So first off, this movie was adapted from a video game series, which makes sense to me. There's a lot of running around in the movie (I should time it to see how much, because it's superfluous), which I feel would be better in the form of game play. I read some reviews of the movie, and a lot of people have the opinion that the visuals of the movie were great, but the plot was muddled, which apparently is a common theme in game-to-movie adaptations (I really couldn't say though, because I'm not sure how many films I've seen up to this point that were adapted from games). Honestly, I would really want to play this as a game. But back to the movie.
First off, a lot of peoples' complaint (including mine) seems to be that the running time is two long. It's two hours and some change, which would be fine if the plot kept building and building at a consistent level. The problem is, the plot really didn't kick in until halfway through the movie, and at that point, you've been watching the female protagonist run through a spooky, ashy ghost town with weird creatures that were kinda explained, but much, much later in the film. When I'm watching a film, I hit a point while watching at which I would hope that the unexplained plot points and occurrences start to come together and be explained. But, as stated above, it took a long-ass time before anything in the movie seemed to be cohesive. It's like the developer of this story had a lot of ideas and just sorta crammed them in there. It's like an artist that doesn't know when to stop adding things to their piece.
There are a lot of things I like about this film. Most of the main characters, good and bad (although in this movie it's more like kinda good, the lesser of two evils, and the greater of two evils) are women. So that's neat. Like, there's a lady cop with a gun and a nightstick. Pretty righteous. Next, there's the premise of the movie: an abandoned town, consumed by fire, that stands above an underground fire that's continuously burning. The visuals are also really good. I think the CGI looks like it's from 2006, but it's good enough that I can suspend my disbelief. I also enjoy that the movie's design features a gray scale color palette, which underlines the fact that the town is raining ashes all the time.
So quick rundown of the plot: the main chick, Rose, keeps having problems with her daughter, Sharon, sleepwalking and talking about a place called Silent Hill in her sleep. So Rose decides to TAKE SHARON to this town that's been BURNING FOR LIKE 30 YEARS to see if it'll cure the sleepwalking/nightmares. But when they get there, Sharon runs off and so Rose has to go on this longass journey to try and get her back, and encounters all sorts of creepy shit.
The plot has a lot of good ideas, but they're a little bit incongruous (at least to me as a viewer) in their execution. There's the fact that the town is always burning, the fact that there are these random creatures of darkness, and there's this evil cult that likes burning people. All good features of a horror movie, but I think my problem comes in the fact that these pieces don't come together until VERY LATE in the movie.
Another problem with the movie. In most movies with evil beings, usually the protagonist(s) is/are able to find the weakness of those beings and use it to their advantage. In this movie, I was unable to find a consistent weakness to the dark entities living in Silent Hill. I don't know if other viewers would be bothered, but I'm a little bothered. I feel like the only way that the plot was able to play out to the end was because the lesser of the two evils didn't like the greater of the two evils, so she kinda helped the main lady protagonist out, which I feel like would be fine if it weren't executed so vaguely in the film. I mean, if the one evil party could have beaten the other so easily, which has this battle been going on so long? Why bring random, innocent strangers into it? Muddled plot, man.
One thing I find interesting about the movie is that the evil entity behind the entire town's dark torture takes the form of a little girl.
I really enjoy when the evil force of a movie comes in the form of something or someone whose innocence and goodness the average person wouldn't question.
Finally, there's the ending. I'm trying to do these little reviews without giving away too many spoilers, but I might spoil a little bit here (don't worry, this movie isn't the best thing ever, so you're not missing much if I spoil some stuff). In the ending, it seems that the main lady character and her daughter are able to cross out of the realm of Silent Hill and return home. However, when they get home, their house is ashy just as Silent Hill was, and although they are in the same room, her husband can't see her. Did they die? WHEN did they die? I don't know. Honestly, I'm not to pressed to even think about it beyond writing this post.
