It may seem like it but it’s not every day a living legend releases a movie at the local multiplex and it just sort of passes from discussion in a couple of days. On this site, Matt Zoller Seitz, a man who knows, gave John Woo’s “Silent Night” one of the few positive reviews I read, but very few people seemed willing to engage with the visual language of the movie, a problem I’ve come to realize is just not going away. As a work of incredibly intelligent visuals, of storytelling without a spoken word, this is a triumph. And as a John Woo film it’s an instant classic to rank among his best, Woo’s best are the best we have. The best action cinema has to offer. I had no choice but to make this video essay.
