Crazy movie. Original brain loss. The idea is clear, the craft, which from the outside seems smooth and magical, from the inside represents the ordinary human kish-mish. I kept watching. Hard. American black humor. The director managed for a relatively small budget of $ 20 million to make the box office 3.5 times more.
We are used to the fact that Christmas movies are usually kind and innocent, but director Tommy Vircole has his own thoughts on this. It was he who once shot the dashing thrash "Operation Dead Snow" and now returned again to amuse us with an irrepressible Christmas story.
As you can guess, the main character here is Santa Claus, the kind wizard who gives gifts to children. But this year, Klaus is not happy. He is tired and wants to retire, because everything disappoints him. But when he learns that an entire family was taken hostage in one of the houses, he decides to teach the villains a lesson.
The huge mansion is full of gunmen, but Klaus is not as simple as it might seem. He has magic and his fist is strong. But at the same time, you need to act very delicately, since the villains here are the most insane and cruel, and they should not put a bullet in the forehead of their victim.
It was unexpected to see this movie about Christmas, but it looks fun and until the very end you do not know exactly which of the hostages will survive. Yes, the stakes here are very high and no one can feel absolutely safe. Including Santa Claus himself.
By the way, David Harbor looks very cool in his role. It's a little thick, but it's very quick and deadly. You can't miss a wizard like that. And add to this a really great action and get a wonderful New Year thrash tale in the best traditions of Tommy Vircola.
But despite the fact that there are many bloody scenes, it still talks about the right things and teaches us to appreciate every moment. Therefore, you should not once again argue with loved ones, especially on holidays. Believe me, the joy of this will not be anyone, Santa performed by Harbour will not lie.
I really liked the movie. The story was daring and remarkable. So just take a look at your health. But no kids. It's too early for them to see that.
The magic of Christmas. I don't know how it works.
Of course, such films should be watched at Christmas or New Year, then the effect would be even better. But after watching it on a typical May day, I was very happy with the film and what it was. It was very funny, funny and at the same time in some places dramatic and cute. The film is surprising because it combines many genres and each genre turned out to be special and memorable.
I really liked Santa Claus, before him was of course Bad Santa, where it was also fun, but such a principled, bloodthirsty and cheerful I do not remember. I loved all the episodes about him, from his bar dialogue and flying with the reindeer — it was very funny and harrowing to all the action moments after the robbery began. In him, despite all the scenes with blood and the rest, there was kindness and kindness at times. I especially liked his interaction with Trudy. It was very interesting to watch a girl who so sincerely believes in Santa Claus and he changes after that.
David Harbor.John Leguizamo. As the main antagonist, he's pretty damn good. The exact opposite of Santa. He doesn’t like Christmas or anything related to it. Their battle was not bad, although not strong long. I liked how different their characters are and how they treat the same things differently.
Cam Gigande. He's not as big a role as I'd like, but the time he's played is fun watching him. Lots of jokes and fun.
Lea Brady. When a child strongly believes in something, it is difficult to cancel and remove. Children's faith is very strong. And Trudy showed it very well. Her sincerity, sincerity, warmth all this is felt. And her trap of Ala Odin at Home, of course, was our way and with great humor.
Cruel Night is a crazy, extraordinary, carbon monotonous film that is worth watching to get the full range of emotions from watching. There was a black comedy, and fiction, and a thriller and even a fairy tale. Everything was abundant, but of course there was a large amount of blood, as well as shootouts and fights, I can also say about humor and fun. There's a lot of him here. Tommy Vircola made a very dynamic and funny film, which for 2 hours immerses in the crazy story of one rich family. Definitely one of the movies worth watching for the New Year holidays. He's worth it.
Passage action movie with a lot of blood and Christmas theme. And a little home alone. In general, it turned out well, but the end is... abandoned: standing in the woods and... what next? You can watch. But no expectations.
'Cruel Night' is a very funny and original product, which can be called a full-fledged thrash in the good sense of the word, because the lawlessness that is happening on the screen obviously goes beyond other genres.
And without further words - 'Cruel Night' introduces the viewer to Santa performed by stunning David Harbour, who on Christmas Eve gets into real trouble. Instead of delivering gifts peacefully, Santa responds to the call of a little girl whose family is taken hostage by a gang of robbers. And there is nothing else for the fabulous man, except to bring goodness and cause happiness left and right, armed with improvised and not very objects.
The concept itself is actually quite curious, arousing a keen interest and undoubtedly causing a smile. However, as practice shows, interesting concepts often collapse about their not the most competent implementation. Thankfully, 'Cruel Night' this is not the case.
Implemented the idea of Santa, embarked on the path of war, all hundred points. Brutal, spectacular and at the same time with a considerable amount of black humor and a very appropriate absurdity. What to say, at some point ' Cruel Night' turns into a large homage on ' Home Alone', only with the difference that here robbers after handmade traps are lying with broken skulls and pierced carcasses. Cruel, bloody, but damn fun.
And again - David Harbour in the image of the unstoppable Santa is insanely good. Roughly speaking, the actor is in his usual role, which stuck to him after ' Very strange things' but in this case it is definitely not a disadvantage. By the way, for the local Santa even came up with an original original original, which is designed to explain why the good-natured fabulous grandfather has a craving for violence, and it turned out in general quite original.
Verdict: 'Cruel Night' received, unfortunately, due publicity, although this is an extremely exciting project within the genre. I definitely recommend to fans of black comedies, brutal action and lovers of Robert Rodriguez’s work from the late zeros.
Although Christmas is long over, I decided to review the kind family Christmas thrash fantasy homage to the cult film Home Alone from Norwegian Tommy Virkola. This film can be called family only in the sense that it is about the family and the final morality brings us to the right family values. But on the way to these values, people will be cut in half and put grenades in their ass. In general, I do not recommend an impressionable look, and you can stop reading the review right at this point.
Jason and his wife, Linda, with whom they ran away because of Jason’s domineering and cruel mother, go to the same mother for Christmas. The couple is accompanied by their charming daughter Trudy, named after Gertrude’s grandmother. It's the order of things to lubricate the matriarch in this family. For example, in addition to Jason, she has a daughter Alva, so she and her husband Morgan would also gladly call their daughter Gertrude, but the problem is that they had a son, and he had to become Bertrude.
Another hero - Santa Claus - here, by the way, the real! Once he was a harsh Viking, crumbling skulls to the right and left with his famous hammer, and probably he, like any decent warrior, dreamed of getting to Valhalla, but something went wrong. So instead of feasting with Odin, he spent a thousand years riding reindeer around the globe, climbing chimneys and handing out gifts, checking the list of good children. So do not reproach him for his love of booze and profanity - not from the good life, so to speak. As for the head of the family, which tells the movie, it is a rather harsh aunt who is friendly with many politicians and business tycoons - an iron lady with nerves of steel.
And Gertrude's nerves will soon come in handy - after all, the hired employees of the catering company are a little different from who they pretended to be! The gang takes the family hostage and tries to find out where the key to the safe in which the money lies. However, robbers are waiting for surprises, and not all of them are pleasant. First, the money is better hidden than expected. Second, Trudy, like many of us, loves the Home Alone series, and from the main character Kevin, she learned to make wonderful traps for robbers. And thirdly, to help Trudy comes Santa, who can not leave in trouble such a kind and selfless little girl.
If you take out the whole mat (and this is about 20 minutes of timing) and all the scenes with bloodletting, you get a classic family New Year movie, shot by anyone but Tommy Vircola. Because this director – let me remind you, if you forgot – started with a parody of Tarantino’s film “Kill Bill”, where the main character wakes up after a coma with a ton of condoms in the ass and goes to take revenge on his abusers, and then made a rather successful dilogy “Operation Dead Snow” about zombie Nazis attacking a group of students in the snowy mountains. I mean, sitting down to watch any film, even New Year’s, you need to look who the director is, so that there are no incidents with young children repeating in every way the quotes of the characters from the film.
So to the mat and blood, for example, I have no complaints, I know who to expect. It may even seem really funny if you’re eight years old. Then, for example, what I like about Vircola is that you can cut his films with the most stylish fatalities. There are pictures where people are killed without a light, but Tommy is not exactly. Sometimes it really looks like a tribute to the conditional Mortal Kombat, although a number of viewers this will seem rather nauseating.