In summary: I feel like the writers that adapted this movie had really good intentions. The setting is alluring- a town that has been burning for a long time, covered in ashes. Everybody likes a good ghost town. There are some interesting ideas in the plot: mostly that everyone that still inhabits the town (a creepy cult) are under the spell of a little girl that they wronged. A lot of things could have gone right for this movie. Actually, I think it did fairly well at the box office when it came out. A lot of moviegoers don't question a movie with a good aesthetic and gory CGI. However, from a critical point of view, the movie has a TON of weaknesses. Muddled plot that relies on the visuals; overlong runtime; weak script; and ambiguous end that for me, at least, doesn't work. Which are all things that I guess you can expect from a story intended to be controlled by a player on a much smaller screen.
There are a lot of things I like about this film. Most of the main characters, good and bad (although in this movie it's more like kinda good, the lesser of two evils, and the greater of two evils) are women. So that's neat. Like, there's a lady cop with a gun and a nightstick. Pretty righteous. Next, there's the premise of the movie: an abandoned town, consumed by fire, that stands above an underground fire that's continuously burning. The visuals are also really good. I think the CGI looks like it's from 2006, but it's good enough that I can suspend my disbelief. I also enjoy that the movie's design features a gray scale color palette, which underlines the fact that the town is raining ashes all the time.
So quick rundown of the plot: the main chick, Rose, keeps having problems with her daughter, Sharon, sleepwalking and talking about a place called Silent Hill in her sleep. So Rose decides to TAKE SHARON to this town that's been BURNING FOR LIKE 30 YEARS to see if it'll cure the sleepwalking/nightmares. But when they get there, Sharon runs off and so Rose has to go on this longass journey to try and get her back, and encounters all sorts of creepy shit.
The plot has a lot of good ideas, but they're a little bit incongruous (at least to me as a viewer) in their execution. There's the fact that the town is always burning, the fact that there are these random creatures of darkness, and there's this evil cult that likes burning people. All good features of a horror movie, but I think my problem comes in the fact that these pieces don't come together until VERY LATE in the movie.
Another problem with the movie. In most movies with evil beings, usually the protagonist(s) is/are able to find the weakness of those beings and use it to their advantage. In this movie, I was unable to find a consistent weakness to the dark entities living in Silent Hill. I don't know if other viewers would be bothered, but I'm a little bothered. I feel like the only way that the plot was able to play out to the end was because the lesser of the two evils didn't like the greater of the two evils, so she kinda helped the main lady protagonist out, which I feel like would be fine if it weren't executed so vaguely in the film. I mean, if the one evil party could have beaten the other so easily, which has this battle been going on so long? Why bring random, innocent strangers into it? Muddled plot, man.
One thing I find interesting about the movie is that the evil entity behind the entire town's dark torture takes the form of a little girl.
I really enjoy when the evil force of a movie comes in the form of something or someone whose innocence and goodness the average person wouldn't question.
Finally, there's the ending. I'm trying to do these little reviews without giving away too many spoilers, but I might spoil a little bit here (don't worry, this movie isn't the best thing ever, so you're not missing much if I spoil some stuff). In the ending, it seems that the main lady character and her daughter are able to cross out of the realm of Silent Hill and return home. However, when they get home, their house is ashy just as Silent Hill was, and although they are in the same room, her husband can't see her. Did they die? WHEN did they die? I don't know. Honestly, I'm not to pressed to even think about it beyond writing this post.
In summary: I feel like the writers that adapted this movie had really good intentions. The setting is alluring- a town that has been burning for a long time, covered in ashes. Everybody likes a good ghost town. There are some interesting ideas in the plot: mostly that everyone that still inhabits the town (a creepy cult) are under the spell of a little girl that they wronged. A lot of things could have gone right for this movie. Actually, I think it did fairly well at the box office when it came out. A lot of moviegoers don't question a movie with a good aesthetic and gory CGI. However, from a critical point of view, the movie has a TON of weaknesses. Muddled plot that relies on the visuals; overlong runtime; weak script; and ambiguous end that for me, at least, doesn't work. Which are all things that I guess you can expect from a story intended to be controlled by a player on a much smaller screen.
Rating: C+
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