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Directed by: Christophe Gans Starring: Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean I thought this movie was pretty good. There is a lot of hype (especially on these forums) surrounding the Silent Hill movie, and that, combined with my love of the source material, may have caused me to be let down a little. This film does a lot of things right. There are no "boo" scares, none of the usual horror film cliches, and, most importantly, the director captured the feelings of tension and atmospheric horror that makes the games so enjoyable. The acting is mostly good, which is a plus, but it means that the rough spots stick out more than they might have ordinarily. I did have some problems with the film. Obviously, you can't make a movie that's exactly like the games. No one would want to sit through 6+ hours of going through every room checking every nook and cranny for handgun ammo and cryptic letters and journal entries. On the other hand, running through every scene with little to no attention to subtlety or detail can leave an audience feeling disoriented. I recognize that there is a tough balancing act here, especially for this type of film, but the pacing came off feeling quite uneven. The beginning is a very slow burn, the middle almost feels like The Fast and the Furious 4, and the end, which is a return to the first act in terms of pacing, leaves you with more questions than answers. Although this is true to the games in many respects, I can't help but feel like people unfamiliar with the games would wonder what the point of it all was. As you probably know, the story in this film is original. Many characters and locations from the games, particularly the first two, are used here, and it was tough to reconcile my pre-existing knowledge of the people and places with what was being presented on screen. I'm not sure if a familiarity with the series would help or hinder your ability to comprehend what's going on, but I'd have to say that it was the latter for me. Overall, I think this is a solid movie, and a worthy investment of your X dollars. If you haven't bought into the hype, or you have no idea what this Silent Hill thing is about, you will probably come out with an opinion more favorable than mine. RATING: 4 PROS: good special effects, cinematography, sound, some of the acting CONS: some of the acting, the plot is sometimes convoluted or poorly presented ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384537/
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Apr 21, 2006 21:50
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I really enjoyed this movie. I didnt play any of the games, so I wasnt worried about noticing plotholes and such, but I went for this movie to see some gory scenes and general creepiness. The acting wasnt too bad, and the main actress made me feel scared for her during this whole ordeal. The end scene is loving amazing. I was very happy with this movie. Rating: 5.0
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Apr 21, 2006 23:08
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I really didn't enjoy this at all. Nothing scared me or even made me feel remotely tense. The acting is awful and the dialogue is worse. The plot is convoluted and full of holes. It plays out like a linear video game, not a movie. The special effects were decent enough, but that's hardly a compliment for films now. Rating: 1.5
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Apr 21, 2006 23:20
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As an avid fan of the games, I went in with high expectations. If you didn't know already from the hype on the forums, the director is as much into it as your average fanboy, possibly more. Although there are some major differences, I have to say one thing to fans of the franchise: Don't worry. Christophe Gans totally "gets" Silent Hill. The atmosphere is perfect. The cinematography is also perfect. The setting is perfect; not once did I ever doubt that this was taking place in Silent Hill. The music is straight out of the games. You know that camera shot in the first game where you're going around a corner with a Zippo lighter and the camera raises as you enter the scene, then lowers as you exit? That's in there, in fact that whole sequence is almost shot-for-shot. The monsters are awesome, and the shifting between worlds works really well, dividing the movie up into easily digestible sections. There are easily recognizable elements from at least the first two games and some of the third. They also really nailed the proper amount of tension (the air raid sirens always came in at just the right moments). The final couple acts of the film are also awesome, and I loved the final scene, which is told more with looks and expressions than dialogue. Also, stay after the ending, because the animated sequence in the end credits rules. SO much about this movie is perfect if you're a Silent Hill fan. So rather than harp on about what it does well (which is a huge portion of the film), it's easier to explain what I didn't like: The script. In general. Roger Avary really missed the boat on this one. Though to be fair, it's about as clunky as the games. My biggest problem with the film is that I really disliked the lengthy explanation. I was hoping it'd be a little more vague, actually. I think they made the same mistake as Event Horizon did, where late in the film a character shows up and basically explains the whole thing to you, and why everything is happening. I'd have preferred that if they needed to spoonfeed the audience like that, that they did it in Christopher's scenes instead; having him uncover the truth so that his scenes had a bit more meaning. Had they reworked that scene, the film would've worked. Instead, Christopher's role serves no purpose at all. Otherwise my only gripe was not enough monsters. They really did a good job making the monsters look incredible, so why not show that off a little more? As it stands, there's