Hard shots are replaced by all kindness like Christmas trees, toys, gifts and touching desires of the charming Trudy. For this reason, the pace of the story is very cheerful, and the timing, God, almost two hours. I still remember that a hundred minutes seemed like a long nudity, and now no self-respecting filmmaker will not make a movie lasting less than two and a half hours if it is a serious genre and two if not serious. However, Vircola at least fills his chosen volume with fitness for the most part, especially if we talk about dynamic scenes with fights inside and outside the mansion.
In 80% of cases, it is somehow tied to profanity and anatomy of the lower half of the human body. You can also highlight some situational moments associated with relationships within the family, and here I would especially highlight Cam Gigande, as he got the funniest character. I’ve always thought of Cam as one of the worst actors in Hollywood, but what Tommy Vircola deserves to be respected for is his ability to work with non-professional or just not-so-good actors. Gigande played like a precious stone. If you think it's not an ice, you've never seen Cam Gigande before. Believe me, no director would get more out of it.
Well, if we talk about the caste, I will highlight the best: in my humble opinion, this is John Leguizamo, a textured villain, and David Harbour, who managed to embody a complex Santa – both a combat Viking and a swelling grandfather with a bag of gifts. Beverly D’Angelo and Alex Hassell liked it for that reason, they played a great face, and not everyone can do it either. Little Lea Brady is primarily a cute child, so it is difficult to evaluate her as an actress, but it seems that she is quite in her place, although replacing her with any other child, and probably not much would change. Of the villains, Brendan Fletcher – Krampus and Mitra Suri – Candy were still good. Yes, in general, a good caste, in fact, I somehow liked everyone, no one here can be called faded and devoid of individuality.
Separately, the selection of music is a merry Christmas carols and not only that make the film even more dynamic and in some scenes even cause cognitive dissonance. In short, Cruel Night has made it clear to me once again that Vircola, if given a normal budget, shoots smoothly and well, especially in the genre in which he is like a fish in the water. Forget the Witch Hunters as a misunderstanding. However, if the movie, where Santa Claus interrupts armed to the teeth of a detachment of militants sucked to the sharpness of sewing a striped lollipop is not your format, then forget, such a thrashack, of course, not everyone likes, and this is quite understandable.
6.5 out of 10, firm and clear
At its core, a good Christmas tale, but black and bloody in content.
The story of Santa Claus, who was once, 1000 years ago, a mighty warrior. And then he became Santa and now every year he uses Christmas magic to give good kids presents. At the same time, he does not mind swelling along the way and firmly. And then he gets into a rich house, which decides to rob the bad guys with machines. In the house, in addition to not very good people, there are quite decent and especially one very good girl. Well, Klaus decides to remember the past when he crushed the heads of enemies with a battle hammer and deal with a gang of villains.
A blackish Christmas comedy with brutal showdowns. There's even beheading. You probably shouldn't watch kids. Although, if they play computer action movies, they probably have already seen and cooler.
Santa looks good, although in general the game is average, the picture is bright and pleasant, the battle scenes are juicy, the plot is simple, sometimes funny.
I got a movie. I recommend movies like Bad Santa or Happy. Like Home One, but tougher.
I liked the idea, but what if Santa wasn’t just a good old man, but a former warrior who had taken Valhalla’s job for centuries? This side and the story could develop a little more, or even for all one excuse ' I do not know how it works ' somewhat monotonous.
Action scenes are energetic and bloody, but the level of directors could be higher and would still look much more cheerful.
The girl with the scenes from ' Home Alone', really maiming criminals causes mixed feelings. It seems that you can not tell ' it does not happen ' in a conventional fantasy, but a Viking with a hammer and experience of murder is understandable, and here what is the production? The film did not become childish. These episodes seemed too naive.
Not bad overall. This is not full of drama ' Bad Santa' it is a fairy tale in its pure form, but quite original and cheerful.
It's Christmas. Battered by life and a lot of alcohol, Santa (Harbor) is forced to save one family from a gang of mercenaries.
