Movies based on video games can get quite a bit of criticism from reviews because, well, most critics won’t understand the world of video games if they are busy reviewing movies all day. One more interesting approach with movie adaptations is on horror video games like “Resident Evil” or “Silent Hill”. Resident Evil is more loosely based on the video games than the Silent Hill films. This is why “Silent Hill: Revelation” feels too much like a video game for its own good.
This film starts off years after the first film took place. Sean Bean’s character, Harry, has been taking care of Heather (Adelaide Clemens), his adopted daughter. Every night, Heather continues to have nightmares of a town called “Silent Hill”, slowly forcing her back into the cursed town. Her father continually tells her not to go there, and the two keep moving to different towns and changing their names when private investigators seem to know a little too much about her life and the town cloaked in shadows. When Harry disappears, Heather must return to Silent Hill to save him and the town from Alessa, a demon that haunts the city.
I want to first point out that this is a direct sequel, which does carry on from the first film, answering questions left open by the end of the first (one of the best parts of the first film). This means if you have not seen the first movie, you will be utterly confused. It cannot be seen as a standalone movie in any regards. You will be able to understand it a little better having seen the first film, but even so, the movie is all over the place, continuing the theme of confusion. Basically, the writing was messed up from all aspects. They had too much of a focus of trying to make it look like a video game.
While the first movie had a chilling, intriguing, and mysterious introduction, this film took a more direct approach, showing new and grotesque creatures right off the bat. These creatures are shown to us to obviously churn our stomachs, but it instead confuses us if we haven’t seen the first one, or have played the video games that explained what these creatures are.
There was far too many obvious 3D pop out moments that come off as gimmicky and over-the-top. It makes sense for horror and kids movies to implement extreme 3D shots, but other movies have since gotten the hint that these shots are stereotypical, and they hurt your eyes more often than not.
Even though this is the first sequel in the series, and even though it hints at more coming, it feels too much like a later sequel, maybe even a sixth film. Often times with horror films that gain an impossible amount of sequels, they usually lose track of all of the writing by the sixth film, and instead decide to be flashy with the gore and CGI effects. The same can be said about “Silent Hill: Revelation”. The writing is almost nonexistent, and the entire thing as a whole looks and feels like a video game, and only a video game. The first movie felt more like an authentic movie production, while this just felt like you are playing a game.
The one good thing about this film is the acting. The acting wasn’t bad at all if you really think about it. These actors were trying there hardest to pull their role off. It isn’t their fault if you didn’t enjoy the movie, so don’t say the acting is horrid, as it isn’t. The CGI effects, of course, are also very well done, but remind you way too much of the video game source. So, it does actually look very nice and very professional, but anyone will be able to tell that the writing is just not there.
“Silent Hill: Revelation” comes to Blu-Ray and DVD on Feb. 12!
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