A brutal Santa Claus is coming to town: 'Violent Night' review

MANILA, Phiippines — "Die Hard" meets "Home Alone" in the new Christmas movie "Violent Night" which stars David Harbour as an intoxicated Santa Claus with skills beyond delivering gifts.

The movie revolves around the rich Lightstone family, particularly Alex Hassell's Jason, who is trying his best to be close with his daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) and estranged wife Linda (Alexis Matthews).

When the Lightstones and their questionable wealth are held hostage, it's up to a distressed Santa Claus to save Christmas, just not the way he imagined it to be.

This isn't the first time we've seen a version of Jolly Old St. Nick that resorts to violent obscenities, the most popular one being Billy Bob Thornton in the "Bad Santa" movies and more recently Mel Gibson in "Fatman."

One should expect more or less the same kind of characterization, only this time, Santa Claus has a whole lot of action to deal with, even if he tries to suppress the brutal origins he comes from.

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The action sequences border on delightful to tiresome, just like the many holiday puns the bland script tries to toss out, each one more ruthless than the last — not exactly what you'd expect from a Christmas movie with a family to save.

Harbour is a hard actor to dislike, from his Hopper in "Stranger Things" and Red Guardian in "Black Widow" to his reiteration of the titular character of 2019's "Hellboy," the actor clearly has leading star charm.

Such admiration can only take him so far in "Violent Night," which often ditches sentimentality for adrenaline-fused fight scenes only to suddenly slow down again for moments of so-called serenity.

There were so many lost opportunities for sensible storylines and holiday jokes that could actually land, with John Leguizamo, Edi Patterson, and Beverly D'Angelo also making do with what they could.

Setting aside the mishaps, "Violent Night" is full of ridiculousness that still make it a riot to watch especially if the simple idea of Kris Kringle beating the living hell out of mercenaries sounds appealing. Otherwise, one is better off with other Christmas films like "A Christmas Carol," "The Grinch," or yes, even "Die Hard."

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