Opinion
The film desperately tries to cliché Christmas thrillers, but diligently breaks his forehead on all the rake from the conventions of the genre. Criminals without sharing shoot at security, but with Santa enter hand-to-hand. Glavgad, having caught and tied Santa, at the same moment begins to pour out his soul before him instead of throwing a couple of grams of lead into his forehead. Santa goes from being a moron to a murder machine in minutes. Reverse metamorphoses occur with villains: armed mercenaries make a poker from women and fall into the deadly traps of a seven-year-old child. Okay, the laws of reality don't work, it's fiction, not drama. But why put on the laws of plot logic?
A sad paradox. Exhausted by the pre-holiday fuss, adults need an outlet and an action comedy with bloody lawlessness is great for this. Again, "Night" is doing well at the box office, which shows the demand for antipode films to countless crafts from Hallmark. And here it is, an evil irony, because this film smuggled a huge dose of sentiment and intimate conversations in the style of Hallmark, which from the middle of watching it becomes especially painful.
The fact that there are characters here that cosplay John McClain, Hans Gruber and Kevin McCallister doesn't put "Night" on par with the cult Christmas movies. References to "Home Alone" are careless, and one plot twist is so mediocrely stolen from "Die Hard 2" that it is simply offensive.
2 out of 10
The New Year holidays have always been the perfect time to watch Christmas pictures. Hands are drawn towards such films as Home Alone, Die Hard, Love Actually, Gremlins, The Irony of Fate and many others. A worthy addition to their ranks and perhaps one of the most unusual Christmas films was for me “Cruel Night” directed by Tommy Vircola.
On Christmas Eve, an armed group takes a powerful and wealthy family hostage with $300 million hidden in a secret vault. It would seem that there is nothing difficult to turn the case. But everything is complicated by Santa Claus, who happened to be “in the wrong place and at the wrong time” and who decided to give the bad guys their due.
I think many will agree that one of the main advantages of this tape is a really cool and interesting idea. At first glance, the authors of this tape simply combined the plot elements of Die Hard with Bruce Willis and Home Alone with Macaulay Culkin in the lead roles. Moreover, the ordinary man himself Santa Claus as the main character. However, on the level of sensations and impressions, Hard Night is not perceived as either imitation or a product of plagiarism. Quite the opposite. Creating the impression of a truly original story with an abundance of bold ideas, an unusual representation of the mythology of “Saint Nicholas” and fueling it all with very extreme and bold humor, as well as an abundance of cruel and bloody violence with all the anatomical details. But the most important thing is not devoid of an instructive nature. In fact, encouraging viewers to see how important it is to believe in miracles and the Christmas spirit. Especially on the example of how Santa himself "spiritually transformed" after trying to save the family of the main characters.
It is worth noting the worthy (but not perfect) direction of Tommy Vircola. Vircola has long earned the fame of the director, who very interestingly manages to combine on the screen a serious movie with an abundance of bloody mess and black comedy with extreme and hooligan humor. “Cruel Night” was no exception to the rule and in the numerous scenes of the murder of enemies by Santa with all available means, you can see with the naked eye how Vircola and Harbour enjoy the madness happening on the screen. By the way, the action element is one of the best elements of Vircol’s directing, in which the 87Eleven team moved away from the battle style established thanks to John Wick as a beautiful dance towards something much more brutal and even realistic.
Not to mention just the perfect hit in the image of such a cult character as Santa Claus David Harbour. Harbour proved himself great on screen both as an unstoppable killing machine and as an awkward fat man with a full-blown comedy role. Good and John Leguizamo, who managed to create a rather colorful and interesting image of the central villain of this tape. Very good Beverly D’Angelo, who just disappeared in the image of a bitchy head of the family. However, none of the other actors made a memorable impression when watching. Even a little older from the days of “Never give up” Cam Gigande, who a little overdone in the image of a local fool.
8 out of 10
Cruel Night is definitely one of the most extraordinary Christmas movies I’ve ever seen. At first glance, the authors of this film simply combined “Die Hard” and “Home Alone” with Santa Claus as the main character. But at the level of sensation, the picture is perceived as a real parade of madness (in a good way) with extreme humor and no less extreme spectacle with an increased level of cruel and bloody violence on the screen.
