Silent Night (2023) || An Atmospheric Holiday Revenge

This is exactly the kind of movie I love watching during this season. It very much leans into the Christmas spirit without falling into the usual cliché holiday romance formula. This one throws you straight into a gritty revenge tale that feels like someone took the tenderness of the holiday season, shredded it and rebuilt it with rage, grief and determination.

At its heart, this is a straightforward revenge story and is almost completely wordless. Dialogue is stripped away, leaving just emotions to do all the talking. And it works. You feel the desperate look and moments of frustration. Joel Kinnaman’s performance carries the entire film and it’s probably the most raw and vulnerable he’s ever been on screen.

Synopsis (No Spoilers)

The film follows Brian Godlock, a father whose life is shattered on Christmas Eve when his young son is killed during a gang shootout. The trauma leaves him unable to speak and from that point on, he becomes consumed by a mission to take down the gang responsible. The story jumps between his recovery, his self-training and the slow, dangerous buildup to his explosive revenge.

Review & Criticism

One

thing I love about this film is how it respects the audience’s intelligence. It doesn’t spoon-feed you emotions nor does it spell things out. You’re forced to watch, really watch, even the quiet scenes, and pick up on the emotional undertones, the tension in the body language, the grief that literally sits on Brian’s shoulders like a weight he can’t shake off.

The cinematography adds a cold, metallic edge to everything. The violence is the type that stems from desperation, it is messy and sometimes outright uncomfortable. But as we all know, such revenge grounds a film. Revenge isn’t noble so it presents it as ugly, almost pathetic at times and entirely fuelled by grief.

But let me be honest with my critiques, too. The silence, while bold, felt like a gimmick. There are scenes where you know dialogue would have elevated the emotional depth, but the film sticks to its creative rule. Brian’s transformation from grieving dad to relentless fighter is compelling, yet some sequences feel a bit rushed, like the film could have spent a little more time developing his emotional and physical transition.

Where this film really shines is in its exploration of grief. The silence becomes symbolic, trauma shuts you down, robs you of language, steals your ability to express even the simplest feelings. Brian’s muteness is absolutely the emotional backbone of the film.

All in all, I don’t think this film is for everyone, but if you’re tired of the typical holiday playlists and want something darker, moodier and unexpectedly emotional, this is the perfect seasonal watch. It’s a film that blends Christmas melancholy with gritty revenge, and despite its flaws, it lands just the right amount of force.

I’ll leave it with a 7.5/10 rating.