Joel Kinnaman’s 2023 action thriller Silent Night was a mixed bag from the very beginning. The John Woo directorial features no spoken language and is very different from any action movies you’ve watched. The characters in the movie have no dialogue, so when the casting was happening, it is no surprise that people were apprehensive.
The Suicide Squad actor, who is the lead protagonist of the story, plays a grieving father who saw his son getting killed in the crossfire of a gang war. His performance, one of the positives about the movie, came from the sheer physicality he brought to the role.
Joel Kinnaman Was Not Hesitant But Knew It Was a Risk
John Woo, who is a revered figure in the action genre, came back to Hollywood after 20 years to film Silent Night. And Joel Kinnaman, who has been a fan of the director for years, did not hesitate when he was handed the script of the movie, with essentially no dialogues in it. Speaking to FandomWire, he said:
“I knew it was a risk, you know, doing a film like this. It can turn out great, and it’s really cool. And you’re doing, like it’s an action movie, but it actually becomes an interesting film. And that’s you know, those are two boxes that are often hard to check on the same film. But at the same time it could also turn into absolute dogs*it! You know, it’s we have no dialogue. And if it doesn’t work, then it’s brutal, then it’s really bad.”
In a movie, which is completely dependent on the physical aspect, without the safety of verbal communication, things can get pretty messy. But Woo and Kinnaman did their best to bring forward a story that could be understood without words.
John Woo’s First Movie In The US After 20 Years Only Made $11 Millions
Like Joel Kinnaman said, the movie was a risk, and that would be an understatement. With no dialogues and only background music leading you through the story, it is quite difficult to hold the interest of the audience. Unfortunately for Silent Night, along with the silence, the movie also faced pretty tough competition at the box office.
Silent Night was released along with Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, Godzilla Minus One, and The Shift. Two of three of these movies completely took over the box office, leaving The Shift, a science fiction thriller, and Silent Night, with scraps. The movie was originally projected to gross $6-8 million on its opening weekend, ended up with a total box office score of $11.1 million. With a mixed bag of reviews from critics, the movie ended its box office run pretty soon. Unfortunately for Woo and Kinnaman, the risk did not pan out. At least not the way they would have liked.
Silent Night is available for rent on Apple TV.