really only one scene with the nurses, one scene with the straitjackets, one scene with the 'greychildren', and a few with good ol' PH. Suffice to say, if you're going just to see PH you'll be disappointed; he's in very little of it. But I will say this much, when he IS on screen, it's a great presence. It did have some pacing issues too, but I was never bored. Though I do think they could've cut some scenes and lengthened some others. Other movie criteria: Story: My like for the story had its ups and downs at some points. First I loved it, then toward the end I thought it got really weird. Then I really liked it again at the very end. Acting: The main characters are very well acted. Rose and Cybil are believable, Dahlia is great, and the little girl is fairly creepy. The minor characters for the most part are pretty good, though a few just...weren't. Script: Some of the dialogue isn't very good, but much of that is in the delivery (but hey, look at the source material). Most I had no problem with. One script point that I particularly liked was that Cybil is human, instead of being all tough. After seeing PH and the world-shifting, she actually does a literal  instead of bravely facing what's going on. Dahlia's dialogue was also really cool, and a lot of Alessa's lines were creepy.Gore: Kept fairly to a minimum, but when it's there, it's really visceral. Some of it pleasantly surprised me, some didn't faze me a bit (though not much does). Overall: -As a horror film, it's not bad. It's sufficiently atmospheric and creepy, but I wouldn't call it "scary". It's scary in the same way Se7en was scary. -As a general mainstream film, it might not catch on but it's a worthy effort. -As a video game adaptation film, it completely blows away all the other adaptations I've seen before. Though that's not saying much. I thought it was impressive for the most part, but suffered from a few really glaring issues. Aside from the "big long explanation scene" and the nonsensical weirdness toward the end, it's a very stylish and fun film. It could've done a lot better, but it could've been a lot worse too. Grade: 3.5 Bonk fucked around with this message at 01:56 on Jul 7, 2011 |
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Apr 22, 2006 00:34
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I only had two major gripes. First being that the dialogue sucked almost all of the time. I love the games, and I understand the dialogue sucks in the games, but I hate the fact that the dialogue sucks in the games too. If its a stylized choice, I think its a poor one, and one that doesn't translate well to film. But thats just my opinion. I also thought even though all of the music was loving awesome all the time, I thought the placement sort of sucked. There was music playing over almost all of the movie. I was getting pretty tired of hearing the piano piece over a mom and daughter scene again and again. Outside of that, the movie kicked huge rear end. They did a great job creating a new story that pulled from the originals and the imagery was some of the most loving amazing and disturbing imagery I've ever seen. The entire sequence when the darkness takes over the school was incredible. No matter where she went, there was poo poo that was going to kill her everywhere, it was so intense. And then Pyramid Head just steps out of the door from nowhere? Oh man. In-tense.
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Apr 22, 2006 01:05
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I'm going to agree with basically everything Bonk said. The atmosphere and monsters were near perfect. I think that this should be the main reason to see the movie. The only thing that I didn't like was the lengthy exposition. After having gone through it, I wasn't in the mood for the final church scene anymore. This is the only thing keeping me from giving a 5. Rating: 4 invivo fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Apr 23, 2006 |
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Apr 22, 2006 02:47
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The movie was okay. The plot was good in some spots, the acting was good in some spots. But the plot was poo poo in some spots, and the acting was poo poo in some spots. A couple scenes really stuck out the bathroom scene with Colin but some scenes stuck out like a sore thumb oval office barbwire rape. All in all, pyramidhead was cool, but needed more time to be cool; and the movie was just merely okay.
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Apr 22, 2006 03:04
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Looking back on this movie, I realize it was not nearly as bad as it seemed at first. It's still bad, but it has its redeeming qualities. Visually, this film is absolutely amazing, demonstrating Christophe Gans amazing vision as well as successfully honoring the incredible art design from the game. It is able to capture very well all the things that made the game great, but the problems start when the characters open their mouths. The structure of the plot is set up like a short, lame 2 hour video game. They travel from one clue to the next without anything real happening, and build to a nonsensical cheesy exposition laden ending. The overwrought melodrama of the last 30 minutes of the movie and the absolute gibberish explanation of everything that's going on is just painful and embarrassing to watch. As a rabid fanboy of the games, I loved the movie. As a fan of movies in general, I wanted my money back. 2/5
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Apr 22, 2006 03:06
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I really enjoyed the movie, but the witch direction had a bit too much of the plot wrapped up. I will say this though, when the movie was going on all cylinders it gave me that itchy uncomfortable feeling that only a horror movie that's really working can. Like the first time you hear the siren and it goes black. Also, any theories about the end would be welcome!
