Violent' pops whenever Santa is in the scene, and just sorta plods along when other characters have to drop some exposition.
Writing fundamentally unlikeable supporting characters is risky because it's difficult to care much about what happens to terrible characters. And aside from the adorable little Trudy Lightstone, who sincerely believes in Santa, most of the Lightstone family ranges from douchey to annoying. Making the Lightstone family borderline unlikeable is a gambit the movie makes that doesn't payoff.
'Violent Night' is a throwback flick that joyfully embraces its high-concept action flick trappings. Harbour finds the Christmas mascot at his rock bottom and barely hanging on to the Christmas spirit - and still captures the flicker of a twinkle in his weary eyes. 'Violent' is the movie it needs to be - entertaining counterprogramming to every other saccharine Christmas flick.
Score: 3/5
Final verdict: It's bloody. It's ridiculous. It's absurd. 'Violent Night' is a ton of fun that will absolutely wriggle its way into some people's slate of essential holiday flicks.
'Violent Night' opens in theaters Dec. 2. This action comedy has a runtime of 112 minutes and is rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout and some sexual references.
