Silent Hill (Widescreen Edition)
by Chris Sikorowski, Christophe Gans
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Actor: Deborah Kara Unger, Kim Coates, Laurie Holden, Radha Mitchell, Sean BeanDirector: Chris Sikorowski, Christophe Gans
Brand: Sony
Producer: Chris Sikorowski
Producer: Akira Yamaoka
Producer: Andrew Mason
Producer: Deb LeFaive
Producer: Don Carmody
Writer: Roger Avary
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 125 minutes
Published: 2006-08-01
DVD Release Date: 2006-08-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Silent Hill (Widescreen Edition)
DVD Review: 'Silent Hill' Was Over Ambiguous.
Summary: 2 Stars
Entirely forgettable film. Saw it last night and I left the theater completely indifferent towards the movie. 'Silent Hill' fails at nearly every single level except for style, sounds and visuals. Beyond that there's really no story to speak of, virtually non-existent or pointless dialogue, nonsensical actions by the main characters that contradicts otherwise logical behavior and there was a severe over reliance on CGI and special effects.
Perhaps the biggest problem was the directing of the film. I honestly don't think Gans is a bad director, but I do think he was wrong for this particular film. His style isn't suited for the 'Silent Hill' storyline, since any film based on those games call for probing into the human psyche, reaching the innermost, dark corners of the mind and leaving a haunting imprint that will genuinely scare the audience. The frantic pace and the action sequences worked perfectly for his best movie to date, 'Brotherhood of the Wolf', since its theme required it, but that was a completely wrong approach for 'Silent Hill' which needs to be slower paced, more emphasis on the scariness of silence, and a focus on what is not seen rather than the metaphorical big blunt object in plain sight.
'Silent Hill' needed the type of psychological horror that masters like Hitchcock and M. Night Shyamalan can create, the quiet, subtle direction in which they take their films for maximum effect. Shyamalan would have been perfect for this film because he understands the concept of less is more and how to delve into our internal fears and exploit them on the big screen. Gans on the other hand went for a by the numbers approach, throwing visuals and quantities of CGI at us, but all that was necessary was substance and quality and unfortunately that was sorely lacking.
We should expect nothing less than much better than this and I do not buy into the mentality of "this is good enough" or "don't expect an Oscar worthy production". A film does not have to be an Oscar contender in order to be entertaining or great, but there is no excuse for mediocrity. It was a good try I'll admit but it overshoots way above par. Gans lacked focus, a sense of direction, he was all over the golf course with 'Silent Hill'. He needed to focus on shooting the ball into one hole at a time, not all 18.
I mean honestly what is so difficult with sticking to the original material, sans a few minor liberal interpretations? I honestly do not see why he would have to change it one bit, except for a detail or two. A Hitchcockian approach with the material from the games would have been perfect. Just imagine the director stringing the audience along with a few minor hints of horrors to come, rather than with the in your face approach that Gans used what seemed like every couple of minutes. Subtlety is the key, the movie acting as a puppet master with the audience, toying with what they see and think as opposed to blatantly telling what the audience should see and think. The shock and awe factor does zilch for me, it has been done too many times and there is no immediate nor lasting psychological effect. It screamed CGI, big whoop. Where is the genuine fear that the games gave people? That's what this movie was supposed to accomplish.
Aren't the 'Silent Hill' games fun because the players are never sure exactly what is going on, and part of the fun is delving deeper into it to find out exactly what lies behind the curtain? What I have read about the games and what the movie should have been was not an amusement park house of horrors, instead it should have been good ol' fashioned mystery with horrors beyond imagination. I've seen 'Saw', it's cliche', I wanted something cerebral. I really do not think that is expecting too much. It has been done before and could be done again with someone who understands the material and how to conceptualize it.
Sean Bean's character might as well have phoned in his performance, which ironically wouldn't be all that different from what he accomplished. His part could have been effective but as it stands it was pointless. Sean Bean is an excellent actor and perfect for this type of film, so why not fully utilize his talent and give him something solid to work with? His contributions went nowhere, quickly. They could easily have cut his part out and the film wouldn't have sufferend one iota.
