Silent Hill - Finally a good video game movie

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2006)

This film is very good! As a big fan of the video games I felt they did a decent job of portraying the Silent Hill world and story that the fans of the series love. The film's story and setting is mostly true to the first game, however I feel some key aspects take away from the overall experience. For example the games rely on instilling a feeling of isolation, yet in the film a police cop accompanies the lead character, the town is populated and monsters attack in dozens. This really adds to the action but takes away from the isolation and suspense that is a prominent feature of the video games. The film also has a slightly different - but never the less important - take on the story. To avoid spoilers I won't go into the details here. Let's just say if you really want a close to perfect story match you will be disappointed. The film complete with these changes feels a little - but not too much - commercial, this is particularly apparent towards the end of the film in a scene where the story is simply explained  fortunately not too much as to leave nothing to the imagination. In addition, adding popular characters like Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2 didn't do much for the story and felt more like rush additions to the film rather than well thought out ideas. That said, the story, visual effects and action make for a very engrossing film. As a big fan of the game I was concerned the film would not do the game justice. I was not disappointed. I'm looking forward to a sequel.