Violent Night lives up to its name and premise. Santa as action hero works, especially because Harbour plays him as "everyman" and with a real commitment to his arc, a disillusioned man finding his inspiration on Christmas Eve. Sure this isn't an unfamiliar trope but the juxtaposition of this oft told Christmas narrative in hard R action movie genre, is a fun twist that is pulled off quite nicely.
Sure most of the characters outside of Santa himself are 2-dimensional and their arcs are rather rote. But the cast, especially Harbour and Leguizamo are committed and tell a tight and fun story. As I mentioned this is hard R so it's not for the squeamish. And the casting of D'Angelo is genius. She plays a character you love to hate and plays it well and her ties to the Vacation series is a nice touch.
Violent Night never rises above exactly what it is sold as, but it also doesn't disappoint in delivering what you are buying. Even it's anti-capitalist message isn't radical as most Christmas movies have a thread of this running through them all the way back to It's a Wonderful Life... hell even back to Dickens' classic. I'd be up for more Violent Night movies in the future with Santa saving the (holi)day in numerous parts of the world once Christmas Eve at a time.
Violent Night
Starring: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alex Louder, Beverly D'Angelo, Brendan Fletcher
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Writers: Pat Casey, Josh Miller
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