Silent Night | 2023 | R | – 4.8.6

Why is “Silent Night” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong bloody violence, drug use and some language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of implied sex scenes and a few kissing scenes, numerous scenes of gunfire exchanges by large groups of people that sometimes includes police officers with many people being struck and killed including a young boy, a few scenes of fights with knives and blows with heavy objects, and at least 12 F-words in song lyrics and radio dispatches. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A man (Joel Kinnaman) is driven to exact brutal revenge on the people responsible for the death of his young son (Anthony Giulietti). (Editor’s Note: The dialogue in the film is primarily song lyrics and police radio dispatches.) Also with Catalina Sandino Moreno, Kid Cudi, Harold Torres, Vinny O’Brien and Yoko Hamamura. Directed by John Woo. [Running Time: 1:44]

Silent Night SEX/NUDITY 4

 – A man watches, through a telescopic camera lens, as a woman is pressed against a window (we see cleavage, bare abdomen and shoulders) by a man standing behind her; he turns her around, picks her up and they kiss (sex is implied). A man and a woman dance closely together and nearly kiss as a scene ends (sex is implied).
► A husband and his wife embrace while seated on a sofa; they hug and kiss tenderly. A wife kisses her husband on the cheek.
► A man is shown shirtless and we see his bare chest, abdomen and back.