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Apr 22, 2006 03:27
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I've never played the game, but I thought the movie was great. The opening scenes with Rose wandering the town with ash coming down, and the scene where she's descending a staircase and the air-raid siren starts going off and everything gets black was great. As a matter of fact, that air-raid siren makes everything more scary in my opinion. The only complaint I have is that Sean Bean didn't have nearly enough to do in this movie. He's a great actor, and I would have liked to see more scenes with him in it. I'd like to hear exactly what was supposed to have at the end, because I really didn't get it, I guess because I've never played the game. 4.0/5.0
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Apr 22, 2006 03:49
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Just got back from the theatre, and I thought the movie did a GREAT job paying homage to the series... I've only played SH2 but definitely saw a lot of references and I'm sure there are tons more I don't know about. On the other hand, I don't know if I liked the story or not. I thought it moved at a decent pace and had an interesting backstory, but the ending threw me off. I also don't see how Pyramid Head tied into the story at all. In SH2, PH was a manifestation of James' mind, created to "punish" him for what he did to Mary. In the movie, it seemed that Pyramid Head was put in just for the sake of doing so. Sure, his scenes were awesome, but I don't see how he was relevant to the little girl's burning. Visual effects were very good, especially the transformation of the town and the creatures that it created. Acting was decent, but, come on, it was drat cheesy at times. The music was perfect because it was all yanked directly from the games, except for "Ring of Fire" (I think). To go along with what other posters have said: If you like the game then it's good. If you're going to just see it as a movie, then it's mediocre at best. 3.5/5.0 e: were there a shitload of fat kids at everyone elses theatre? Laminator fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Apr 22, 2006 |
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Apr 22, 2006 04:25
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I found this impossibly slow, with terrible acting and no suspense or action - two things a horror movie should have at least. The ending was also the worst I've seen in years. 1/5
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Apr 22, 2006 04:54
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Silent Hill is a bad film with many good elements. No, that's too harsh, but not entirely wrong. It wears all its flaws (numerous, though mostly trivial) on its sleeve, and you can tell that despite them, everyone involved in the project believes fervently in its worthiness as an adaptation and original work - and they try hard to convince you. They didn't succeed in convincing Sony executives, however, who pulled all early screenings for the only reason you do such a thing - they didn't like what they were selling. After watching it I can see why - this is a movie with problems, and a movie not made for easy consumption. Rose Da Silva (Radha Mitchell) takes her daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) to a deserted West Virginia town called Silent Hill in the hopes that she'll find the answers to her daughter's deteriorating mental state. Before she makes it there, she's involved in an accident, and then drawn into the horrible dual reality of Silent Hill. The town transforms around her from a ruined American heartland into a nightmare world in what are easily the film's strongest moments - the points at which it relies on nothing but its amazing ability to throw around visions of hellish landscapes and twisted demons. The effects work and atmosphere in these scenes (and the effects work in the film as a whole) is truly fantastic. Rose's husband Christopher (Sean Bean) essentially cameos in the movie as he wanders around finding out information about the disaster that befell Silent Hill 30 years ago - information which will be delivered again in a ham-fisted "explain everything" scene that makes his fact-finding missions pointless for the viewer, which is all the more painful as they're mostly ruined by the acting of Kim Coates, who plays police officer Thomas Gucci. The game's enigmatic character Dahlia Gillespe is split into two for the film, with Deborah Kara Unger playing the old crone bereft of her child and Alice Krige putting in a good performance as Christabella, the mad leader of the town's fanatical cult. The script is slightly unnatural and the delivery forced at parts - which is better than the games, whose script and delivery are always abysmal. Intercutting the excellent scenes of Rose in the midst of the nightmare she is trapped in with Christopher's search for her weakens the impact of those scenes as the tension they try to generate is repeatedly broken. Rose's motivations and behaviour are almost never forced or contrived, unlike Officer Cybil Bennett (Laurie Holden) who accompanies her to Silent Hill and without exception makes monumentally absurd decisions. The film is easily the most faithful adaptation of a game yet, and bears with it all the problems that implies - a "find this, go there" progression, nods to series fans that make little impact on first-time viewers, and (not to insult the games) a heavy focus on aesthetic and mood over making rational and believable characters. But, then again, the only character director Christopher Gans is really concerned with is the town itself - the majestic, hellish centerpiece of the movie that holds it together and lifts it above boring horror fare to create a memorably enjoyable, if flawed, movie. No numbers. I couldn't give this a * out of five without watching it a few more times.
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Apr 22, 2006 05:12
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I liked the art direction- a lot. Although, it sort of took away from the mood that I recognized downtown Brantford in some shots. The plot I did not get whatsoever. Nothing made any god damned sense, not why she's there, not what's going on, not why her husband is in Silent Hill without incident, not what all those different people were (including the crying nurse with no eyes), and especially not the ending. The only thing I can guess is that either one of the couple is dead, or insane. The only sympathetic character I found was Cybil, and then her actions after the elevator made no loving sense to me. Also, what was the point of all the other little oddities (the zombie spitters, the ashen children, the nurses, etc)? If this movie had a plot that was more than "woman has a crazy kid and goes to this town which is totally tripping balls", I would have probably enjoyed it more. I left the movie feeling angry. I shouldn't have to feel angry after seeing what I was hoping to be a competent thriller. As a 2 hour art film, it's great. As a story telling device, it fails 2/5 Oxidizing Material fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Apr 22, 2006 |
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Apr 22, 2006 05:25
