Game Over

Rating: 4/10 (22 April 2006)

The newest addition to the ever increasing video game turned movie list, "Silent Hill" opened everywhere on April 21st. It is easily one of the most impressive movies on that list, but sadly that doesn't say much. This film had potential, but squanders it all with a predictable storyline, shallow characters, horrible dialog, lack of scares, mediocre acting, repetitive scenes and ridiculous plot twists.
The cinematic adaptation of "Silent Hill" opens with a chase sequence. A woman named Rose is chasing her sleepwalking daughter, Sharon, to the edge of a rocky cliff. When the girl finally comes back to reality she is screaming "Silent Hill!!" Seeing as this is a horror movie, it is not surprising to find out that Sharon turns out to be adopted from an orphanage in West Virginia where Rose locates a ghost town called Silent Hill. So, despite the foreboding websites, Rose decides to take Sharon to Silent Hill in hopes of setting her daughter's mind at ease.
On the way to Silent Hill, an officer named Cybil Bennett who wears what looks to be an unusually form-fitting police uniform tries to pull Rose over, but Rose can't stop now, she's too close! So, she puts the pedal to the metal and speeds towards the town of silent hill, not even slowing when the car is consumed in a dense fog. However, she does swerve when she sees something moving ahead of her resulting in a painful looking bump on the head. She awakes hours later, alone in her car, in what appears to be another dimension where white fog and falling ash is always on the forecast. She sees the welcome sign and realizes that she has arrived. Now, to find her daughter
Normally I'd go into more depth with the plot up to a certain point, but that pretty much covers everything. The remaining hour and a half simply follows Rose as she runs from place to place in search of her elusive daughter. What we know about the characters is what I've told you, there is nothing deeper, no background, nothing at all to help the viewer relate to the characters and get somewhat involved in the horrors unfolding around them.
The film does a superb job at creating the town of Silent Hill and the various demons that dwell within it. The special effects used to transform the decaying daytime town into a hellish nightmare are great and the monsters are some of the most disturbingly realistic creations ever put on film. There's no denying that this is a pleasing film for the eyes, but it is a completely different story for the ears and mind.
The dialog arouses more laughs than thought, particularly when the few residents of Silent Hill begin rambling on about witchcraft, religion and danger and the only thing you can think about is why Rose keeps chasing something that looks like Sharon, but is clearly not. The actors do what they can, but the script doesn't give them much to work with. Radha Mitchell, who plays Rose has a moment in which some talent shines through, but it's brief. Like most horror heroines, Rose blindly puts herself in one terrifying situation after another. There's no denying that she is scared, but the same cannot be said for the theater audience. There are not even any "cheap scares," every monster comes slowly and from a distance giving Rose and the audience ample time to prepare.
This film is very faithful to the games, but fails in instilling the psychological horror that the game does so well. This film has the entertainment value of watching somebody else play as you gradually grow annoyed because their turn is lasting too long. The obvious is clarified (I found this thing from a hotel, Sharon must be there) but the mystifying is left unexplained. By the end, I didn't even know who was who and I doubt it would have made sense even if I did. It seemed like a lot of things were being done for no other purpose than to generate an epic spectacle, but ultimately it's a little pointless when all of the characters feel disposable. Some great visuals are not enough to redeem a movie that fails in every other sense. 4/10 stars