Pros and Cons

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2006)

This was an interesting experience for me as it's the first time I've ever been in the position of a video game fanboy seeing a movie adaptation of something I've gotten really into. Considering the overall history of video game movie adaptations, I was worried, but considering how cinematic Silent Hill was, I figured it wouldn't be that difficult to pull off. However, when I saw the trailer and noticed that there would be a side-story involving people outside Silent Hill, I was heavily disappointed because one of the key things that makes Silent Hill the game so great is the fact that it feels utterly futile to think of any world outside of it.
Well, my disappointment was misfounded, they actually did that side-story pretty well, and it didn't affect the overall grade of the movie at all. All in all, this movie exceeded my expectations for it, though it still left me craving for a little more.
A big dilemma in the creation of this film is the fact that it seems almost required to hold some of those coded horror-genre elements that tend to be a turn-off to even the average film-goer: horror-film style acting (sure they can scream, but can they pronounce emotion otherwise?), some very campy dialog at points (Cop: "They say this town is haunted." protagonist: "I think they're right." Audience: "Ughhh..."), and the decision over what would be more scary, to actually show the terrifying elements or allow the audience's imagination to go wild. Sometimes it was successful, sometimes it wasn't.
I can say this about it: it could have used a bit less audio, both in terms of dialog and music. Sometimes it just felt like the music was making it less scary, and some of the expository dialog was pretty much unnecessary: most of the dialog between the male cop and the husband, or that moment when the protagonist looks at the smudge on her finger and says "Ash..." Yeah, we know it's ash. Now on with the imagery and off with the sound! Also, Pyramidhead's appearance was glaringly gratuitous, for no other reason than the plot didn't fully develop his character and thus he was pretty much there for the Silent Hill gamer fan to say, "All right now on with the good stuff!" It must be noted, however, that it was some very, VERY good stuff, so his appearance wasn't totally wasted.
But all in all, it gets enough of the mood, enough of the setting, and enough of the imagery in that it's a pretty decent film. Enough might not be enough in that I would really like some more... *HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS HERE* For a film with skin-ripping and barbed-wire raping, it seems to be pretty needlessly reserved in other parts, like pretty much refusing to show the entire crucified janitor *YOU CAN OPEN YOUR EYES NOW*. I did hear that a lot of the film had to be cut merely to give it an R rating. Thus, for once in my life, I'm actually more interested to see the Extended and Unrated DVD that inevitably will come out.
--PolarisDiB