Lamar Reviews - "Violent Night" (Airdate 12/9/2022) I have a few favorite Christmas movies I watch at some point, during the Christmas holidays. Elf, the original Grinch with Boris Karloff, not the new animated one, and certainly not that repugnant drivel that Jim Carey embarrassed himself in. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and the ultimate Santa Claus movie, Miracle on 34th Street. But Violent Night might make the list, we’ll see. It has Santa Claus, albeit a little on the weathered side, not so jolly since fewer and fewer people believe in the Christmas magic, and most kids have become greedy, ungrateful, and self-centered, and are only interested in video games. We are introduced to Santa, played by Stanger Things’ David Harhour, sitting at a bar, taking stock of his life and job, enjoying a few beers. When asked how long he has been a Santa, he replies, “Longer than I can remember, I’m pretty sure I started it.” Over a thousand years ago he was a Norseman raider and a ruthless warrior, that wielded a hammer named Skullcrusher. Later he became Santa Claus because of Christmas Magic, that he himself still does not completely understand. We also meet a little girl named Trudy, played by Leah Brady, and her divorced parents, Jason and Linda, played by Alex Hassell and Alexis Louder. Jason’s dysfunctional family is mega rich and everyone is controlled by his mother Gertrude, played by Beverly D’Angelo. It seems that they have 300 million dollars in cash in a large vault, and a large group of thieves lead by, code name Scrooge, played by John Leguizamo. Santa arrives as this is starting to happen, and he wants no part of it. As he is getting ready to get back in his sleigh, and head to the next house, he sees Trudy. He looks her up on his list and she is not only on the nice list, but the list of her qualities convinces him to stay and help her. It doesn’t take long for Jolly Ole Saint Nick to turn into a hammer swinging, ass kicking, Viking! The movie is just shy of 2 hours, Rated R for strong bloody violence, a lot of it, language and some sexual references. The movie easily could have sucked, but it didn’t. It is a compilation of Die Hard and Home Alone. Santa and Trudy communicate through walkie-talkies like John McClane and Urkle’s dad did in Die Hard, and Trudy sets up booby traps for the bad guys like Kevin did in Home Alone. I kept waiting for Santa to utter his version of “Yippee Ki Yay, Mother Trucker!”, but he didn’t. But make no mistake, Santa Claus did not disappoint. The violence was extremely vicarial, but comedic at the same time. My ribs are sore from Carla elbowing me to stop laughing and cackling out loud. For me it was like riding a roller-coaster, I could not quit laughing. Harbour did a great job playing Santa as reluctant hero, that became not so reluctant as the movie progressed. John Leguizamo is no Alan Rickman, but then who is? The big surprise was Cam Gigandet as Jason’s sister’s boyfriend, Morgan Steel, an out of work, action star. He was great. Believe it or not, among all the split skulls, icicles through the eyeballs, and general bloody deaths, there were some tender moments, some life reflections, a few reconciliations, and warm Christmas message of hope for all. My Score 4 Christmas Cookies and a cold glass of milk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
