Take heed Tomb Raider , Resident Evil

Rating: 7/10 (11 June 2007)

The game to movie transition is riddled with failure as the title suggests and indeed it is easy to dismiss this off hand. Games like this are often viewed in isolation and the gamer will often take from the game his or her's own varying idea , as such they create their view of what the game is trying to say. The game of course is seen through your eyes , you control the character , you understand the motivations that you've created for the actions in the game. This for me is why games fail as films , because it destroys all thats been built between you and the character because it is another's view and they will , with games like Silent Hill find another perspective to explore and for me it can never really recreate the personal experience of a video game because you're no longer in control. They also fail if you decide to change the story (RESIDENT EVIL) so it only really has a base representation of the original story.
A film of Silent Hill is no surprise to me as the game is almost designed to an extent like a film. But one cannot be optimistic that the directors will stay true to the core ideas after all Resident Evil , Tomb Raider, Doom are abominations of films and frankly couldn't have been much worse. Silent Hill is different,it stays truer to game that any game to film conversion , the music is similar the camera work is actually based on camera movements from the game. The core storyline hasn't been changed into some savaged and frankly embarrassing version of the game's story. The lead character isn't a hero - she's a vulnerable women and far from a hero but is motivated by love. Its even set out in the same way , a car-crash on the edge of the town and a missing daughter. Some of the dialogue is strained after all much needs to be included as Silent Hill , the game , doesn't have nearly enough , hence the need for Sean Bean's role and the flashbacks. I genuinely found this film to be so much better than many think, the dialogue as I state before isn't great and I do question the story's use of Alessa and making it about revenge for her bullying - its a cross over of Carrie and the Salem witch trials - and frankly I feel I've heard this before although I did, to the films credit , find her 'sacrificial scene' incredibly disturbing but I felt a lot of the film lacked that genuine fear. It was more just guts and blood which betrays the game's essence somewhat. It does leave some questions but I think the idea that they had 'died' was established long ago and seemed an anti-climax but it fits into the game's storyline of mixed endings being available so it didn't turn into a love fest at the end , indeed it made me feel sorry for Sean Beans character and I could relate to him in some senses.
The film can never capture the fear of playing this game alone at night , the fear of the pyramid head , the static of the radio in a dark corridor, nor does it really try to capture the occult and darker sadistic needs of the human psyche but for me it makes a really decent change to the film/game genre that precedes it and I believe it can stand up on its own as a decent film. I think if you're a fan you'll definitely want to see this.