Silent Night
Lionsgate | Release Date: December 1, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
15
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzDec 1, 2023
Woo is a virtuoso. This movie is music. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriDec 5, 2023
It’s all garish, nightmarish spectacle — beautiful, terrifying, and poisonous. Read full review
80
The New York TimesGlenn KennyNov 30, 2023
This is suspenseful and cathartic, and even the schmaltzy stuff is so distinctly John Woo that it’s welcome. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckNov 27, 2023
The veteran action director fully delivers the goods with Silent Night. Read full review
75
ConsequenceLiz Shannon MillerNov 30, 2023
This sort of small-scale revenge piece is a pretty common occurrence in the direct-to-VOD market, but what elevates Silent Night is Woo’s skill with action, in concert with the lack of dialogue. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperNov 30, 2023
For the 77-year-old Woo, who has influenced generations of directors with films such as “The Killer,” “Bullet in the Head” and “Face/Off,” this is his first American film since 2003’s “Paycheck,” and it is hardcore evidence Woo regains his signature style and his flair for over-the-top, sometimes poetically brutal action. Read full review
75
Slant MagazinePaul AttardNov 27, 2023
When Silent Night does finally kick into high gear, the action is as artful as anything that Woo has whipped up throughout his storied career. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeNov 27, 2023
Silly as it might be, Silent Night gives audiences reason to get excited about the Hong Kong innovator once again, ranking as one of the few bloody Christmas counterprogrammers since “Die Hard” that feels worthy of repeat viewing down the road. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenDec 1, 2023
Limited by his budget, Woo makes the most of what he has, but the whole thing feels like he’s cautiously dipping his toe back in the Hollywood pool. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentJan 4, 2024
John Woo’s first American film in 20 years is not the filmmaker at his peak — but it has its moments, with energetically filmed action enough to distract from a melodramatic tone and sometimes silly concept. Read full review
60
Film ThreatJosiah TealDec 29, 2023
Silent Night is held back by its time. In 2023, we’ve seen tons of Woo inspirations and imitators; even in his Hong Kong days, Woo could create action-filled cinema with some emotional resonance, but Silent Night can’t keep up. The final battle and stairway shootout save the film, but don’t expect the wall-to-wall action seen in John Wick. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeDec 1, 2023
His to-the-point revenge thriller Silent Night isn’t good enough for us to erupt into the applause Woo has so often deserved, but it’s also not bad enough for us to mourn the film-maker that he once was, a mostly competent exercise that serves less as a victory lap and more as a warm-up. Read full review
60
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaNov 27, 2023
It all ends up being a touch forgettable by the time the end credits roll, but the journey to get there is never dull. Read full review
60
Screen RantAlex HarrisonNov 27, 2023
Silent Night winks at us as often as it tries for genuine drama, and whichever tone you choose to accept will likely determine whether you have as much fun with it as I did. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJoshua RothkopfDec 11, 2023
Woo is capable of bigger and better. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 1, 2023
Is Woo using this ultra-violent experience to make an anti-violence statement? Perhaps, but even if that’s the case, it doesn’t work. Whatever the director is trying to do with the movie, it makes it for one big lump of coal in the 2023 cinematic stocking. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 1, 2023
Love John Woo. Love to see a few more action pics from him before he takes his well-deserved retirement. But as hymns to revenge on gangsters go, “Silent Night” hits too many of the same chords over and over, and without punchy, pithy dialogue, none of them are all that musical. Read full review
50
Original-CinThom ErnstNov 30, 2023
Silent Night is not the second coming of Die Hard that we might have hoped. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleNov 29, 2023
Silent Night looks just a little too much like every other action movie to serve as a celebration of action auteurism. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 29, 2023
The Hong Kong action auteur conjures up a few of his trademark over-the-top sequences, but this tale of bloody vengeance is not the most satisfying delivery device for Woo’s unique brand of melodramatic, slow-mo carnage. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussNov 28, 2023
There’s nothing here to match the ingenious audacity of, say, the hospital-shootout-with-infant sequence in 1982’s “Hard Boiled,” but once Silent Night finally unwraps its gratuitous gifts, the faithful Woo fans should find them worth the wait. Read full review
45
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzNov 27, 2023
Silent Night is all needlessly protracted foreplay, a true “when are they going to get to the fireworks factory?” tease of an action movie. And when Woo finally does light things up with only 15 minutes to go, the result is a limp pop of sparks, easily extinguishable. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeDec 24, 2023
It’s an interesting exercise – a show-don’t-tell action extravaganza. But Woo resorts to such clumsy storytelling devices . . . that the film is scuppered by its own gimmick. Read full review
40
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaNov 27, 2023
A boring, weightless revenge experiment that quickly goes awry, Silent Night features none of the charm or visual panache that made John Woo one of Hong Kong and Hollywood’s foremost action stylists. Read full review
33
The Film StageJake Kring-SchreifelsNov 30, 2023
Like its main character, this movie seems hesitant to say anything. It sacrifices exhilaration and settles for emptiness. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithDec 1, 2023
Mr. Woo’s frenzied love of operatically heightened violence may have influenced some talented younger directors, but without an interesting screenplay to work from his movies sink into mindlessness. “Silent Night” is nothing to shout about. Read full review
25
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonNov 30, 2023
Silent Night wants to be the new action movie associated with Christmas. But don’t worry, fans of “Die Hard”; that movie’s place is still secure. Read full review
25
ColliderLisa LamanNov 30, 2023
What a shame even a master filmmaker like John Woo couldn’t at least partially liven up a derivative piece of action cinema like Silent Night. Read full review
25
IndieWireDavid EhrlichNov 27, 2023
While the rest of Silent Night is so abysmal that its prologue might as well be the last hour of “Hard Boiled” by comparison, it’s hard to imagine a more appropriate introduction to a movie whose only upside is the vulgar thrill of watching something that feels utterly anonymous and wildly idiosyncratic at the same time. Read full review
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