A bad movie, an even worse interpretation of the source material

Rating: 3/10 (24 April 2006)

For the people who say this is the best movie they've ever seen, etc, I say to them...this must also be the only movie you've ever seen.
The movie on its own makes no sense. If you go in with a knowledge of the series its even worse because Gans changes so much of the story you can't figure out what's what.. The entire plot is full of holes and time line problems, not mention atrocious dialogue and bad acting from Radha Mitchell. It might have been that her character was written just that poorly, but she certainly didn't do anything with it to make it better.
The movie does have its bright spots. Gans did a wonderful job with the sets and with the creatures. Those were spot-on, and probably worth the matinée admission for fans of the game series. Just know that the outcome will not resemble what was presented as the story in the game, and no matter how many ways you look at it...it will not make sense. The little girl did a good job in this one as well, aside from playing Sharon like a whiny 3 year old instead of the 9 year old she was supposed to be. That was probably Gans' fault though.
Easily the highlight of the movie was the Pyramid Head character. Unfortunately he was on screen too seldom and with no explanation as to what he was or why he was there, and he pretty much was wasted in this one.
I think its fair to say that Gans and Avary almost entered Paul Anderson territory with the treatment they gave to the SH story. Almost. Anderson's butchering of the Resident Evil story was still worse though, but Avary seemed to want to give Anderson's screenplay a run for the title.
Finally, for the people who say that a good movie will leave you wondering at the end, will leave you to your imagination to fill in the blanks...well, kind of. Think of Memento and Sixth Sense, movies that did this well. Those had good scripts and good acting and good directing. Silent Hill leaves you guessing because it had none of those elements, it makes no sense at all. It contradicts itself, it talks circles around itself, and no amount of spin can change that. Its just not a good movie. It deserves every bad review it gets. The fact that the studio refused to advance screen it for critics should be clue enough that even Sony knew this movie was bad.
I can only hope that there is a movie version of Silent Hill 2 made, and whomever helms it LEAVES THE STORY ALONE!