The film strangely combines the Hollywood Christmas atmosphere with all its inherent stamps and an inventive action movie with brutal bloody scenes. I rather liked this strange combination.
A bit comical villains, comical relatives, a touching couple of the girl’s parents, the cruelty of ' Home Alone', brought to its maximum, and experiencing an emotional crisis, Santa, who only needed to be believed in him. Oh, and waving a hammer, remembering the old bloody days. A little Christmas magic and inventive murder scenes with the help of garlands, Christmas toys and just icicles.
The film does not sag, it is dynamic, unexpected and, oddly enough, still Christmas in spirit. But it's best not to show the kids.
On Christmas Eve, armed scoundrels take hostage a mansion with rich people, where 300 million dollars are stored in a safe. On the same day before the events, the parents give the young motherfucker a walkie-talkie with which you can allegedly contact Santa. The jokes are jokes, and the shallowness really comes into contact with Grandpa Frost (David Harbor from Stranger Things), and he in the face of a brutal muzzle fighter rushes the prisoners to help. . .
This is a Christmas thriller with elements of black comedy, which collected references to Home Alone and Die Hard. The first hour of the tape rocks and pleases the viewer with just a couple of murders, paying all attention to the development of the characters, and allowing you to feel the spirit of the holiday. And in the second act, the picture is gaining momentum and fully splashes out on the screen a bloody action meat grinder, where the satanized Santa clicks with a sledgehammer the skulls of clumsy villains and shanks their bodies with blades of skates.
From the plot is not to expect special depth, but still have to give credit - faith in the Christmas miracle in the film is present. A motley family, ready to bite each other’s throats, eventually finds faith and cohesion. Otherwise, this is pure destructive mix, where an angry, tired and drunk Santa arranges a total scumbag. And Grandpa more than enough hatred for this, because children in our time want more and more and are never satisfied with what they received.
Moral: if you behave badly all year, then instead of a gift from Santa Claus, you can get a huge corner in the anus.
As a result, despite the leisurely beginning, “Cruel Night” will definitely enter the list of New Year’s thrillers for annual viewing.
7 out of 10
This is the worst thing that could have happened on Christmas. And I’m not talking about the film, but about the script, because what was played in “Cruel Night” – you don’t wish the enemy. And the film itself, directed by Tommy Vircola (the same one who released two Operation Dead Snow, as well as Witch Hunters), turned out to be a very epic mix of action, thriller, black comedy and a Christmas tale. In principle, this thick mixture already indicates that the viewer is waiting for something special.
The Christmas soundtrack adds a special flavor to this, which is certainly not suitable for a bloody massacre and therefore looks somehow wild against the background of a large number of deaths. But such a critical opposition, on the contrary, adds a special drive and turns the incompatible into easily digestible by the viewer!
Santa Claus (David Harbr) is not the same. He is losing faith in Christmas because people are losing faith in Christmas every year. So Mr. Klaus has to behave loosely, swear, drink and urinate directly from the sled. The next child on his list is baby Trudy, who, along with her parents, goes to a rich oppressive grandmother in a country house for Christmas. That’s just where the well-armed gang led by Scrooge (John Leguizamo) comes in, which needs money, and their grandmother has a lot of it. So it turns out that Santa becomes a kind of third party in a conflict of interest and is forced to fight those who are supposedly entitled to coal. I mean, the bad guys.
This film, of course, is better not to watch children, so as not to traumatize them for the fact that Santa Claus is a killer. It's still an adult movie. The amount of profanity here is kept at a high level, as well as the bar of cruelty and bloodshed is raised to a high level. In principle, “Cruel Night” in terms of bloody mush is not inferior to other projects of Vircola, so if you watched for example “Operation Dead Snow”, you can roughly understand what awaits you in this picture.
