Christmas is right about the corner, and it’s time to break out festive movies like Love, Actually, Daddy's Home 2 or Home Alone. But do you really have to stick to these conventional Christmas movies? And isn’t it boring to watch these movies over and again all these years?
How about a change? Here are five action/thriller movies that you can try watching for this year, for a change.
In Bruges
Set in the Belgian city of Bruges, the movie is a black crime comedy starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. Farrell and Gleeson play a pair of hitmen, Ray and Ken, who are ordered to carry out a mission from their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes). Ray botched the mission by accidentally killing someone he shouldn’t and are sent to Bruges by Harry to await orders. While Ray finds the city charming, Ken is indifferent towards it. What happens next is a series of events that are both comedic and action-packed.
The bumbling hitmen find themselves in precarious situations, and it didn’t help when Harry decides to come to Bruges to finish some business. Audiences are taken on a hilarious and enjoyable ride around lovely Bruges, thanks to Farrell and Gleeson, who provide much humour unintentionally. In Bruges is a dark comedy set around the Christmas period that will light up your festive holidays.
Edward Scissorhands
When the film was released, who didn’t want to have a haircut by the deft hands, or shall we say, scissors, of one odd but insanely talented Edward? This 1990 dark fantasy starred then rising stars and real-life couple of Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp. She’s a typical blonde, popular high school cheerleader, and he isn’t quite that human. Edward is the “child”, or rather, an unfinished creation of an old inventor, who passed away before he could put hands on his artificial son instead of blades. Left alone, Edward ventures out of his home on the hill into the suburban housing area at the foot of the hill. There, he found temporary refuge in the home of a door-to-door saleswoman.
Having scissors in place of hands is pretty hard for people to swallow, and Edward finds himself having to face the harshness of reality. Played to vulnerable perfection by Depp, you’ll end up rooting for him, especially when he feels utterly alone during the festive season. It’s easy to lose yourself in this quirky fantasy with this Christmas conjured by an oddball himself, Tim Burton.
The great Stanley Kubrick’s last film may be a strange choice for a Christmas movie, but it delivers enough suspense, eye candy and thrills to entertain a group screening during one of your festive gatherings. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman co-star in this 1999 dark erotic of a movie. When Dr Bill Harford (Cruise) discovers his wife Alice’s (Kidman) flirtatious ways, he is incensed, and leaves home for a night of sexual discovery, except that things didn’t quite turn out that way.
Instead, he finds himself embroiled in a strange going-ons of a secret society and unwittingly infiltrates it, leading to one weird occurrence after another. The movie takes place only at night around the festive season, and its movie screening is best kept for a night-time screening after a hearty dinner and some wine to loosen up. And make a game out of counting just how many Christmas trees appear in the movie:
Iron Man 3
Sure, there are three Iron Man films to choose from, but this third instalment takes the cake in terms of action, explosions and outrageous stunts. And not to mention seeing Gwyneth Paltrow in that iron man suit!
Taking place over the Christmas period (remember when Tony bought a gigantic puppy for Pepper as Xmas present?), Iron Man 3 sees Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) being threatened by this mysterious villain called The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). After almost being blown to pieces, Stark must rely on his wits and skills to start from scratch to find out the villain’s true identity and motive. The epic stand-off at the end that involves a fleet of Iron suits is a pretty sight to behold. And seeing Pepper all decked up in the Iron Man suit kicking butt makes us look forward to her donning the Rescue Armour next year in Avengers: Endgame. If action movies are your thing, this is definitely your ideal Christmas movie.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Director Shane Black has a tendency of making his movies revolve around the Christmas period, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is no exception. A private eye, a struggling actress and a thief masquerading as an actor are brought together by one mystery of a murder in this black comedy crime film starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan. Taking place over the Christmas period, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is like a Pulp Fiction parody, a cheerful mess of plots and subplots which are then further divided into smaller subplots.
It may sound convoluted, but the talented cast rises to the occasion and deliver suspense, laughs and action. The film is as fun as its title, and should be made the new de-facto Christmas movie year after year.
