Silent Night | Ending Explained – Did Brian Godlock survive at the end of the movie?

Publicado el por Carlos Mario Castro

John Woo’s Silent Night ends with a big question about his main character, Contractor gone Gangslayer Brian Godlock, is he alive or is he dead? But, first question first, how did he end up in such situation? Well, let’s recall a little.

In the fictional Lone Star border city of Las Palomas, a shooting between gangs takes the life of little Taylor Godlock when he was getting ready to celebrate christmas with his father, Brian (Joel Kinnaman) and his mother Caya (Catalina Sandino Moreno). To add more to the revenge pot, when trying to reach his son’s killer, a gangster called Playa (Harold Torres), Brian is shot in his neck, unable to speak afterwards.

For one whole year, Brian prepares himself physically, learning how to use knives in close body struggles, learning how to use different kind of guns, automatic weapons and even how to render his car almost bulletproof. The rest of the movie is Brian facing the gang that killed his son, until he finally is face to face with Playa. With some help of Detective Dennis Vassel, the cop in charge of the case, Brian finally gets to kill Playa, but he is in very bad shape after receiving close range shots, numerous beatings and even some stabs.

Now, to the question if the man is dead or alive, it depends on how much money the movie makes in the first two weekends. If Lionsgate see that the revenue against budget is very lucrative, it won’t be too long before announcing the sequel. But if it doesn’t go that well on the Box Office, we can assume that Brian Godlock is dead. Very Schrodingerish, right?

Where is Las Palomas in John Woo’s Silent Night?

Publicado el por Carlos Mario Castro

Did you just watch John’s Woo «Silent Night» and now you’re wondering where in America is this dangerous and offbeat town? First things first, Las Palomas is not a real town. Las Palomas is a fictional town created specifically for this movie by screenwriter Robert Archer Lynn, stating a deep contrast between the peaceful and almost magical name (The Doves, in Spanish) and the cut-throat violence within the city limits. Now we know Las Palomas is not a real town, where is located in the universe of Silent Night?

All the license plates shown in the film scream of a Lone Star location, in the Big State of Texas, not that far from the border. Now, if you ask me, the general vibe of Las Palomas is way far removed from the Texas vibe, feeling more like a So-Cal town, maybe closer to a San Bernardino’s energy, perhaps?

Though clearly a melting pot for people of Latin American descent (México, Central & South America), John Woo makes a good job to establish Las Palomas as an american town, maybe with the clear intention to show that danger, crime and drugs are not a thing just below the South Border.

But if you find a little bit hard to believe that there is somewhere in America looking like Las Palomas does, even right next to the border, you are right. All that we see in the movie, the whole Las Palomas, is just Mexico City. In fact, the whole movie was shot in the mexican capital.