Silent Hill - A film that's TOO based on a video game

Ever since 'Super Mario Bros,' films that have been adapted from video games have faced harsh criticism from cinema goers (and even more scorn from the critics!). 'Silent Hill' was a game with more 'plot' than Mario, so at least there's more to work with when it comes to trying to create a coherent story for the big screen.  Unfortunately, whereas Mario was critisied for straying away from the source material, 'Silent Hill' sticks to it a little too much (for my liking at least).

The game features a town that's filled with monsters and a hero that has to navigate their way through it.  And, without wishing to indulge in 'spoilers,' that's basically the first hour of the movie.  A couple (Radha Mitchell and Sean Bean) have adopted a young girl (Jodelle Ferland), only for her to go missing in - you guessed it - the cut-off town of Silent Hill.  Mitchell visits the location first and spends basically an hour moving from one spooky location to the next, crying her daughter's name and then getting chased on to the next set-piece by some slavering computer-generated beast or other.  Later, when Bean arrives there, he repeatedly shouts his wife's name over and over again.

You may be able to tell from my tone that I wasn't that taken with the film.  I found it very long (nearly two hours), a bit predictable in terms of plot and very repetitive.  However, there are definitely some plus points, too.  The casting is good.  I've already mentioned Mitchell and Bean, but there's also Laurie Holden in a pre 'Walking Dead' role and Alice Krige.  Plus the special effects are quite gruesome.  Yes, the film doesn't have a perfect budget when it comes to CGI monsters and a lot of the time you can tell they've been added on in post production, but it does do a good job of creating a bleak and fearful atmosphere.

It's not a bad film overall, just one that you seriously have to be ready to invest two hours of your life in (or be a mega fan of the game, I guess).  Fair play to the film-makers for trying to stick ardently to the source material, but whereas with many films a 'director's cut' may add more scenes and give a better idea of the original vision, this is one film that would benefit from having a few scenes taken out of it to move the pace along, as (certainly the first half) feels a little like they're retreading the same old ground again and again.  I wanted to press the 'START' button and skip these 'cut-scenes.'

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back