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I'm vaguely familiar with the games, having watched friends play through segments of them. Based on what little I know, I was impressed with the adherence to the pace, mood, and visual style of the games. For any fan of Hellraiser-esque macabre horror, it seriously delivers a lot of the time. The scenes with the monsters (especially the notorious Pyramid Head) are tense and creepy and visually impressive. In fact, most of what happens in Silent Hill is very engaging, thanks to a great score, creative camera work, and the great care that is taken to maintain the tone. The major shortcoming of the film is that so much happens outside of Silent Hill. There is an out-of-town subplot that, while not entirely worthless, takes up too much screen time and disrupts the otherwise steady pace in some really unfortunate places. It does lead to a satisfying conclusion, but it could have done so without being so obtrusive. A few brief scenes where the two plotlines connect are effective, but there are too many times when they don't connect, or worse, when the subplot simply restates what the main plot says. As a result the movie ends up being a little too long and a little too slow. I think the director's attachment to the material kept him from realizing that a number of scenes should have been cut. Overall I'd say this is not a great movie, but a halfway decent movie with enough really cool scenes to make it worth seeing once if you're into that kind of thing. It's a major step in the right direction for video game adaptations, but it could have been better. 3/5
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Apr 22, 2006 05:57
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I went in to the theater with high expectations and left knowing that there are silent hill fans forming the world's largest circle-jerk right now. I never played the games but I did watch other people play them, and those seem to be the people who loved this movie. I didn't. It's a good thing I managed to get one of those handicapped seats in the theater because I had plenty of room to stretch my legs and take a nap. Fandango took $10 of my money that I'll never see again. 2/5.5 Robert Downey Jr. fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Apr 22, 2006 |
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Apr 22, 2006 06:34
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I'm a huge fan of the Silent Hill video games and this movie didn't let me down a bit. The CG, like said above, is fantastic. All the monters look fantastic, especially the nurses and everyone's favorite pyramid head. The dialouge was a bit painful towards the beginning. Example: "It looks like there was a fire here!" upon entering a burned out building after 30 minutes of being told there was a city-wide fire that destroyed everything. It got off to a kind of slow start, I think, but once it picks up, it stays heavy and culminates in a fantastic climax and a very Silent Hill-esque ending. No happy rainbows and flowers here. When I heard they were making a Silent Hill movie, I had almost no hope that it would be good. Seeing the final product today, I was pleased. Definitely has a very Silent Hill vibe, great effects and amazing music. Any fan of the series owes it to themself to see this movie. PROS: -Great CG Effects -Amazing music -Very atmospheric -Tons of things for fans of the games to pick up on CONS: -Some pretty weak acting here and there -Also some pretty weak dialouge occasionally -Some parts of the movie might be lost on people who havent played the game -Slow to start I'd give it a 4.5/5
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Apr 22, 2006 06:51
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Christophe Gans does totally "get" Silent Hill. Every monster and scene in the movie has some kind of significance and deeper meaning. And not Matrix style faux-deep, just pure double meanings. I thought the first hour and ten minutes of the movie were the best parts. There's a clear point in the movie where you can see the crazy unexplained poo poo ending and the actual story beginning. I almost would have prefered the story be a similar, but entirely different tale than a retelling of the first game, because the movie is so good it feels like it could have been another game. As it is, it can't be considered canon in the Silent Hill universe. The out of town subplot was out of place an broke up the pacing of the main plot, which was already slow in places. I've heard rumors that the producers were told to put some male characters in because there were none in the original script. This is the most likely explanation for why the two plotlines barely intertwine. Pyramid Head was awesome to see, but don't expect anything more from him than a guest appearance. 3.5/5
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Apr 22, 2006 06:56
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I had high expectations. Everyone above me has said what I would post as far as great images, uneeded pyramid head, hi-tense situations and the like. I just wish they had cut Sean Beam's part of the movie that was pointlss and stupid. Why do we care about him slowly figuring stuff out when they are just going to blab the entire story line to us. Also, the best line in the movie. "HAVE YOU READ THE WEBSITES?" 3/5 Pros:Really loving good Cons: I feel like they think we the movie going crowd are retards. We don't need everything spelt out for us. And if we do, images will suffice without the banter of an 8 year old girl.
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Apr 22, 2006 07:07
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This was an excellent movie, in and of itself. I simply don't see the flaws some reviewers are pointing out. The dialogue isn't that bad compared with other Hollywood offerings, and not much of the plot hinges on it anyway. The only way the plot doesn't make sense is if you weren't paying attention. The guy I went with had never played the games, and he "got" everything. The only major detraction was the exposition scene, which could have been done without, and the inclusion of the nurse character. If they were going to do so little with her, they could have just left her out. Finally, the ending is unconventional and surprising - one of the best endings I've seen in years. 4.5/5
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Apr 22, 2006 07:16
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I've just come back from it. I'm a really big fan of the games (the first two, anyway), and I've been excited about this ever since I learned that Gans was directing. I'll agree with what a lot of people said about acting and pacing; the scenes with Sean Bean were added in later in the story process, after studio types noticed that Gans's original had no men in major roles, and it really does show. The plot exposition and a lot of the ending were very lackluster, made even more so by the fact that the child narrating them has little skill at emoting. As an atmospheric horror, however, this film really shines, and as a video game movie, it's incredibly faithful to the source material, in style if not in strict storyline. I voted 4/5. Would've gone higher if it'd had a better last part.
