It's Silent Hill, but it isn't Silent Hill

Rating: 6/10 (22 April 2006)

I've got mixed feelings towards this film. I've eagerly awaited it's release ever since it was first announced.
The Silent Hill fan in me wanted me to love this movie, and the cinema fan in me told me otherwise, so I was quite torn while viewing the film.
Cinematically, it was a beautiful film. The sets were astonishing, the creatures were horrifically gorgeous, and the music was haunting (however, misused in some places, more on that later).
The films main problem is the script.
Oh, Avary. What happened? How the mighty have fallen.
The dialogue was horrendous. There were only a few lines that I really liked, and most of them were spoken by Dahlia. There were a few other lines scattered here and there that I liked ('mother is god in the eyes of a child' was one I really liked). The acting was also quite stiff and over the top, but that's mostly due to the poor dialogue that the actresses and actors were given. However, I was quite impressed with Jodelle Ferland's work. Quite impressed, indeed.
Now, from the perspective of a Silent Hill fan, this film was lacking. The story only took some ideas from the games, and then seemed to bastardize them. The whole cult thing didn't work well in the movie, and whenever they chanted "BURN THE WITCH," I could only think of a certain Crusades movie.
The film wasn't really boring, though. The moment we first see the Grey Children, my heart sank. I never feel anything physical during movies, but here, I did. The Patient Demon was also quite neat, as were the nurses.
But the best things about the film were the Janitor and Pyramid Head. Wow. That's all I have to say about them.
Now, let's discuss the music. While I LOVE Akira Yamaoka's works (listening to them right now), I felt some of it was misplaced during the film. They used the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack way too much, especially Promise and True. Music was just weird in certain parts, but in others, it was completely fitting (like Prayer as Pyramid Head approaches the church).
Well, in a nutshell, this film was somewhat of a disappointment. It may have looked great, but the plot was jumbled and the dialogue was weak.
Overall rating: 6/10