Visually stunning but ultimately lacking

Rating: 6/10 (2 May 2006)

If I were to rate Silent Hill purely on its visuals, I'd give it an 8. The special effects, while not the best I've seen, are well done and support rather than dominate the film. The sets evoke an appropriate sense of otherworldliness and dread. Make-up and costuming are also very effective in contributing to the general ambiance of the film.
Unfortunately, Silent Hill is yet another example of a movie with an abundance of style but lacking in substance.
While the visuals and soundtrack instill an eeriness to the movie, the plot and acting fail to follow through with the movie's promise. While for the most part Silent Hill avoids the cheap scares of slasher flicks, it also fails to provide the terror of a good thriller. The manner in which the history of the town and background of the story is presented feels contrived and a bit forced. The story meanders somewhat aimlessly following the main character (played by Radha Mitchell) on her search for her daughter through the streets and abandoned basements of the ghost town of Silent Hill. One tenuous clue leads to another, ultimately revealing the buried secrets of the town and a final confrontation with its dark forces and a somewhat ambiguous ending (which some, no doubt, will claim a tribute to the multiple alternate endings of the games on which the movie is based). The manner in which the final revelations just before the climactic showdown are offered is so trite and jarringly disparate in presentation from the rest of the movie that it shreds any remaining suspension of disbelief to which the audience might be clinging.
The acting -- from actors I normally respect -- was also a disappointment. Radha Mitchell doesn't quite convey an adequate sense of terror and desperation for her situation, Sean Bean seemed more concerned with attempting (and failing to produce) a New England accent than with finding his family, and Kim Coates seemed unusually bland in his role as the local sheriff.
And yet, Silent Hill still manages not to be a *bad* movie. It's creepily entertaining, and its visuals are spooky enough to haunt your dreams for a few nights even if its plot fails to instill nightmares. As long as you keep your popcorn handy and your expectations low, you shouldn't be too disappointed. Heck, you might even stumble into a goosebump or two.