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Apr 22, 2006 07:45
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I have never played a Silent Hill game, despite being a big Konami fan, so I came into this movie with an idea behind what to expect but as a whole I am pretty much the casual movie-goer. I'm not a huge fan of horror movies and quite frankly no movie has ever scared me. With that said, from my point of view, Silent Hill isn't a very scary movie. On the other hand it also had some incredible visual effects, blowing away quite a few movies I've seen lately. The monsters and the style of the artwork used in the movie was mind-blowing and simulated a nightmare very accurately. I felt my stomach churn a few times when I saw the pyramid head guy come out with his sword. The movie was paced very well from the start, but as it neared the end, just like the typical epic-video game, it fell into a part in the story where they just sit down and explain everything to you. This was unfortunately very ill-played and quite corny. The finale of the movie gave us one last epic moment of CG goodness which, unfortunately ended up being a bit over-done and pretty stupid. But, like a video game, the ending of this movie isn't what holds the fort...it's the experience altogether. I'll cut it some slack. And with that said, the movie was pretty satisfactory and is worth at least one watch. Before I finish this brief review, I'd like to say that I really, really liked the music. It reminded me a lot of work done by the band Portishead and I think I will definately be buying the soundtrack. 3/5.5 Wickedcapedkid fucked around with this message at 09:15 on Apr 22, 2006 |
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Apr 22, 2006 09:13
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I played and enjoyed the original Silent Hill game. I was hoping for the best with this movie. Turns out it was the worst movie I've seen in the theater in about a year. I hated nearly everything about it. I hated EVERY SINGLE character. Especially the main ones. The lines they delivered were so stilted and cheesy. My audience laughed at many of the clunky lines. Took me right out of the movie. Many of you talk about atmosphere. There was none. The only atmosphere I ever felt was only when I could recall back to playing the game, and the mood I got from THAT experience. For instance, when the sky goes black and everything goes bad, I didn't get creeped out. Rather, I thought back to how creeped out I was 8 years ago during the same point in the game. The plot structure. Oh my loving God. This was borderline Uwe Boll territory, people. The plot got so lame halfway through, it was laughable... literally - after about the 90 minute mark, nearly every single "exciting" event got a laugh from the audience, myself included. The actors in the cult were probably the lamest thing I've seen in a while. All of the "She's a witch! Buuuurn her!!" crap was right out of a bad made for Sci-Fi channel movie. And no, the movie was NOT scary in the least. It had a handful of seemingly disturbing images (like the weird guy in the bathroom). However, in the context of the movie, there was nothing disturbing about them. It was just a bombardment of strange poo poo. No tension building, no subtlety, just in-your-face "Look how scary this guys is!!" moments. It all came off very forced and un-scary. And then there was the lovely rear end CGI. Why, why, why, WHY THE gently caress can't we start seeing some decent looking computer effects in horror movies? It's loving 2006! This poo poo is getting so old. It's like people have become so accepting of bad CG that movie makers don't even try to improve it. There were so many instances of spotty CG in Silent Hill, it'd be hard to name them all. The one that stood out the most to me was the hoard of cg-bugs that followed Pyramid Head around. When he showed up onscreen, I thought to myself "Well there's Pyramid head surrounded by a bunch of cg... something." The CG is so distinct that I noticed the effect before I noticed what the effect was trying to create. I guess they were beetles or something, I dunno. All I saw a big blob of CG crap. This was bothersome throughout the entire movie. Yep, I have nothing good to say about this movie. To be honest, I'm really surprised to see so many people saying they liked it. Oh well, to each his own. 0.5/5
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Apr 22, 2006 09:44
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I could not possibly agree with caiman less. My main complaint about the film is that the audience I was in was a bunch of loving mouthbreathing retards. It made it hard to stay immersed in the film when fat LARP nerd behind me kept talking or frat boy birthday party in front of me kept cracking idiotic jokes or making fart noises. This is a movie that will divide its viewers with stark polarity. You will either "get it" and enjoy it like my friends and I did, or you will think you get it and hate it. For those of you that asked why Pyramid Head was in this movie, I'll explain. Pyramid Head represents violent sexuality. He is everything bad about the male sex drive at its worst, and everything about him is a reference to that. He walks and stands with his pelvis jutted forward. He bears a massive violent, phallic object for a head. He wields a disproportionately large blade. His movements suggest aggressive male sexuality, like when he's thrusting the greatknife in and out of the door. In Silent Hill 2 he represented the main character's repressed and growing sexual frustration. In the movie, he represents the violation of Elissa by the janitor. Pyramid Head is the personification of her rape. He's exactly how she would remember it in her nightmares. He's massive, impossibly powerful, inescapable, terrifying, unknowable, inhuman, and a grotesque parody of an adult male. Being a construct of her mind, his behavior is informed by that perception. I will tell you right now that after he ripped that one woman's clothing and skin off, he went right on to do some other things they couldn't show you on film. As for those of you that asked what the end meant, I'll give my interpretation. The dark part of Elissa joined back with Sharon because Sharon opened her eyes, and the eyes are the window to the soul. Because of this, a piece of the dead girl was given a body that could leave Silent Hill. Unfortunately, the dead can get to, at best, the Purgatory version of Silent Hill (the three parts being Real World Silent Hill, Purgatory Silent Hill, and Hell Silent Hill). Because Rose took one of the spirits outside the bounds of Purgatory Silent Hill, Purgatory just extended its boundaries. As long as Rose holds on to the past (her daughter that doesn't really exist), she can never leave limbo. Her and Sharon will just haunt their house forever, and Chris will eventually become desperate enough to return to Silent Hill. When he first went, he could only access Real World Silent Hill, because he had no special connection or tortured past. Now he'll have both, and will find Purgatory Silent Hill. I loved the movie. Hope those explanations helped.
