At last; a video game film adaptation that delivers the goods!

Rating: 10/10 (21 April 2006)

As a fan of the entire Silent Hill series of games, my first reaction to hearing that a film was in progress was "Oh, no!"
Hollywood has a history of making terrible messes of games that could be promising movie ideas. At best, they are usually popcorn fluff, mindless action (see the Resident Evil or Tomb Raider films for perfect examples of this - they are good at being what they are, but they could have been so much more), and at their worst, they do not resemble the games at all (see The Mario Bros. movie - a film so bad it's kind of good in its own way, but to be sure, is nothing like the games, costumes and names aside).
However, the more I learned about this particular adaptation, the more hope I gained. The trailers looked surprisingly good, and when I learned that Radha Mitchell (of Pitch Black) and Sean Bean (of The Fellowship of the Rings) were in it, I was quite excited. By opening night (tonight), I could hardly contain myself; I NEEDED this to be a good film.
I was not disappointed.
**Minor possible spoilers ahead - particularly for those who have played the game**
It mixes some elements from all of the games - the basic plot premise is that of the first game - missing child (with a female lead instead of a male), and even keeps most of the characters from the first film; Cybill, Dahlia, Alessa - Cheryl becomes "Sharon".
Although it takes some liberties with the story lines of the games, it could be considered canon to gamers. If this is so, several "explanations" of certain things are given. These may contradict or agree with different endings of the games, but the film is certainly just ambivalent enough to be open for a sequel, with Sean Bean having a much larger role than what he had in this one. That is really all I care to say, for fear of ruining anything.
Pyramid Head, of course, does not appear in the first game, but he is in the film, and I add; "thankfully", because just hearing the Great Knife scraping down a hallway sent shivers down my spine.
All in all, the film seemed to still fit the idea that Silent Hill 2 offers up; Silent Hill's reality is created by those who dwell within it. Also, I interpret the ending to this film as akin to the "bad ending" in the first game. Watch it and see if you agree with me. Then again, there are plot points that would contradict that...
*end possible spoilers*
I'll have to watch it again.
And that's how I felt - I wanted to go back, pay the $7.50 again and sit down and have another watch. I will most certainly be adding this to my DVD collection when it comes out.
Is it The Godfather? Is it Brazil? No, of course not. Why the 10 stars, then? Because I believe a film can only be judged based on what it is. You can't compare a horror flick to a crime drama or dystopian nightmare; apples and oranges. As a horror film, it stands up with the best of them: Jacob's Ladder, Event Horizon, The Shining (all films which obviously influenced the creators of the game series), etc.
I had a small problem with some of the CG, but all in all, it was quite well done. In particular, the nurses and Pyramid Head were extraordinary. Well done.