Santa Claus digs into his dark side to save a family from a group of mercenaries in Violent Night. Jason Lightstone (Alex Hassell) is a man from a wealthy family who is accompanied by his daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) and estranged wife Linda (Alexis Louder) to a holiday gathering at the estate of Jason’s mother Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo), where they are joined by Jason’s sister Alva (Edi Patterson) and her obnoxious action star husband, Morgan Steel (Cam Gigandet). However, the festivities are disrupted by the arrival of a group of Christmas-nicknamed mercenaries led by Mr. Scrooge (John Leguizamo), who take the family hostage and plan to rob Gertrude of the $300 million she has stored in her vault. As trapped at the estate is Santa Claus (David Harbour), who digs deep into his dark past to fight back against the mercenaries.
Violent Night is a dark action/comedy directed by Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow, Dead Snow 2: Red vs Dead, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters). The film does not hide the fact that the plot is essentially a recreation of Die Hard with Santa Claus in the John McClane role, complete with Santa at one point uncovering a blu-ray of a 1988 classic while looking through his sack for something to use as a weapon. However, the film also explains Santa’s newfound violent streak through a dark Viking backstory, which he has been spending centuries trying to repress.
Violent Night more than lives up to its title when Santa finally goes full-armed vigilante against the mercenaries, particularly in an incredibly gory scene that forever recontextualizes Bryan Adams’ 1985 holiday hit “Christmas Time.” In addition to the many Die Hard homages in Violent Night, the film also has one sequence that pays a very R-rated ode to the booby traps of Home Alone.
David Harbour shines in the lead role as a much more disgruntled version of Santa Claus, who spends his breaks delivering presents by getting drunk in bars, probably making Santa not too far off from Billy Boby Thorton in Bad Santa. In addition, John Leguizamo seems to be enjoying himself in a rare villainous role as Mr. Scrooge. Some of Scrooge’s various supporters also stand out, including Krampus (Brendan Fletcher), Gingerbread (André Eriksen), and Candy Cane (Mitra Suri).
While Violent Night probably won’t overtake Die Hard regarding yearly holiday viewing, it is an enjoyable film for those who like their Christmas films to be filled with violent action and dark humour.
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