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Apr 22, 2006 10:46
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"As a 2 hour art film, it's great. As a story telling device, it fails" 5/5 If it succeeded in telling a story it would not be a good movie, its few stumbles were precisely when it tried to be more of a storytelling device and give some coherence and character motivations to the plot, that doesn't mean they should have had a different story, just that they shouldn't have tried to explain it! also, I agree with SlimGoodboy's explanations orborborb fucked around with this message at 11:06 on Apr 22, 2006 |
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Apr 22, 2006 10:48
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Ok, I didn't like this movie that much. I haven't played any of the games, but I expected to be scared when I saw this, since everyone said the games were really scary. Secondly, I thought the acting was atrocious in some places, mostly scenes with the daughter. The sound effects (also certain parts of the score) bothered me throughout the movie as well, as they didn't really serve the movie in any way. If they were there to build tension or whatever, I think it went over my head. I was just annoyed by some of them. But the biggest drawback of this movie was that it felt like I was watching the projectionist play a video game. Shots, angles, dialogue and so forth seemed like they were pulled directly from the games. If I hadn't known this movie was based on a game, I could've figured it out by watching the cinematography. I also sighed heavily when they started explaining the whole movie. I don't want to be spoon fed everything. Pros include some pretty good gore, especially toward the end. But other than that, there's not really much that redeems this movie. 2.5 Iroqouiz fucked around with this message at 11:48 on Apr 22, 2006 |
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Apr 22, 2006 11:35
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This was one of the worst movies I've paid money to see in the past few years. Going by the previews (and never having played the video games), myself and the people I was with thought we were going to see a horror movie. What we ended up getting was something that started off like a horror movie and then trainwrecked into something not even remotely scary (and really, I don't think it was even trying to be) and completely ridiculous, to the point where nearly everyone in the theater was laughing as the head of that wacky cult got sliced apart by the barbed wire tentacles. One thing I initially liked about the movie was that it didn't waste any time getting to Silent Hill. Probably within the first 15-20 minutes (perhaps even less; I didn't time it) the main character is already being chased by weird little burnt zombie children. Then I realized that such a short amount of time had passed from the start of the movie and I began to wonder how they were going to keep this type of suspense up for the remainder of the film. The answer, I quickly found out, was that they weren't. After the aforementioned scene ends, the movie becomes a "follow the creepy little girl's clues and see some wacky poo poo along the way, like in The Ring". I'm not going to fault the movie too much for that, though, because for all I know that's what the games might've been all about and possibly predated The Ring. While the visuals were neat (I really liked the Hell version of Silent Hill), by the end the violence is flat out gratuitous. Did we really need to watch the cop's face get burnt off for 30 seconds? The amount of gore was so absurd that, like I said in the beginning, most of the theater was laughing while characters on screen are getting shred to pieces. I'm thinking this is because by the time the pyramid head dude rips off the girl's skin, you're so innoculated against all this violence and blood that it just loses all of its dramatic effect. The characters (and the acting) were pretty laughable, but it's not like they were working with Grade A material to begin with. The main character has absolutely zero decision making skills whatsoever ("LET'S INEXPLICABLY RUN FROM THE COPS, LOL!"), and most of her dialogue consists of yelling "SHARON!". The first two Silent Hill survivors that the mom and the cop meet act like stereotypical crazy cult members, speaking cryptically and spouting off vague warnings. When we actually meet the rest of the survivors/cult members, they continue the trend, standing stone-faced behind their leader and spewing poorly acted bits of supporting comments. I found those last two bits to be particularly obnoxious because we've seen then in so many goddamn movies before. Sean Bean spends most of the movie trying (poorly) to hold back his accent and I really feel sorry for him that he ended up in this horrid movie. And, unless said in a comedic context, the line "Look at me, I'm burning!" can never be delivered well. I suppose that by reading this, you might assume that the movie was at least coherent in its storytelling, but that's not true. Going into that would probably be pointless because at this point you've made up your mind as to whether or not you're going to see it, but I will mention that as we were walking out of the theater someone behind us said "If I have to go on the internet to figure out what the hell I just watched, then it wasn't worth my time" and I agreed wholeheartedly. .5/5
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Apr 22, 2006 13:15
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Pretty much everything has already been covered - but even with some weak areas, this movie more than makes up for it with fantastic monster design. The appearance isn't as unique as the way they are portrayed is. It's horrifying in sad sort of way - sad as in you feel bad for the "bad guys". The way they move, sound, etc. It's like there's some kind of sadness there and it really makes the movie what it is. This is the best horror movie I've seen in a long time. But like all horror movies, it has some stupid poo poo - like the monologue and some poor acting here and there. I definitely felt, when it ended, that I wanted to go back and watch it again. 4.5/5
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Apr 22, 2006 15:20
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This movie really stuck to the plotline of the games (much unlike it's other survival horror counterpart Resident Evil). It was also really cool that the events of Silent Hill were rationalized by the religious fanatics burning the child and just being crazy. Also, at the end when the demon changes from the body of Alessa to the body of Sharon, so it can feed on more souls.
