There's apparently a discussion that takes place in some circles about whether or not Diehard counts as a Christmas movie. I can only assume that was the inspiration for the creators of Violent Night, which I think is best described as "Diehard, but with Santa Claus".Just for good measure they mixed in elements of other popular christmas movies, like Home Alone and Bad Santa. I would even argue there's shades of A Christmas Carol to be found here, along with traditional Christmas messages of the importance of family, being good to each other, and taking time to remember what's important in life.
The result is, in my opinion at least, an entertaining and tongue-in-cheek action-comedy that successfully manages to balance emotional elements and heartwarming Christmas-appropriate beats with plenty of "you're-not-supposed-to-do-that-in-a-Christmas-movie" bloody violence and profanity.
I should probably mention that I'm not Christian myself, but I do appreciate the idea of Christmas and I do enjoy a good Christmas movie. It's not as sacred to me as it might be to some people, but I don't like Christmas-bashing and I don't support attempts to try to turn Christmas in to a generic holiday or anything like that.
What I'm saying is, I could appreciate the traditional Christmas elements of the film without being too bothered by the more irreverant parts. But some people might not enjoy seeing Old Saint Nicholas running around swearing and killing people (even if it's violent murderers that he's visiting violence upon). I understand and respect that, it's a violent and bloody movie that certainly isn't for everyone.
In fact I honestly didn't enjoy the initial portrayal of Santa, as a bitter joyless drunkard. But unlike the aweful character we saw in Bad Santa (who was of course just a "mall-Santa"), I feel Violent Night ultimately did a pretty good job of making old Nick feel human. He was relateable, I could understand why he was a little rough, and I absolutely rooted for him.
Which is why I now understand why David Harbour was chosen for, and accepted, the role. Initially I was expecting a character a little closer to Goldberg's in Santa's Slay, and David Harbour seemed an odd choice. But this isn't just a gag movie; it has heart, and David Harbour brings that. Ultimately I think he was a great pick and I enjoyed his performance. Well, with perhaps the small exception of a few scenes where he wasn't speaking very clearly; that might have been an attempt to make Santa feel tired and hurt, but I found it a little hard to understand exactly what he was saying. Not a big deal, just thought it was worth mentioning.
John Leguizamo was great as the antagonist, menacing and somewhat maniacal when needed. I don't see him in too many action roles, so that was fun. I thought Leah Brady did a great job as the sweet and innocent Trudy. Some of the supporting characters were reasonably grounded, but most were a little cartoonish, played for laughs. I wouldn't have objected to some of the characters being fleshed out a little more, but regardless, just about every character was fun and had some personality, and the cast did a good job all round.
I will say that I would have liked for the relationship between Jason and Gertrude to be fleshed out a little better. We are told that Gertrude was too controlling, and it ruined Jason and Alva's development and relationships, but I didn't really see it in Gertrude herself. She was cold and unlikeable, but that's all; she never seemed to me to be as terrible a person as the movie seemed to want us to believe.
I also felt the movie probably should have fleshed out Santa's story a bit more. It gave him a bit of a backstory, but I just didn't feel it was enough: you can't talk about who he was before he became Santa without bothering to give us even a tiny hint about how he became Santa. Why was he chosen, by who, where did the magic come from; the movie doesn't address any of that at all.
I guess what I'm saying is, I was invested enough to want more. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually feel a sequel, or better yet a prequel, that fleshes out this version of the character and his history a bit better, might be welcome. As long as it isn't just more of the same again; I actually think a movie showing him become Santa could work very well.
My only real criticism of the film is that it kind of seemed to be going back and forth a little bit early on, with what felt like a couple of false starts where Santa was kind of playing "action hero", but not quite; it took a bit too long for them to really commit to the bit, you know? But when they finally did, they pretty much went all in, so I can't complain too much.
Overall I'm giving it a 7/10. I was expecting a silly little action comedy, and was pleasantly surprised when it proved to be a little bit more than just that.
