"Silent Fury" - an old-school action movie without dialogues

On November 30, the film “Silent Fury” directed by John Woo was released in Russia. Fans of action films know this author very well - he directed “Face/Off”, “Hard Boiled”, “Hard Target” and many other famous films. For the first time since 2003's Hour of Reckoning, Woo has made a film in the United States, and Silent Fury is an action classic, filled with loud gunshots and bloody fights shot in slow motion. But there is one unusual feature: there is practically no dialogue in the film.

The non-standard approach does not spoil the film at all, and perhaps even makes it better. But still, you shouldn’t expect anything radically new from Silent Fury. It's just a thrill ride and an experiment.

Silent Fury is a true classic action movie

The day before Christmas family man and simple worker Brian Godlock (Juel Kinnaman) plays with his son on the lawn near the house. Two cars with bandits exchanging fire rush past, and one of the stray bullets kills a child. The father tries to catch up with the criminals, but is wounded, as a result of which he loses his voice and almost dies. He drinks for a long time, and then decides to take revenge: he spends a whole year learning shooting, hand-to-hand combat and driving, so that next Christmas he can destroy all the bandits who were in any way involved in the death of his son.

Anyone who loves cheerful, hard-hitting action films, at the mere mention of the Wu surname, understands that they are in for an exciting show. This director is one of those who made shootouts in movies are so interesting. In his films, the heroes do not stand still, but move, shots sound loud and intense, bloody wounds are visible on the dead, and if bullets fly past, they smash pieces of walls. He mixed hand-to-hand combat and shootouts, filming in long takes without cuts. What can I say - you can just remember the most spectacular scene from “Hard Boiled”, and everything will become clear.

What is John Woo doing in Silent Fury? Essentially, everything is the same, albeit a little more restrained. The main character here is not a super agent, but he is confronting some drug dealers, and not the Yakuza with an army of ninjas. Therefore, the characters do not perform magical somersaults or even shoot during flip jumps, as the main character of “Face/Off” constantly did.

In addition, the film was shot on a relatively small budget for a Hollywood action film, so there are few long shots and crowd scenes in the film. By the end the hero with his unexpectedly appeared partner and they will advance through one building, one by one encountering faceless enemies.

That's not to say that Silent Fury isn't spectacular. In part, such restrictions are even a plus. Long fights and shootouts are filmed in long takes without editing, which removes the flickering that is so was tiring in some action films.

Sometimes they go overboard with slowmo, but here it looks like a genre element, and not an attempt to show off in front of the audience longer. And the restrained style evokes analogies, for example, with the realistic cruelty of “The Punisher.” So harsh masculinity sometimes it's not enough.

The main character is an ordinary person

Despite the standard nature of the basis, the film has an important difference from the action classics. John Woo makes the main character a “simple guy.” Not a police officer or special agent, whose life was initially geared towards fighting villains, but a man who got involved in deadly games out of despair. He simply has nothing left to lose.

Of course, the viewer will have to accept some conventions: even at the beginning of training, it is difficult to believe that a person with the appearance of Joel Kinnaman is so weak. But hidden skills do not awaken in him, he does not suddenly remember that in a past life he was a special forces soldier - preparation for revenge takes a whole year for the hero and almost an hour of timing for the viewer, so the real action will begin only in the second half film. But something else is more important: they show very well and realistically that even after watching video tutorials and shooting at a shooting range, a character does not automatically become cool.

He makes mistakes one after another: Brian literally gives his first victim a weapon himself, as a result of which he almost dies. He gets lost, hesitates and is afraid. It's much easier to care about such a character. Is anyone watching the next part of the franchise "mission Impossible“(Woo, by the way, directed the second film in the series) sincerely believes that the hero can suffer until he reaches the final boss?

And in Silent Fury, for all its predictability, the actions sometimes very naturally show that avenger he himself is not fully aware of his actions. And at some point it is easy to believe that evil may well go unpunished.

The lack of dialogue does not hinder, but helps

Much of the film's advertising campaign is based on its main distinguishing feature: Silent Fury has no dialogue. In the original, the film is called Silent Night - and there is a play on words: this is at the same time a hint that the main character cannot speak (silent), and the name of a classic Christmas song, because the action starts and ends on this holiday.

But the Russian distributors who changed their names can be understood: a year and a half ago, the British film “Quiet night"(Silent Night) with Keira Knightley with a completely different plot. It probably hasn’t been seen in the USA, but domestic viewers may have difficulties.

John Woo's approach is unusual. In the film, of course, there are short moments with text, but they are relegated to the level of sound design: these are radio broadcasts, some kind of emotional cries. But there are no meaningful dialogues at all, there are only a few correspondence in instant messengers, but they are not abused either.

As an experiment, Silent Fury looks very interesting. Cinemas and home screens are now oversaturated with films of all genres, and the authors are trying to make at least something memorable: be it films with the effect of one endless frame (“Birdman” or “1917"), black and white cinema ("Roma" or "Mayak"), an action thriller where they only show a person talking on the phone ("Guilty"or "Collector").

John Woo in "Mute Fury" reminds us of the main truth: cinema is a visual art. Too often, directors force their characters to pronounce important details, either unable or lazy to reveal the plot in the video sequence. And few people have talent Tarantino make dialogue dynamic and beautiful - more often it’s just “talking heads” and shooting with regular “eights”.

Woo decided to remove all these conventions, and at the same time, it seems, to show that in the classic action genre dialogues and completely secondary: watch the latest “The Expendables” or “The Fast and the Furious” without sound or in some incomprehensible language - this will not affect the plot.

For Joel Kinnaman, this role is also a clear challenge. He, of course, is used to playing tough, taciturn guys, but here the actor only has to work with facial expressions and body language. The actor even told, that he tried to get used to the role and not talk at all during filming, but gave up on the first day. However, he looks very convincing in character. And precisely as a person who has something to say, and even more, to shout. Except he can't.

If I'm being too picky, the director didn't act entirely honestly. By removing the dialogue, he simply refused to reveal all the unnecessary details of the story, leaving only the basics. The viewer is not really told anything about the main character and his strange relationship with his wife, the bandits, or the policeman who joins Brian.

Whether this is good or bad is for everyone to decide for themselves. Action films are too often criticized for the protracted conversational part, but here there is none at all. But there is a lively and interesting hero, a lot of cool action and grotesque cruelty. Ideal for fans of the genre.