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Apr 22, 2006 15:45
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Like a lot of others, I really enjoyed most of the visuals. The acting generally sucked and there was some pretty bad dialogue (They say this city is haunted), but my main problem with the movie was how contrived everything seemed. Examples: -Rose speeds off and crashes through a locked fence gate like a crazy bitch without even waiting to see what the cop was trying to say. -Rose runs away from the cop with her handcuffs still on right after a creepy monster guy proved the point she was trying to make to get the cop to help her. -Rose pulls the chunk of rock, or whatever it was, that says 'hotel' on it out of the dead tongue-flapping janitor's mouth, because she assumed the wall was daring her to. She then runs to the hotel because, hey, whatever is written on a piece of something jammed into a dead guys mouth is obviously where your daughter is. -"There's a door behind this painting!" -Tight-rope walk over the fiery depths of hell just to say 'whats up' to a little girl that she apparently recognized as not being her daughter. -The cop lets Rose go down the elevator alone for no reason whatsoever. There were several others that I can't remember right now, but also, the Thriller nurses were hilarious. I also like how about 3/4 through the movie they just gave up on letting the story play out naturally and resorted to an Architect-like scene where the entire backstory is flashback-narrated to us for about 10 minutes. 2/5 Edit: 2/5 was too harsh; I'm changing it to 2.5/5. asym fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Apr 23, 2006 |
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Apr 22, 2006 17:36
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I liked the movie a lot, best videogame to movie conversion I've ever seen. While it may not please a lot of the die-hard horror fiends I happen to not be one of them. 4.5/5
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Apr 22, 2006 17:45
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When it was good it was great, when it was bad it was horrible. The primary monsters in this movie were absolutely excellent, but the peons from the games didn't look all that great. Also, there was one particular scene that hurt to watch. "I'm on fire." Yeah, no loving poo poo. I can see it, dumbass. 3.0
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Apr 22, 2006 17:53
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When I initially saw they were going to make an SH movie I was fearing the worst: PG-13, incredibly dumbed down, bad dialogue, and a general embarassment to the entire series. Well it's got one of those things. Fortunately it's only the dialogue. I'm not one to explain the plot so I'll kinda cut to the chase: As a fan of the series, mostly the first and second games, I really liked this movie. I'm sure the average movie-goer is going to be pretty confused after seeing it. The crowds I saw talking about the movie after it was over seemed that way. The dialogue was basically the only part of the movie I had a general problem with but I play a ton of videogames with ridiculous and borderline terrible stories and line delivery that it didn't bother me. Some things could've been better but I'm not sure if I would've changed anything really. Sean Bean's part in the movie as the guy looking for his wife seemed really tacked on. I couldn't really get myself to enjoy his parts, I kept waiting for them to just cut back to Rose. Thankfully, for the most part, the scenes Sean Bean is in are kept to a minimum and aren't too long but I could've done without. The one thing I really liked was the atmosphere and the way they really nailed everything that I thought was really cool about Silent Hill: The general creepy atmosphere. The movie isn't really scary, per se, but it can get under your skin for the most part. The art direction was really fantastic and in particular the creature designs were really well done, even if most of them had been used in the games already. It was just nice seeing them on screen. The Janitor was a really well done addition to the movie though, I just wish he had been on screen more. Same with Pyramid Head. Overall, I liked the movie a lot. By far the best game-to-movie adaption yet and I hope movie studios look at Silent Hill as a basis for all future adaptions of games. Even if you hadn't heard of the games before the movie stood out. It didn't really feel like a game adaption at all, something like a Doom or Mortal Kombat suffered from. 4.5/5 PROS: The atmosphere, soundtrack (I didn't touch on this at all but it was mostly from the games), the cast for the most part. Also the ending! CONS: Dialogue, Sean Bean's character, the exposition that everyone here has talked about already.
