****SPOILER ALERT*******
Plot: The story is a direct sequel from the first movie. Heather/Sharon (Adelaide Clemens) and her father Harry (Sean Bean) are on the run from a cult group that wants his adopted child back to the Silent Hill, though Heather does not fully understand the reason behind any of this. But when her father is taken by the group, she is determined to come to Silent Hill to save him and learn the truth about herself, the group, the town and the nightmare that has been haunting her for so long...
Review: As a fan of the Silent Hill game series, I found that the attempt of the director to stay true to the game plot admirable. Sure, it is a headache to balance between the game fan expectation and the commercial element of the movie. So, the story of the movie goes slightly off from the game. However, I understand the difficulty to cramp a 10-hour game into a 1.5-hour movie; changes need to be made to the movie's storyline. But rest assured, the director has made many references to Silent Hill game in the movie, (game fan will notice this starting from the beginning of the movie itself!) and I as a game fan appreciate that. I am pretty sure the director is also a fan of the game series himself!
Gamefan view aside, the movie itself is generally good. The graphic of the movie, especially during transition from the "reality" to the "nightmare" world is stunning. Not too mention the ashes effect in the foggy world. Although I did not watched the movie in 3D, i am pretty sure it would look good in 3D. In fact, the movie itself was done in 3D, than later converted to 2D. It also has many scary moments, disturbing image, gruesome killing and horrible monster.. Should be interesting to watch them in 3D!
Storywise, this movie is actually quite complicated and heavy. This is to be expected from a game-to-movie genre. If you never played the game, you will be very confused with the storyline. Even myself who played all the game series (aside from the latest one) still do not understand the game fully. However, the director try to solve this by having Heather read a book her father wrote about Silent Hill. A good attempt to simplify the back story, but otherwise failed to clear the confusion.
Adelaide Clemens has done a fantastic job in bringing the main character Heather. She was the central character of the movie. The director did a good job in casting her, as she looks surprisingly similar with the game character! However, there is not much development with the other characters. Alessa, who is a very important character in the game version, has surprisingly limited role. It is fair to say that Heather aside, the other characters has no development at all. Silent Hill game fan will be disappointed by this.
In conclusion, the movie itself is good, but like many game-to-movie genre, it suffers the same problem: it still fails to balance between staying-true-to-the game-plot and change-the-plot-so-it-fits-into-a- movie. Silent Hill hardcore gamers will most probably find the movie adequately satisfying, but personally, I think the movie did a fine job to follow the game storyline. For the non-gamer viewers, this movie is good, but can be quite heavy and complex.
Final Verdict: 6.5/10 for the non-gamer viewers, as it is hard for me to imagine them not having questions/confusions or even half-asleep when they come out of the cinema.
To Silent Hill game fans, 7.5/10 for you. Check this movie out, see if you like it. I do.
Plot: The story is a direct sequel from the first movie. Heather/Sharon (Adelaide Clemens) and her father Harry (Sean Bean) are on the run from a cult group that wants his adopted child back to the Silent Hill, though Heather does not fully understand the reason behind any of this. But when her father is taken by the group, she is determined to come to Silent Hill to save him and learn the truth about herself, the group, the town and the nightmare that has been haunting her for so long...
Review: As a fan of the Silent Hill game series, I found that the attempt of the director to stay true to the game plot admirable. Sure, it is a headache to balance between the game fan expectation and the commercial element of the movie. So, the story of the movie goes slightly off from the game. However, I understand the difficulty to cramp a 10-hour game into a 1.5-hour movie; changes need to be made to the movie's storyline. But rest assured, the director has made many references to Silent Hill game in the movie, (game fan will notice this starting from the beginning of the movie itself!) and I as a game fan appreciate that. I am pretty sure the director is also a fan of the game series himself!
Gamefan view aside, the movie itself is generally good. The graphic of the movie, especially during transition from the "reality" to the "nightmare" world is stunning. Not too mention the ashes effect in the foggy world. Although I did not watched the movie in 3D, i am pretty sure it would look good in 3D. In fact, the movie itself was done in 3D, than later converted to 2D. It also has many scary moments, disturbing image, gruesome killing and horrible monster.. Should be interesting to watch them in 3D!
Storywise, this movie is actually quite complicated and heavy. This is to be expected from a game-to-movie genre. If you never played the game, you will be very confused with the storyline. Even myself who played all the game series (aside from the latest one) still do not understand the game fully. However, the director try to solve this by having Heather read a book her father wrote about Silent Hill. A good attempt to simplify the back story, but otherwise failed to clear the confusion.
Adelaide Clemens has done a fantastic job in bringing the main character Heather. She was the central character of the movie. The director did a good job in casting her, as she looks surprisingly similar with the game character! However, there is not much development with the other characters. Alessa, who is a very important character in the game version, has surprisingly limited role. It is fair to say that Heather aside, the other characters has no development at all. Silent Hill game fan will be disappointed by this.
In conclusion, the movie itself is good, but like many game-to-movie genre, it suffers the same problem: it still fails to balance between staying-true-to-the game-plot and change-the-plot-so-it-fits-into-a- movie. Silent Hill hardcore gamers will most probably find the movie adequately satisfying, but personally, I think the movie did a fine job to follow the game storyline. For the non-gamer viewers, this movie is good, but can be quite heavy and complex.
Final Verdict: 6.5/10 for the non-gamer viewers, as it is hard for me to imagine them not having questions/confusions or even half-asleep when they come out of the cinema.
To Silent Hill game fans, 7.5/10 for you. Check this movie out, see if you like it. I do.