In absolute: a quite good transcription; in relative: the best adaptation ever. In terms of a movie: a good job....

Rating: 7/10 (26 April 2006)

In spite of a pretty bad beginning to my mind (due to some quite laughable dialogs, incredible situations, or even reactions), the more we go through the movie, the more we get attracted into it, and the more it works.
Although, what must have disappointed me the most is the lack of similarities with the game on the following points: 1) not enough stress, not enough gore. 2) too many people in there ! in the original game, you're alone about 80% of the time. 3) not enough darkness (plus: I only detected 2 or 3 distinct dimensions)
Silent Hill sometimes seems to be more "widely inspired by" the game than it's a direct adaptation of it. And even though the screenplay isn't bad (in spite of some mistakes), i still can't figure out why they felt obliged to modify so much elements of the video game... there's nothing psychological there, more like mysticism, which makes the movie lose some depth. It's highly illustrated by the long (too long ?) scene where /!\SPOILER/!\ evil Alessa explains the truth to Rose and, in the end, it makes the movie more about understanding the city itself than learning to know oneself. Pity...
The actors did a quite good job, in spite of some stinky parts (mostly due to crappy lines, mainly at the beginning, like Gans shot it first while he had forgotten how to direct well, and remembered along the shooting).
We could also put a little criticism about Sean Bean's parts, which are not real bad (not too good either, but nice to watch), but don't find their place there. It cuts the movie so that you can hardly get into it. Cut mistakes ? Looks like, since the most shocking transitions between the "inside" and "outside" of the city are the ones which occur during very interesting scenes of the "inside". Then, these parts aren't crap, they're just not inserted correctly.
You might regret discrete monsters too. They're unfortunately put aside the major part of the movie, and only give quick appearances, but good ones. There're also not enough types of them (only 4).
So after all this, why would I give it an 8 ? Well...
First of all, the "beauty" of the images. This has clearly been carefully worked out, with an impressive precision. The result is really magnificent. I can assure you, not only the sfx are barely detectable, but the lights and sets are undoubtedly REAL perfection ! The ambiances explored are kicking some asses too. The shots are also well-thought all the long, and i even read that, at the arrival in Silent Hill, they're nearly a copy/paste of the game. I feel like it's true, and that brings me to another quality: respect of the original game style.
Indeed, Gans has put a particular attention on getting the game's spirit transcribed to perfection. We can say he's failed in some ways (see the 3 points higher), but he did a great job anyway ! In fact, though the full game spirit isn't there at every level, most of it will punch you in the face like "see ? i'm a video game on the screen !"... for anyone who knows the game a bit, the film will ring a bell, like you've already seen that somewhere. I would also like to remember that the game itself is not about fear like we know it in any horror movie, but more like insanity, stress, or whatever, but not being frightened. So all these criticisms about "not a single fear" are just crap. It lacks a bit of frightening, that's right, but if you go see this movie for it, you're mistaking since it's absolutely not its purpose. You'll experience a new kind of "horror" movie. All this to say that some things might be absent or not consistent enough, but the very soul of Silent Hill was nearly caught with perfection, enough to say it's a success. When was the last time you saw a good game adaptation ? Never I guess. Well, see silent hill, you'll change your answer.
To finish with, let me tell you the OST is a jewel. It's highly due to the fact that most titles are from the game itself. Nevertheless, the rest of it fits too, making the soundtrack a pleasure for ears. A little black spot that made me sorry is there are sometimes musics that don't fit images, which obviously disturbs the spectator for few seconds.
So, to sum up, there are, as any movie, some defaults, but in the global, they drawn in an ocean of qualities that proof that Gans is capable of doing very good job. The problems of the film are small ones, whereas its qualities are to be appreciated to their true value. Gans tried his best to give the fans and himself a good adaptation that would satisfy both gamers and common public. This must have been hell hard, and was a real challenge. Sadly, nothing can be perfect, and silent hill doesn't dodge the rule, but for the first time, it gave us a movie from a game that respected the original, as i've never seen one before, and succeeds in getting it's own identity anyway. That's why it got an 8.