"It's OK. Everything will be alright. I promise."

Rating: 6/10 (21 April 2006)

I've never been one to blacklist any genre or type of film. The closest I can think of would be musicals, but that's just me.
The "video game" crossover film is a close second but it still won't keep me from seeing them. Granted, 80% of the "vidgame" flicks are downright awful like Super Mario Brothers and the Resident Evil films.
Enter "Silent Hill".
I've never played the game but only for a few minutes and I liked it but, unfortunately, never went back to it. I played it because it was a survivor horror game and those are my favorites.
It's not easy to convert a game into a coherent story but since the experienced and talented Roger Avary translated it to the screen I went and saw it. Oh, and I think the talented Radha Mitchell and Laurie Holden are hot too. That helps.
Much like the games, a lot of the characters run around, run away or walk towards doors and corners. This is mostly what all the characters do for the first half of the film. This is what hollows out the characters. They are very one dimensional and at times just plain dumb. All the interaction (few and far between) is very simple and formulaic. Lines like "It's OK. Everything will be alright." over and over again don't hold much in terms of their personalities and lends little to the story.
But this isn't Shakespeare. And it's not supposed to be, but there has to be a certain level of "smarts" in dialog and character. The only solid figure is the Mother who is, obviously, the main character of the story and she has a few good moments that are dumbed down by bad dialog. This hinders the actors' abilities at times, making them look a tad awkward or frustrated at the lines and people they're trying to portray.
Unfortunately, the studio was not happy about Avary's original story that had a only female line up, so the father figure and the cop were added. (What's wrong with all female lead characters?) Perhaps this might've hindered the original story arch or maybe it didn't. Sean Bean's character is rather interesting but doesn't add a lot to the story. Although he could've provided more with what he discovers, but he never reveals anything substantial to the plot from his findings.
Remember also, that this is a "horror" film and I didn't move once from my seat. At no point was there a scare to be found. Given there were some great looking "demons" about (aside from the nurse rejects from the "Thriller" music video) there was still no tension from them at all aside from some "twisting" here and there. It seemed to me that this was more of a mood piece than anything else and that seemed more appropriate.
Lastly, it was too long. It seemed at times that a lot of the scenes were repetitive and took its time showing the effects but that's just a small peeve really.
Well, those were my negatives. Here are some positives.
Production design. It is staggering the amount of time and detail put into the town and its hellish bowels. The ash flakes alone were cool. The "edge" of the town and all the effects are top notch and give the film a great visceral feel. It's both creepy and unnerving. The church itself is monstrous and ominous.
The cinematography is very well done giving insight and terror in the rust, blood, wood, flesh and metal scattered through out the buildings and people. The darkness in the film is well contrasted and balanced. The numerous crane shots were a bit much but most were effect. I especially liked the aerial view photography (mostly computerized) of the chase sequence.
Jeff Danna & Akira Yamaoka score a great score giving the film a great ambiance combining coolness and creepiness into haunting melodies.
Lastly, the one thing that most people go to see it- the blood. It is one seriously bloody film. I lost count of the times Radha Mitchell was splattered with blood. It's not a slasher film, but it looks to have spent as much on corn syrup than most slasher films do. It's excessive but it works well in terms of the tone and that is always appreciated.
Over all, its actually one of the best vgf's (Video Game to Film) ever made, but it definitely needed a rewrite and another round by the film editor. That would've made this quite the freaky lil' flick that it could've been.