John Woo is back and confident in his abilities.

John Woo’s signature trademarks are synonymous with the director himself: tough characters sporting dark shades and consistently puffing on cigarettes, soaring through the air with two guns in hand, while doves elegantly flutter in the background.

During the 80s and early 90s, Woo was a prominent figure in Hong Kong’s thriving pre-handover industry. He was known for his high-energy, operatic style of filmmaking, which combined martial arts and gangster elements in a genre called “gun fu”. His films were also praised for their depiction of “heroic bloodshed”, where extreme violence was contrasted with traditional notions of good and evil, similar to melodrama. Woo eventually made his way to Hollywood, but his critical acclaim and box office success dwindled after a few initial hits. However, he remained dedicated to creating films with intense and grandiose moods and content, even as his budgets varied. In his eyes, everything had to be larger than life – from the emotions to the explosions.

However, this is not the case with Silent Night, Woo’s first English-language film in two decades which surprisingly has a more stripped-down approach. The premise may seem like another action-packed bullet ballet in line with the director’s style, as it follows a grieving husband (played by Joel Kinnaman) seeking revenge on the perpetrators who took his son’s life. In the past, Woo would have used this as an opportunity to showcase his signature flashy style, but instead he challenged himself to deviate from his usual aesthetic and tone down his trademark melodramatics, resulting in a more intense and focused story.

Therefore, he has presented one of his most streamlined and intense pieces, a fast-paced and brutal film that showcases an unexpected level of realism from a 77-year-old icon who continues to amaze his fans. Known for his wild and energetic style, his latest act of rebellion required him to do the one thing he had yet to attempt: show restraint. He successfully portrays this in a unique film that also reaffirms his expertise as a masterful creator of action.

“This is what I really wanted to do,” Woo tells the Guardian during a promo stop in Los Angeles. “I’ve done so much where everything is big. I needed to get back to reality.”

After experiencing three unsuccessful film releases in China that resulted in high costs and negative reviews, director Woo requested his agents to find a strong script that could help him regain success. He discovered such material in Robert Archer Lynn’s Silent Night, a unique screenplay that stood out for its lack of dialogue. Brian, a family man, suffers damage to his vocal cords during a drive-by shooting that tragically takes his son’s life on Christmas. He spends a tense year in training until he can seek revenge on the same date the following year. With determination and pent-up anger, he meticulously plans a merciless yet believable path of destruction. The training montages highlight the hard work needed to transform an ordinary man into someone capable of extreme physical feats.

“It was challenging to work without using words,” Woo explains. “I had to adapt and find a solution to this style, whether it was through a new technique or a different way of thinking. This process helped me feel more comfortable with being conventional. In order to convey a typical narrative – with natural drama, genuine emotions, and realistic action – I had to restrain myself and not go too extreme. Every aspect had to be believable. My behavior was crucial in order for the audience to connect with the characters and be moved by the story.”

If the way he speaks suggests that he is just going through the motions as a director, following orders on a project that is not truly fulfilling, know that Woo does not equate scale with satisfaction. He explains that he often yearns for the opposite type of production depending on his current task; on smaller shoots, he desires the resources and power of a bigger operation, but when working on a studio job, he struggles with the lack of control. He found the quick and inexpensive project Silent Night to be a suitable compromise, as it allowed him to let go of his usual formal techniques without interference from the production company Thunder Road. (Not coincidentally, they produced John Wick, which is considered the greatest tribute to Woo’s legacy in modern Hollywood; although he has not met directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, he has heard that they have a photo of him in their office. In general, he is flattered by the number of filmmakers who have been influenced by his work in the years since. “I feel like I have so many friends!”)

Joel Kinnaman as Godlock in Silent Night

He traded in some flexibility that came from having excess for a more valuable type of independence, a common tradeoff in show business throughout history: while a director may lose funding, they gain freedom from oversight. Woo came out ahead in this exchange, ready to compensate for a modest budget with his own resourcefulness. “It felt like the old days, working on small budgets in Hong Kong,” he recalls. “I had complete control as a director. Before filming began, I spoke with our producer Basil [Iwanyk], the head of Thunder Road. He told me, ‘The great thing about an independent film is having more creative freedom.’ And it’s true. I didn’t face much interference, and the producers were very cooperative. Most of the time, I had to be meticulous in figuring out how to make everything work with such limited resources and time constraints. I had no choice but to shoot everything efficiently.”

Instead of aiming for complete coverage, the filmmaker opted to strategically select and arrange shots from a battalion of cameras to capture his fight scenes. He expressed a preference for practical effects over CGI, but acknowledged that the strict regulations in North America can be a hindrance compared to the more relaxed policies in China. He gave an example of the strict rules for using guns while filming in Mexico, where even small adjustments to the gunpowder load had to be carefully documented. In cases where the practical effects didn’t produce enough fire, they would add it in using computer-generated imagery (CGI).

The festive atmosphere of Yuletide suggests chaotic scenes adorned with holly, but with one exception, Woo does not overly incorporate holiday themes into his fight sequences. The hand-to-hand combat between Kinnaman, whom Woo praises as being “authentic, unlike a superhero,” and the waves of henchmen is cleverly choreographed, yet restrained. They battle not as untouchable demigods, but as mortal beings, making each strike more impactful. Woo draws inspiration from Hitchcock, treating each of his movies as an experiment. While working on Silent Night, he aimed to simplify his approach and make a change.

Although he is committed to making low-budget films, he has returned to working on an English-language remake of his iconic crime movie, The Killer. The production was put on hold for several months due to the Sag strike while they were filming in Paris. He suggests that this production has been more comfortable than his previous film, Silent Night, but he still sees himself as a guest in this part of the world. He mostly observes Hollywood from a distance, but he did watch the latest installment of Mission: Impossible, “fabulous” Fallout, in 2018 and he enjoys English-language genre films from time to time. (He especially likes Edgar Wright’s parodies and the 2016 neo-western Hell or High Water.) He is not falling behind, though. His move towards a more subtle style is not a sign of exhaustion.

He states, “Despite my age, my mental clarity remains intact. I am still fully aware of my actions and my instincts are as sharp as ever.”