Here’s the thing: Silent Night is a new American action film starring Joel Kinnaman and directed by John Woo. If it wasn’t directed by Woo – a widely feted filmmaker credited with revolutionising action cinema in the 1980s – it would likely be received as a promising but faulty experiment. Instead it is being met with broad disappointment. Audiences and critics appear to be expecting something that gives them the same feeling as A Better Tomorrow (1986), or The Killer (1989), or even Face/Off (1997), and the bottom line is that Woo is unlikely to deliver that sort of thrill ever again.

It is undeniable that Woo’s stylish, slow motion photography and balletic choreography broke new ground for action cinema, and influenced an entire generation of filmmakers. So influential was his earlier work that his signature aesthetic is now the standard visual language for action films. Not only is it now standard technique, it has been developed and innovated by those same filmmakers that Woo influenced: Michael Bay, Johnnie To, Chad Stahelski, David Leitch, and countless others. These two things are true: one, that Woo has been overtaken by the filmmaking community that he inspired; and two, that Woo has effectively outlived his own reputation.

Taken on its own merits, Silent Night is an interesting technical exercise but a somewhat moribund action-thriller. Kinnaman plays Godlock, a man shot in the neck during the same drive-by shooting that kills his young son. Overcome with grief, and without the ability to speak, Godlock obsessively trains over the course of one year to take his revenge.

There is little to no dialogue in Silent Night, a film that extends its protagonist’s non-verbal status to the entire cast. Even the musical score, capably composed by Marco Beltrami, tends to vanish when the violence is at its most elaborate. It is often blunt, bloody violence as well, and without the benefit of dialogue to break it all apart and give the audience some relief it does verge on the overwhelming.

No dialogue means no articulation of characters’ emotions or intent. It means presenting a story that is stripped-back and simple at best, but simplistic and stereotypical at worst. It is energetic, and there is always entertainment value for keen fans of action cinema, but the technique really does tie one hand behind Woo’s back. It is telling that the film’s epilogue makes such prominent use of a written letter; without it there would be hardly any depth to Godlock at all.

It is always great to see John Woo making films, and despite its flaws there is enough to make Silent Night an enjoyable diversion for action enthusiasts. In a year that has included John Wick 4, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, and Polite Society, however, it simply is not able to compete.

Silent Night opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 7 December 2023.