Silent Night VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A man with bloody hands and blood on his sweater runs through alleys and streets as we hear gunfire and car tires squealing in the background; the man climbs a wall, runs along train tracks, cars crash into each other while the occupants continue to shoot at each other and we see one man struck and blood spurts; one car slams into a fire plug and flips over, the man uses a metal bar to hit the other car’s windshield, it shatters and the people in the car shoot at him while speeding after him, until they crash into a forklift and the driver is beheaded (we hear a squish and see blood); the man is shot in the back and then in the throat at close range (we see blood gush and spurt).
► A man breaks into another man’s house, the first man hits the second man and he crashes through a glass railing and onto the floor below; we then see the man bound and gagged and the attacker head-butts him with a welding helmet, they fight, one man is thrown across the room and onto a table where his head is pressed toward a knife, one man is stabbed in the leg with a knife (we see blood), one man is stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver, one man is held in a chokehold and one man is slammed on a table and the table collapses.
► A man holds a machete over another man preparing to cut off his head, he is distracted by something, returns to cut the man’s head off (off-screen) and we hear a crunch and a thud. Police officers are pinned down by gunfire being exchanged by rival gang members (blood spurts and people fall to the ground); a man in a car speeds through the area shooting several people and stopping to pick up an injured police officer but she is shot in the back as she tries to get in the car and he leaves her on the ground (presumably dead); the driver speeds into a man filming and streaming the action, hits him and the man is thrown into the air where he is shot in the back three times (we see blood on his clothing).
► A man speeds in a car, is struck from the side by another car causing him to spin around, they speed and chase while shooting at each other, a motorcycle joins the chase and crashes to the ground, the first car is pinned between two pickup trucks in an alley and the people in the two other vehicles shoot at him; he pushes one vehicle out of the way and speeds away causing one truck to flip on its side (a man later crawls out of the vehicle with blood on his head and blood gurgling from his mouth), a motorcycle continues to chase the first driver and shoots at him before being slammed into a pole and left crumpled and motionless.
► A man speeds on a motorcycle and slides on his side under a closing garage door where he opens fire on many armed men inside that shoot at him; many people are struck by bullets and blood spurts from wounds, the man shoots a puddle of gasoline collecting on the floor and it explodes sending several men running in flames; the man continues shooting people as he climbs stairs, he fights a few men along the way, kicks one man down the stairs, stabs another man, more men stream out of rooms along the stairs and they all shoot at the man and he shoots back (blood spurts and sprays), and a man falls over a railing and we hear a thud on the ground below; a man is shot in the chest and stumbles back on a flight of stairs (he is wearing a bulletproof vest), two gunmen step into a trip wire that causes an explosion and they are thrown, two men fight with many punches and kicks, and one man is shot through the chin and out the top of his head falling dead to the floor with a lot of blood pouring from the wound; a police officer holds a gun on the first man, then stands down and they shoot other gunmen together, a woman with an automatic weapon opens fire on the two men and they are both struck with some blood seen and the woman is shot in the head (blood is shown flowing from the wound); the first man is shot repeatedly and stumbles and the shooter is shot in the back, pinned on the floor, punched repeatedly in the face and head, held around the throat and strangled (we hear crunching) and the first man and the police officer fall back on the floor with blood oozing from their wounds.
► A young boy rides a bicycle through his front yard as two cars speed through the neighborhood with the occupants shooting at each other; the child is struck and we see blood on his clothing and his body is limp. A motionless man is left on the front stoop of another man’s house and the second man approaches the door from the inside carrying a gun. A man throws a package into a compound and it is opened by another man; we see two bloody severed fingers in the package.
► A police dispatcher calls for assistance to attend to a disturbance; we see a woman being attacked, struck in the face, held on a car hood by two men and a man with her is also struck and kicked; the attackers run away with money they have stolen and a man in a car pins them against a wall, stabs one man in the abdomen and speeds away with the other man on the roof of the car and shooting into the car until the driver gets the gun away and shoots the man on the roof (blood pours down on the windshield) and we understand the attacker on the roof is dead; the driver vomits out the door of the car (we see goo).
► A man draws a large knife to approach a man in a parking lot until the man is surrounded by children that he gives money to; the man is pushed to the ground by two other men and a woman pours a gloopy beverage on the man’s head and face.
► An operating room is shown where medical staff operates on a man’s very bloody throat wound and we see a lot of blood, suction tools suck blood into a tube and sutures are used to close the wound (the scene is accompanied by the song “Silent Night”). A man is shown in a hospital bed, on a ventilator, and later struggling with physical therapy (he stumbles and falls to the floor once) and trying to speak.
► A man watches, through a telescopic camera lens, as people in a nearby building count large stacks of money and brandish weapons (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details). A man stabs a practice dummy violently and stabs a photo of a man hanging on a wall. A man studies self-defense, knife skills and shooting, taking target practice in a few scenes and using a dummy for knife attacks and hand-to-hand combat. A man practices fast driving and we hear squealing tires and a racing engine. A man buys several weapons.
► Police dispatch announcements say, “Shots fired” several times. Song lyrics include, “blood on the altar, blood on the blade.” A man mouths, “Help me” to his wife and she cries asking, “How?” A man makes notes on a calendar including an entry that reads, “Kill them all,” on December 24th. A newspaper headline about the death of a young boy from gang violence is seen.
► A woman with very bloody hands and blood on her clothing runs through the hallways of a hospital. A woman with needle tracks on her arm is injected with a hypodermic needle by a man (we don’t know what the drug is). A man uses an electrolarynx device and angrily throws it to the floor. A man walks into his house, collapses to the floor, cries and yells mournfully grieving his dead son; he throws things off bookshelves and onto the floor. A man sees a young boy as he leaves a store, he imagines that he is his son, touches his face and embraces him until the child’s mother picks the boy up and goes into the store. A young boy and a man play wrestle and the man lifts the child into the air and they hug; this is shown in real time and in flashbacks. A man imagines lying next to his young son sleeping in bed and then remembers the child is dead.

Silent Night LANGUAGE 6

 – About 12 F-words and its derivatives (1 painted on a wall accompanied by “the police”), 3 religious exclamations (e.g. God, Merry [F-word deleted] Christmas, a man’s name is Godlock). | profanity glossary |

Silent Night SUBSTANCE USE

 – Men sell drugs outside a playground, and a woman with needle tracks on her arm is injected with a hypodermic needle by a man (we don’t know what the drug is). A man drinks heavily in many scenes and we see several empty liquor bottles on a table.

Silent Night DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Gang violence, death, murder, revenge, isolation, grief, determination, homicide, kidnapping, drug dealing.

Silent Night MESSAGE

 – Revenge can be effective, but it is also likely to end badly.