Silent Night (4K UHD Blu-ray Review) (Walmart Exclusive)
Silent Night was quietly (no pun intended) released to theaters just in time for a Christmas release. It was a smaller movie for John Woo and brought back smaller returns at the box office too. It’s coming to Blu-ray in wide release and on 4K UHD Blu-ray in a Walmart exclusive steelbook. Is this a new John Woo classic? Has his style changed? Will the silent man reap his vengeance? Find out in depth inside and be sure to click the steelbook art to get a copy in 4K!
Film 
After falling victim to the senseless death of his son in a drive-by, Brian Godluck chases his son’s killers on foot. He has no sense of what may come of this but is fueled by his love and devotion to his family. Brian may have lost his son, but that won’t stop him from bringing those who gunned him down to justice. After a foot chase, Brian himself ends up receiving a near fatal gunshot wound that renders him mute. After a recovery, Brian loses himself in depression, alcohol and his search for his son’s killers.
You read it correctly – This is a revenge action film. Joel Kinnaman fills the bill as a silent, pained father building his instinct, survival skills, and body to fight back against those who’ve done him the ultimate wrong. And there isn’t a speck of direct dialogue in the film. You’ll hear TV, the hum of a police station and even a few mouthed bits here and there, but nothing much else besides groans, grunts or screams as the carnage ensues. For me, this became a chore when I realized everyone else was able to speak, but I went with it.
Silent Night is not for everyone, as is the case with most films. It’s pulpy, B-movie aesthetic is the meat and potatoes of the preceding, but if you come into the film looking for depth of meaning, then it will miss the mark for you. As is something special, we do get the trademark John Woo melodrama, this time acted mostly in silence, and those slow-mo shots… The movie may have been low budget but Woo’s style shines through. The acting style is interesting because nobody says any dialogue. It takes emotion and body language to carry scenes and that’s refreshing when you think of how some people can’t act without their words.
Video:
NOTE: Stills are provided for promotional use and are not from the actual 4K disc.
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 2160p
Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Layers: BD-100
Clarity/Detail: Silent Night comes to Walmart Exclusive UHD Blu-ray with a very pleasing Dolby Vision HDR presentation. Clarity is sharp with no amount of softness to a clearly digital capture. Everything is pleasing to the eye, with some blazingly bright moments and deep blacks when needed too.
Depth: Brian’s home is a dark place, sad and neglected after the loss of his son. We see every shred of the family’s depression in those rooms and depth of field is the reason why. Nothing is out of focus or soft and the delineation in every environment is naturally eye catching.
Black Levels: A good portion of the flim takes place at night, so darkness and shadow detail are paramount to this presentation. Nothing looks grey or muddy, and gratefully, the look is inky and perfect all the time.
Color Reproduction: Colorful moments come in the form of flashback sequences, and of the main drug dealer’s den of nastiness. Bright highlights live here and we see how varied the palette can be from moment to moment.
Flesh Tones: Flest tones, blood spattered and otherwise look perfect here as well. No one is overly made up, too tan or looking out of place in any scene.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean
Audio:
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Details: I’m a tad sad to report that the visual presentation far outshines the Atmos mix that accompanies Silent Night. It could just be me, or it could be an artistic choice, but the mix goes from dynamic in action to nearly muted in moments of quiet. This is a sound driven movie, so without the dialogue, I was hoping to be more immersed in the other audio items going on in every scene, but in some instances, the mix falls flat.
Height: The height channels are static and act more like standard 7.1 than an atmospheric mix. There isn’t anything discretely Atmos in the height channels and again, maybe that’s a choice but it feels like a missed opportunity.
Low-Frequency Extension: Music and action sound effects challenge the subwoofer from time to time, but despite the action going on onscreen, we are missing more depth here, which is another reason to be disappointed in this mix.
Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds fill the space with the din of a police station, or the quiet of a home missing its inhabitants, but there’s nothing too revolutionary going on here.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is not here, but grunts, groans, and screams are. They sound fine too.
Extras
Extras are on the slight side. For this 4K UHD Blu-ray edition, we get a really nice looking glossy steelbook with some neon colors. The slipcase that goes over it gives things a 3D effect. The release ships with a digital code and bundled BD, but my review copy didn’t come with the code.
Extras on disc are:
- Actions Speak Louder Than Words (Featurette) (HD) — An all too short feature on the film itself. EPK-lite is how I’d describe it.
- Theatrical Trailer – One of those trailers that gathers a lot of the best bits of the film, but not all of them.
Summary
Silent Night may not become an action holiday hallmark like a Die Hard or even Violent Night, but for precise, cut to the chase action, my thirst for a good Shoot-em-up was satiated. This Walmart exclusive 4K UHD Blu-ray package is worth a pickup if you like a great Dolby Vision presentation, and its technical merits do lend themselves well to the uptick in resolution. If not, a good sale on the standard Blu-ray will do you well! Worth a look for action fans!
