The Good, the Bad, and the Half Hour Too Long

Rating: 5/10 (21 April 2006)

I'll preface this by noting that I never played the video game... not that it would make a difference in what I thought of the movie. Someone might care about that.
The Good: Interesting visual effects, plentiful gore and shock value, generally good mood.
The Bad: Some really wooden acting at key climactic moments, waaaaay too predictable when a twist wood have been nice. Experienced horror fans will see the ending coming no more than half an hour into the movie.
The Half Hour Too Long: We could have done without a couple of the preachier, hackneyed speeches and the over-the-top pipe organ music. Seriously, some parts of this movie come off as pretentious and just slow the whole thing down. That's too bad; the pacing in this is pretty good, and certainly no time is wasted in getting to the horror part of the story. There's not much build-up at the beginning, so slowing things down with long speeches about faith and deception really don't wash here.
All in all, it's not the worst thing that's come along lately (hint: it's head-and-shoulders above "Stay Alive"), but it could easily have been a whole lot better and more interesting. Still, some of the best use of barbed wire and hooks since "Hellraiser," the best burn victim since Freddy Kruger, and an ending that won't disappoint gore hounds.