Great setting, no story

Rating: Null/10 (18 July 2009)

I've never played the games this film is based on but I didn't think it would matter. The setting is excellent and the town looks great but it's not long before you start looking around for a plot and start to realise there isn't one.
There are a few freaky looking scenes which are impressive but there's no real tension to it, it feels like watching someone else play a video game. So what if they die, why should you care? None of the characters are very interesting and Sean Bean's character is completely pointless which makes the time-gobbling scenes of him lurking around investigating especially tedious.
What really surprised me about this film is just how shabbily made it is. Once you get past the nice visual appeal you notice that plot points appear without any buildup, are discarded and never mentioned again. This happens all the way through the film giving it an abrupt shabby feel.