Santa Claus, one of the orginal good guys, toymaker, world traveler, rewarder of good behavior. Ho, Ho, Ho, checking his list twice, beard of white, suit of red, the whole twas the night before Christmas. Santa has always been portrayed as giving, wise and kindly.
Two movies are out there where we get to see a more practical, more pragmatic more in touch with the grim realities of life. (I do not do horror movies, so do not suggest those, I know they exist, but life is bad enough.)
Fat Man and Violent Night
Fat Man
2020
Starring: Mel Gibson
Antagonist: Walton Goggins
Running Time: 100 minutes\
Rated: R
Violent Night
2022
Starring: David Harbour
Antagonist: John Leguizamo
Running Time: 112 minutes
Rated: R
Of the two Violent Night is by far more brutal and bloody.
Both movies have the underlying premise that Santa Claus is magical, with flying sleighs with reindeer, Santa has extreme longevity and health, and other assorted mystical and unexplained attributes that help him deliver presents.
In Fat Man the elves play a significant role along with Mrs. Claus. In Violent Night the elves and Mrs. Claus are only mentioned in passing. Violent Night takes place all on Christmas Eve/Night while Fat Man takes place over several weeks including after Christmas. In Violent Night Kris Kringle does not give out coal, but the Fat Man does in fact it is one of the main drivers of the story.
Fat Man runs a business with overhead, bills to pay, and a lack of dying lack of goodwill in the world. Enter a snobby little rich brat who uses Walter Goggins, a hitman, who for his own reasons hates the Jolly Old Elf, to first threaten his science fair rival and track down and kill Santa. Meanwhile Santa is farming out his highly sugar fueled elven workforce of to the Military Industrial Complex to build missile guidance systems. Walter Goggins finally tracks down Santa’s workshop through the postal system and proceeds to attack the Fat Man and all he holds dear.
SPOILER ALERT: Sants survives with a final Coup de Grâce from Mrs. Claus and then a bitter and tore up Santa pays the vile reprehensible Richie Rich a visit with a warning that he will come for him when he is sleeping if he continues his wicked ways.
While Violent Night is best described as Die Hard with a dash of Home Alone and the Ref thrown in. Santa is doing his job, drinking along the way, his magical bag giving out the bag where he visits and he is dropping something off for the one good young girl in a very, very rich family of assholes. Kris Kringle imbibes a little too much and falls asleep while at the mansion when the Die Hard event happens with John Leguizamo in the Hans Gruber role but with slightly more evil mustache twirling. Not a single good person, or even neutral person walks out of this story without some blood on their hands, including the good little girl who Santa vows to save.
SPOILER ALERT: Santa was a former berserker Viking who for some unknown reason got tapped to wear the red suit and possibly make up for his murderous ways. Santa is unclear of how his magic works, which he says numerous times, and at one point it fails him possibly because of his consumption of really expensive liquor. But if you want to get him a present, a large war hammer might be just the thing.
How they are similar: Santa Claus wins, the bad guys lose in spectacular and woodchipper fashion. Belief is and need is essential to the stories. Not just any enemy is good enough to go after Santa it has to be someone with a dislike for Father Christmas and incredibly selfish. Neither Pere Noel is looking for trouble, they are just trying to get the job done but they are forced to deal in violence when it comes to them.
How they are different: Fat Man is a little more reality based with a 50% touch grass score while Violent Night is more a cartoonish with a touch grass score of only 25%. Fatman loses more allies in the form of soldiers guarding the production line, whereas Violent Night it is more one-sided with Santa Claus doing more widespread damage to team black hat. Mel Gibson’s man in red is not that likeable more like a tired old man who is running out of joy and wants kids to stay off his lawn, while David Harbour’s sleigh driver grows on you throughout the movie, possibly because he is coming to the aid of a true believing little girl.
While both are decent movies the only one I would probably rewatch is Violent Night, although I really like Walter Goggins as the bad guy compared to John Leguizamo. (Side note, those two working together would be really interesting.)
But Merry Christmas and god bless us everyone, you filthy animals.
The 5 Types of Christmas Movies
The Miles Mitchell Christmas Radio Play
Categories: Christmas, My Views On The Real World
Stories and Quotes from the Mind* and Keyboard of A.A.Forringer 
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