Silent Hill the movie was certainly eerie in feel but unfortunately very shallow in the storyline department . . .
I am going to start by admitting that I have not played any of the
Silent Hill video games and I believe that may put me at a real disadvantage when viewing this film. I think that perhaps there was an underlying assumption made by the film makers that either only fans of the game or extreme video game fans in general would be going to see this film. While I like the occasional game of
Animal Crossing, I would not consider myself a "gamer".
But I digress, back to Silent Hill - the look and feel of this movie were superb. There were some of the most interesting angle shots I have seen in a while combined with some of the most interesting and terrifying monsters I have seen as well. The music was also pretty decent in Silent Hill. However, any film that has to spend as much time as this one did (after you have seen so much of it) trying to explain itself in flashback mode has a real plot problem.
So we are to believe that doting mother, Rose Da Silva (Radha Mitchell) would basically kidnap her own sick child, Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) against her husband and doting father, Christopher's (Sean Bean) will and bring her to a supposedly haunted ghost town called Silent Hill just because the daughter happens to say the name of that particular town when she sleepwalks? I mean, I didn't get the impression that Christopher would have stopped her. And even if he tried, he seemed like a reasonable man that really wanted their adopted daughter to get better. I guess I just feel like there should have been more back story as to why Rose felt it so necessary to go behind hubby's back.
All that aside, Rose does take Sharon to Silent Hill but not before she is chased by super sexy cop Cybil Bennett (Laurie Holden) for some unbeknownst reason that never is quite explained. Once over the Silent Hill town line, Rose almost hitting a little girl, wrecks her car and wakes up hours later only to find that her own little girl is missing. She begins a desperate search for Sharon through the ashy wasteland that is Silent Hill only to be confronted with strange beings who are most certainly out to harm her.
A while later she is joined by Cybil who also got into an accident with her motorcycle (yes, she is a sexy motorcycle cop - forgot to mention that) while chasing Rose. She is none to impressed with Rose's excuses and is determined to hike back to town with Rose in handcuffs even though Sharon is nowhere to be found. What kind of cop is she anyway, huh?
She is stopped from doing this for a couple of reasons - one would be that the road leading out of Silent Hill just kind of drops off; the other would be that a lava spewing beast with no arms attacks the two women before she can rationalize what is happening around her. This begins the women's terrifying attempts to find Sharon escape Silent Hill with their lives and their sanity in tact. Not an easy feat.
All the while, Christopher is trying to find his wife and daughter with the town's cop Thomas Gucci (Kim Coates) - the dialogue and interaction between these two is both strained and strange at best. I don't know about any of you, but if my family was in jeopardy there would be nothing that any small town cop could do to keep me away until they were back safe and sound.
I have to mention a few other characters in this film that were extremely interesting; Christabella (Alice Krige) played a very convincing religious zealot; Dahlia Gillespie (Deborah Kara Unger) exquisitely played the role of a mother stricken by grief and guilt; and Jodelle Ferland deserves extra special praise for her portrayal of both Sharon and Alessa. She was pretty good for being just a wee little one - I wonder if she will have nightmares from playing this role at such a tender young age?
As I stated before, I do have to say that although the storyline did nothing for me I was quite impressed with the look and feel of this film. Looks like they left it open for a sequel so I guess we will see if that pans out. Given the success of the
Resident Evil series, I cannot see how we will not see another installment of Silent Hill.
Silent Hill Movie Cast and Credits
Directed by
Christophe Gans
Writing credits
Roger Avary screenplay
Nicolas Boukhrief story
Christophe Gans story
Cast (in credits order)
Radha Mitchell .... Rose Da Silva
Sean Bean .... Christopher Da Silva
Laurie Holden .... Cybil Bennett
Laurie Holden .... Cybil Bennet
Deborah Kara Unger .... Dahlia Gillespie
Kim Coates .... Henry Townshend
Kim Coates .... Officer Thomas Gucci
Tanya Allen .... Anna
Tanya Allen .... Pyramid Head
Alice Krige .... Valtiel The Yellow God
Jodelle Ferland .... Sharon DaSilva
Jodelle Ferland .... Sharon/Alessa
Janet Land .... Sister Margaret
Colleen Williams .... Archivist
Christopher Britton .... Eddie Dombrowski (as Chris Britton)
Ron Gabriel .... Old Mechanic
Eve Crawford .... Sister Margaret
Elizabeth Harpur .... Churchwoman
Derek Ritschel .... Young Police Officer
Nicky Guadagni .... Distressed Woman
Maxine Dumont .... Christabella's Aide
Chris Britton .... Adam
Simon Richards .... Elder
Ian White .... Elder
Elizabeth Harpur .... Congregation
Janet Land .... Congregation
Lynn Woodman .... Congregation
Holly Makarchuk .... School Girl
Roberto Campanella .... Red Pyramid/Janitor/Colin
Yvonne Ng .... Grey Child
Lorry Ayers .... Scarred Older Alessa
Noelle Boggio .... