Hush… Bang!- Silent Night [2023}

You’d think a movie with almost no dialogue would be rather slim, even for more modern attempts like The Bra (2018, 90 minutes) or The Man in The Hat (2020, 95 minutes). Those were more or less comprised of little vignettes strung together by a slim plot to form a narrative. Silent Night has a whole narrative that crosses just over 100 minutes with very little incidental dialogue, if any at all.

In effect, this is very much a silent movie in that almost none of the main characters have any dialogue. I think it’s only Saya (Catalina Sandino Moreno) who actually voices any words, and even then, they’re almost quiet and incidental. Other voices come over transmissions, like radios or television simply to state a time or date and provide some minimal background information.

In that, you’d think if the actors don’t have any dialogue to learn that acting would be a little easier. Still, props to the cast for sticking through the concept, especially Joel Kinnaman in the lead and pretty much carrying much of the movie on his shoulders. He opens the movie with action, chasing cars with passengers shooting at each other. The why is quickly revealed and we follow his journey as he sets his mind on retribution.

Director John Woo finally returns to American film-making and its restrictions (not counting the TV efforts, his last big American movie was in 2003). He seems to restrain himself on some of his signature flair (slo-mo, birds) even if they are still evident, but not as gratuitous as before. It helps with the narrative’s flow, although some may find it slow for much of the first half.

Still, Woo’s direction is pretty much on point in terms of drama and action, and when the action finally gets going (following an intense training and intelligence gathering montage) it works to thrill as much as it can given its protagonist. I thought it worked well, but others may have other expectations given the kind of action films we’ve had lately (the likes of John Wick (2014-2023), Bullet Train (2022), or Nobody (2021)). This one has a more grounded sense of action, to a point.

Woo still balances his flair for the dramatics to bring resonance to the action, and delivers a solid narrative within the movie. It’s not quite up there with his classics, but it feels like he’s exercising some muscles that haven’t been in use for some time following his Chinese epics (Red Cliff (2008-2009), The Crossing (2014-2015)) and that one set in Japan (Manhunt (2017)).

The times have changed since his heyday of maverick film-making and perhaps Woo is finding and testing new ground starting with this one. He’s been on quite a hiatus after all.