Let me tell you that Santa is no longer the same. He's losing faith. And it is in faith that the main idea of the film lies. As long as one has faith, hope is not lost. This is not openly confirmed, but it is captured by various scenes. When Santa doesn’t believe in himself, it’s hard to deal with just one person. When he is endowed with faith and his own and baby Trudy - he can stand in the fight and with a couple of dozen well-armed people!
Faith gives him strength and the presence of faith in other people invigorates him even more (here, by the way, you can recall the very beginning and very stunted and deprived of any hope of the main character). In the case of Cruel Night, faith gives hope, and hope gives a person confidence that everything will be right.
The film clearly distinguishes between good and bad. Moreover, there are much more negative characters in the film than positive ones, because part of the family gathered in the estate can not be attributed to good people. Although Santa, being the main wizard of Christmas, still slightly loses his temper and promises to give a corner to the bad guys, but not wrapping it in a piece of paper, but stuffing it into them in the F..., forgive me in (A)nus.
Taking into account the Christmas theme and the element of the black comedy, “Cruel Night” is stuffed with references to other films on the New Year’s theme. The first of them is the way of life of Santa, which immediately reminds the viewer of the hero of Billy Bob Thornton from Bad Santa. Then, as they say, more. Trudy repeatedly remembers about “Home Alone”, quotes some heroes, plus in the film there are various traps, as well as incompetent criminals, who like traps and guess, but still fall into them.
And of course, “Die Hard 2” – where without it and without mentioning Bruce Willis! It is symbolic that there and there was filmed John Leguizamo. True, in “Cruel Night” he plays the role of the main antagonist, while in Die Hard 2 he was one of the terrorists who operated in a church near the airport and was shot by John McClane on a snowmobile, after which the character Leguizamo fell under the ice of the lake.
Episodes with a group of commandos rushing to the rescue, a repetition of the chase on snowmobiles, the decision of the protagonist to go against the criminals racing on snowmobiles, the presence of other elements, such as complete control of a large building, the destruction of communication systems, as well as one of the deaths with the help of an icicle – all these are direct references to “Die Hard 2”.
In addition, the presence in Santa’s hands of a hammer and his shouts during one of the murders “Naughty!” can be considered a reference to the 1984 film “Silent Night, Deadly Night”. And the hero of Cam Gigande in one of the scenes repeats the words of Mark Wahlberg about the terrorist attacks of September 11, when Wahlberg said that he could stop the hijackers.
The film is not without drawbacks and in particular, some plot gluings look rough - the director missed some details, already putting the viewer before the fact. And when you see Trudy set up traps, you immediately wonder: "How the hell did she manage to do all this?"
My main complaint with the film is that. For the rest, "Cruel Night" has come. This is a killer Christmas action movie, which illuminates with magic, and the snow-white cover of winter fertilizes noblely!
But look at you. I do not impose my opinion on anyone.
Funny mix of crime thriller, thriller and fantasy. The point is simple: Christmas night. Santa is flying above the Earth (David Harbour). How it flies... Which bar will look at, from which house a pack of beer will "borrow". And then overboard, this beer "technically drains." Yeah, that's not Billy Bob Tonton's bad Santa. But something close. Santa's tired. People are wrong. There is no soul... I'll stop it. Happy holiday. But there's still another night ahead.
There's a mansion. One very, very rich lady. The family groans and grapples with this jackal version of the matriarch in the name of the future mention in the will. True, her son prefers his greedy and vile white rich family to a black wife and daughter. But he did come to the party. Along with family. And he gave the girl a little walkie-talkie. To contact Santa Claus. And everything would be fine, but at night the mansion is captured by a well-armed and absolutely frostbitten gang of thugs. And they would have succeeded if it had not been for the kind and sensitive Santa. With a good word and a good sledgehammer in his hands.
And then begins a mixture of black comedy, stories a la “Home Alone” with “Die Hard” (for a long time already quite Christmas pictures) and a real action movie.
There will be a lot of blood. The film was quite funny and funny. One trick from the side of the script ... spit, because a fairy tale. But what is sad is that Christmas and here is tied to a family feast, gifts and the figure of Santa Claus. But this holiday is not just about that... This is a very special Santa. Especially his past.
You can watch. As a comedy and a urinary entertaining action movie - it worked out quite well.