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Apr 22, 2006 18:44
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Silent Hill is not scary, and I'm not sure it was ever intended to be. The only reason for it to be called a horror film is because that's the closest nomenclature that can be given to it. I don't mean this as any sort of a negative remark against the film - I say it as a warning to those who expect to go into this movie and have the poo poo scared of of them. It's just not going to happen. Instead, what you will find is an uncomfortable, vaguely dream-like movie rife with symbolism and lots of hellish imagery. It has its flaws, but as someone who was looking forward to being enveloped in the movie's fantastic atmosphere while watching a surreal retelling of Alice in Wonderland, I was not disappointed. The sometimes awkward dialogue didn't detract from the film at all for me. Perhaps it's because I'm accustomed to even more stilted, bizarre dialogue from the games, but I was able to accept it as the rambling of people either batshit insane, or well on their way there. What did hurt the film for me was the huge chunk of exposition somewhere around 3/4ths of the way through the movie. Up until that point, dialogue had been sparse and sprinkled through the more intense scenes. Then the movie literally takes a break to sit down and explain everything to the audience. I think this could have been handled more elegantly, but I suppose the majority of the audience would have been even more confused than they already were. The ending was a bit of a surprise, refusing to neatly wrap everything up for the viewer. Despite my complaint about the movie over-explaining things, it still leaves plenty of elements deliberately vague, provoking thought and discussion even after the credits have finished rolling. Second and even third viewings will be necessary is you want to dissect all the nuances of the movie. I generally try to avoid using clichés, but I genuinely felt that Silent Hill was a breath of fresh air for the horror genre. We need more movies that try to break away from the tired formulas we've seen over and over. If you're willing to forgive the compromises it makes, Silent Hill is a fantastic trip. It stays faithful to the spirit of the game it's based on, while carving out a niche for itself. 4.5 Nupraptor fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Apr 23, 2006 |
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Apr 22, 2006 19:20
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The movie really captures the look and feel of the Silent Hill game franchise perfectly. Though I've played the games I can see that while Silent Hill does work well as a video game, it doesn't work quite as well as a movie. There are some dialog problems and I'm sure that people unfamiliar with the games will undoubtedly be lost or confused at certain things. Still, it looks and feels great. I'd give a 3.5/5. It's got some great stuff but it's dragged down by some not so great stuff.
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Apr 23, 2006 00:39
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I gave it a 3/5. I enjoyed the first hour until the cult and it was downhill from there. The end made up for a lot, but god drat the explanation sequence was excruciating. The film looks great and sets an incredibly disturbing mood and tone until the third act, which is pretty horrible, but finishes well. Maybe a director's cut can salvage it.
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Apr 23, 2006 00:49
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I said 4.0. I really enjoyed the film and felt that the atmosphere and feel of Silent Hill translated perfectly onto film. I'll concede that the explanation scene would've been better any other way than the way it was presented. But other than that, I was really only hoping to Pyramid Head to come back at the end. Best video game to movie adaptation ever.
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Apr 23, 2006 02:43
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I went in with low hopes for the movie (lets face it video game movies tend to be bad) but was suprised at how well the atmosphere of the silent hill games was captured. There are plenty of bad things about it as a movie, but it kept my attention and I enjoyed watching it. 4/5
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Apr 23, 2006 02:43
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I've never played the game so, uh, whatever. I had very high hopes for this because everyone I've talked to who has played the game swore it was scary and awesome. This movie however, was neither. It actually felt like I was watching someone play a video game, it wasn't scary in the least, the acting was terrible and the dialogue was even worse. The only redeeming quality was that the set looked amazing for the most part. I can see this movie being played all the time during the day on the USA Network or the Sci-Fi channel. 1.5/5
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Apr 23, 2006 04:34
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Adding in my own two cents: I personally liked Silent Hill. I've never played the games or ever seen anyone play one either but I've heard enough about them to develop an appreciation. For one thing Nupraptor is right, it's not that scary in the traditional sense. I think that's what kills it for a lot of people. Since it's a horror, everyone expects to jump out of their seat with things popping up and saying boo. I did a bit to say the least, but the goal is to be overall creepy all the time. Silent Hill though is sort of unbalanced in that it has really great parts, or qualities, and then really lovely parts or qualities. For instance really nice visuals, really nice set up sometimes, but then the dialogue was contrived at parts, and the acting was unconvincing at certain times. Plus you have the 'watching someone play a video game' feeling sometimes. What I really felt was a drawback is that the monsters sometimes either 'appeared' too much or just fit in too well. The 'grey children' for instance. When the first few appeared it was weird and put me off. Then when there was a whole swarm of them, then the effect started to wear off a bit. You kind of get used to having weird poo poo coming out, or at least I did. On the sudden cap up at the 3/4 mark, I don't think you could have removed the scene and still had it make as much sense as it did, but if they managed to plant all of the information in other ways for instance I didn't actually figure out that Colin the janitor raped Alessa, and that she was a bastard but if they figured out a way to plant that information elsewhere it'd be better. Lastly I think this movie depends a lot on the audience. I was in a theater with people who couldn't suspend their belief that much to really get into it (15 year olds and so on). It's sort of a fault of the movie that it can't really grab an audience but... some people just can't take anything seriously when they're trying to impress their date with how witty they can be. The theater had a good laugh when someone uttered rather loudly "this movie is loving weird!" in a negative tone. Then Pyramid Head showed up and everyone shutted the gently caress up. A good test of whether you're going to like this movie or not is, once the grey children appear, if you giggle or think they're stupid, chances are you should walk out and get your money back. I liked it a lot but I know a lot of people won't enjoy it. 4/5
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Apr 23, 2006 06:50
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