Violent Night is not your average Christmas movie as most aren’t this violent, but Violent Night is the Christmas movie with what we love about Die Hard but with Santa as the star not an cop. Violent night brings a lot to the table including giving Santa an interesting past and backstory that gets brought up in the film. David Harbour as the badass Santa is perfectly cast as well as John Leguizamo as the head mercenary Jimmy Martinez aka Mr. Scrooge.
The movie sees Santa tired of the greed and lack of thanks in kids today considering ending his job before getting thrust into the situation of a lifetime. While Santa is taking a break he becomes to be caught in the middle of mercenaries trying to rob a wealthy family on Christmas Eve. Santa with the help of Trudy must fend off and kill the mercenaries to save Trudy and her family.
David Harbour packs a punch in this film bringing a new side to Santa I haven’t seen portrayed yet, while the criminally underrated John Leguizamo slides perfectly into his role. I have to say I loved the Christmas codenames the mercenaries use throughout the film. The film brings a lot of comedy that one might not be expected of the film but it makes it work and has me thinking this could be a movie that manages to have people watching year after year during the holiday season … just not with the kids of a certain age.
In the end I loved the film and everything it brought to the table I laughed, I cried (from the laughter) while it manage to keep the story modern and done in a way that people could see themselves in the characters.
Final Grade: 8.5/10
-Everett
