A beautiful, deep, and thought provoking story that will remain in your mind for a long time.

Rating: 6/10 (23 April 2006)

Silent Hill is about a woman named Rose (Radha Mitchell) who loses her daughter in the deserted town of Silent Hill. Slowly as the movie progresses Rose learns the truth behind the town and the reason's for its nightmarish qualities.
First I will focus on the negative points of the film. The acting of some was sub-par and the script was terrible. Some of it made me cringe because of the absurdity of it. However, when pitted against the rest of the film these few flaws aren't really that big of a deal.
The film had quite a few redeeming qualities. The first half an hour or so blew me away. The visual imagery was stunning, the atmosphere was outstanding leaving me with an immense feeling of dread and hopelessness. The only thing that I would have preferred would be having more of this "dark" version of Silent Hill.
Many critics criticize the story claiming that it is confusing and that they can't understand it. To me, that is one of the qualities that separates this film from many other cookie-cutter films that come out now-a-days. Rather than serving you the plot on a silver platter, Silent Hill gives you the clues and expects you to put it together. The story really isn't all that confusing if you pay attention.
The ending is another part of the movie that is heavily criticized as lacking closure and confusing. I must agree that the ending was vague, but I also believe that it was left vague intentionally. The ending, like much of the film, was left for the viewer to interpret. Many people are so used to films spoon-feeding you everything that they can't even begin to imagine having to use their imagination for once. And for those who claim that you need to play the game to understand the movie, that isn't necessarily true. In fact, in comparison the games are much harder to understand than the film.
The film is filled with many religions symbols and themes such as the holy trinity, light and dark, mother and child, and others that are easily overlooked by those who don't pay attention. The creatures themselves are symbolic to the feelings of Alessa.
The film is more disturbing than scary, and it moves at a slower pace than most films. Do not expect this film to feed you the plot, be prepared to think for yourself and piece the clues together. You are given the pieces, now all you have to do is finish the puzzle.
8/10