A Phenomenal Adaptation!

Rating: 8/10 (22 April 2006)

I have played all four of the games and came into the Movie preparing to judge it harshly. First off I want to try and establish the things I believe many other Critics (Roger Ebert included) failed to do. I will break the movie down as follows: Sets, Shots, Gore (Horror Genre), Plot, Acting, and finally the most heated debate about the movie Pacing.
Sets: First off I think everyone needs to step back and look at the sets, although some are digital the sets are amazingly crafted. It seems as though Gans worked very hard to make sure this was as exact as possible.
Shots: I love the style of the shots, Gans made sure that he mimic'ed (to the best of his ability) the game's camera angles. There is one scene specifically that Gans has completely recreated the movements and camera angles from the game.
Gore: Alright, this movie was drop dead (Heh!) crazy on Gore, the first forty-five minutes is not so much, but after I found myself cringing and wishing to hide my eyes, the Gore is something that I haven't seen in years, they present scenes which normally (to today's horror standards) would cut away, however they do not.
Plot: I loved this plot, yes a little abstract, but overall it is an amazing epic piece that in most cases will leave a normal Horror fan going "huh?" Now don't take that as a bad thing, it is good that you are confused it mimic's perfectly the game. Enjoy the movie try to catch all the metaphors and symbols and you might understand it.
Acting: Radha Mitchell is amazing first off, you can tell she researched for this role, she does a phenomenal job. Jodelle Ferland however I felt like taping her mouth shut sometimes, I love her at certain points of the movie, but otherwise she could have done much better.
Pacing: Alright here is the biggie. I will flat out tell you this is a King Kong (New) paced movie. The plot is lay-ed on thick for the first hour then sprinkled throughout, the action however is so quick and disturbing that you wish it would never end. Overall the pacing was moderate, if you aren't a big plot person (which apparently Roger Ebert isn't) then the pace may seem fairly slow.
Overall: Amazing Movie, Gans has recreated Silent Hill how I wanted it, he did the one thing I wish all directors and screenplay writers would do...Follow the Original idea. Resident Evil, Mario Brothers, Street Fighter and numerous Uwe Boll movies didn't do this they would have easily been better if they had.