Strange and beautiful

Rating: 9/10 (21 April 2006)

For so long now the world of video game movies has been one of trad opportunist popcorn flicks... mildly entertaining at best but ultimately unmemorable and disappointing. With Christophe Gans - a confirmed Silent Hill obsessive - this adaptation is easily the best to date, though admittedly not without its flaws.
The first half is striking, beautiful and utterly spellbinding. The on-screen representation of the strange town of Silent Hill, it's foggy streets, it's nightmarish Otherworld counterpart and it's terrifying creatures is quite simply... perfect. Everything from the perfect attention to detail in recreating its streets and interiors, to the movement of the creatures is exactly what you saw in the game. Fans will lap it up. The sound is terrific too, everything from the scrape of the monolithic Pyramid Head's sword to the Janitor's unearthly mumbling is spot on.
In fact it's only in the second half when the emphasis moves away from that covered by the first game that things go a tad downhill. Whilst the new plot elements are fascinating, a little too much time is spent in its exposition and the pace of the movie is dampened by this. Perhaps the biggest problem though is that the atmosphere of this section simply doesn't feel like "Silent Hill" enough, yet at the same time you'll probably need an intimate knowledge of the games plot to make the most of it. It's a strange halfway house and I'm not sure what non-gamers will make of it - indeed, I can imagine many feeling completely lost by this point.
Similarly I felt that Sean Bean's role as Sharon's adopted father in the real world should have either been fleshed out a little more or got rid off. There's nothing wrong at all with his performance, but you feel that more could have been made of the character.
Much has been made of the acting and dialogue in the film, but I'm pleased to say that it's far better than I could have ever hoped. Laurie Holden's bold police officer is a stand out, but there's no slouches.
Overall I suspect that fans will love the first half but be disappointed by the second and that the reverse will be true of non-gamers seeing this film. It's an uneven ride which may alienate many, but it's a strange and beautiful one which I'm sure will invite huge amounts of discussion for months and months to come.