The female cop, who I liked initially, was unfortunately stricken with the stupidity syndrome. For example, why oh why did she not follow the girl's mother down the elevator? What possible sense did it make for her to stand her ground against the cultists, with an empty gun no less? What did she hope to achieve by her sacrifice? I saw no reason why she shouldn't have followed the mother down the shaft. The reason seemed that she wanted to sacrifice herself to save the mother, but they would have been better off working together as they did for a while, there was no logic behind it. The mother had her idiotic moments as well. The car chase in which she escapes the police offer was ridiculous, and the arrest scene makes one wonder about her intelligence, as if she did not realize why she was being arrested.
I have not played the games, but I should not have to in order to understand the plot or relate to the characters. Going into this film, I was expecting at the very least to be scared or shocked somewhat, but I was never frightened nor all that shocked. Once the writer and director decided to get rid of character development, the movie should compensate with scariness, but any genuinely scary moments were nonexistent.
The film's job is to translate the concept into something that's palatable and relevant for the average movie goer, just as much as it is trying to stay true to its roots. 'Silent Hill' should stand on its own merits, video game background or not, that shouldn't really matter, but as it is, the film lacks the backbone of a classic horror film. It's quick, easy and entirely disposable.
Who are these people? What do we know about them? Why should we care what happens to any of them? There is nothing revealed at any point that would make anyone care one way or the other as to what happens to a single character, other than simply on principle of the universal concept of a mother ferociously defending her child at all costs, but even that idea seemed like days old chinese food with too much MSG, given the manner in which it was presented.
There were a few positive elements as I mentioned, such as the look of the monsters, the town, and the CGI was impressive albeit ineffective and anticlimactic. The sound and music was eerie and jarring, but after awhile it became passe' and without an effective plot and action sequences its use became redundant. The graphics were gratuitous however and way over the top, despite the realism of the computer graphics. I am not impressed by the shock factor of modern horror films since I've been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and taken the roller coaster ride far too many times. This movie copies the same formula as 99% of other Hollywood horror films, with little to no originality.
I sat through the whole movie waiting for something to engage me in the story, to pull me in and make me care for what happens to the parents and their child, but the film was too busy with too many things happening at once, so much so that any buildup that was started at some point was lost 5 seconds later with something inconsequential and irrelevant in terms of plot importance. The monsters were window dressing, little more than mannequins or wax dolls. Where was the exposition of the characters and the town itself?
Just because the film is based on a video game that does not mean that the standard rules for film making goes out the window. Simplicity and authenticity are the two keys to a successful film based on video games. Less is more. It does not get any easier than that.
An example that I have used in the past is 'Mortal Kombat' which captures the essence of the video games. It doesn't try too hard to do anything spectactular, it stays true to its source material and does not deviate and uses enough elements from the games with enough of the story to make the audience care about what happens, and it's simple enough for both fans and newcomers to appreciate, understand and be entertained by what happens on screen. Is it a great film, no, but it is a good film and it accomplishes what it sought to do, which was make an entertaining, fun film based on a series of popular video games, and hopefully translate that concept into a universal medium that is approachable to all audiences without straying too far from its root.
'Silent Hill' is an overachiever that tried too hard to do too much in too little time and as a result it failed. It is better than many video game based films, but that is not really a compliment considering the genre. The creators of 'Silent Hill' would have been better off focusing the film on the first game, rather than trying to put all games into one film. I give the film 1 star for style and 1 for the soundtrack, but it loses out on substance and depth.
Description of Silent Hill (Widescreen Edition)
A TOWN'S TERRIBLE SECRET IS ABOUT TO REIGNITE A 30 YEAR OLD BATTLE WITH THE ULTIMATE EVIL WHEN A DESPERATE MOTHER COMES TOSILENT HILL INSEARCH OF HER MISSING DAUGHTER.Bestsellers in DVD
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