February 12, 2009
Silent Hill (2006)
Should I see it?
No.
No.
Short Review: It’s more of a stinking pile.
Based on the popular video game, this volley to the low-IQ set manages some striking imagery while delivering an embarrassingly lame script. This “story” about a mother and daughter who get trapped in a strange small town that has been literally swallowed into Hell has the intellectual force of a Marilyn Manson video.
Ripping on a film based on a video game may seem needless. The bar isn’t set high in the first place. I see this trend of basing films on video games to be a scourge. Films like Doom, Final Fantasy, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and all Uwe Bol movies, support the content free storytelling video games have been promoting for over twenty-five years. Video games place the audience in the driver’s seat and in effect makes them the hero. This tends to be a bad thing. The reason? When one watches a movie or reads a book they have an interaction with the hero character. They experience the story through that person on page or on screen. Great heroes like Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, or even Rambo, for that matter, delivers us to new worlds. We experience the story through their eyes and the narrative (the story) is established through this relationship. We see the world through their point of view, their experience. We interact emotionally with this experience and learn to expect things of the hero. This is how we become attached to certain heroic figures like Indiana Jones, James Bond, Luke Skywalker, etc. They become like real people because they develop depth. Video games spoil this relationship. By placing us in the heroic role, the rest of the world of the story begins to lose its perspective. The interaction between audience and hero is critical for a story to actually complete its function – to educate. Since the relationship with the hero is our avenue into the new world, when this bond is broken we are left with a valueless and empty husk of a story. There's no emotional bond beyond fleeting moments of excitement or fright. It is the difference between saying “A ball hit the man.” when one could say “A ball hit The President of The United States.” The first sentence is bland and without content. The second sentence involves an emotional response because we have someone we can identify with (either positively or negatively) involved.
Well, we’re way out in left field aren’t we?
Back to the movie.
Since this was based on a video game, there isn’t any depth or logic. There is just its presence. There are some very stunning visual images of evil and Hell. I’ll go as far to say that some of the images are downright disturbing. But in the end they mean nothing and are not enough to make up for a story that lingers and eventually fades into a muttering mess.
There are strong anti-Christian elements to the film, some of the most openly spiteful ones I’ve seen. This said, the low nature of how Christians are displayed in this piece is as meaningless as the rest of the production. The theology, logic and structure of the movie as a whole are so sophomoric they tend to negate themselves.
My fear is that some goofy teenager is watching this crap. Firstly, because its’ bad for the brain to watch such crude and horrid imagery. Secondly, it’s a bad movie and kids need to see the beauty of life more than they need to see the bitter remnants of some jerk’s foul imagination. The lessons taught in this film would be lost on most teenage boys who would be more drawn the demonic imagery. In this they will not be disappointed. This being the case, I’d advise parents to keep the children far away from this hateful yarn.
Related Reviews:
Another video game movie
Resident Evil (1999)
Other Critic's Reviews:
The Flickering Wall
Roger Ebert
Labels: adaptation, film, movie review, Radha Mitchell, Roger Avary, Sean Bean, video game
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 9:00 AM
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3 Comments:
Have you actually played any of the Silent Hill games? I get the impression you have not. Lines like "Since this was based on a video game, there isn’t any depth or logic." and "...support the content free storytelling video games have been promoting for over twenty-five years." are incredibly dismissive of something you appear to know very little about. I agree that Silent Hill is a bad film, but at their best, the games are both immmersive and incredibly poignant. If you're not familiar with the source material, why blame it for the film's shortcomings?
I'd also like to point out that the characters portrayed in this movie weren't Christians. The game makes it quite clear the town follows a made-up religion and frankly, unless you wanted to think they were attacking Christians in the movie, no one would think they were. Churches, just like any other setting in the movie, were used as a backdrop to create a particular psychological effect.
What particular psychological effect do think they're going after using a church if not to ignite the thought of Christians? This is exactly like trying to say that if the villains were scuttling off to a mosque and made references that mocked the teachings if Islam that it doesn't necessarily mean they were intended to portray Muslims. C'mon, your argument is just childish. The villain's name is Christabella! CHRIST a BELLA - Bella meaning "My God is a vow". The script calls the background followers the Congregation. Christabella talks about being the lamb and the light.
I can't help your ignorance but I can ask that you stop sharing it here.
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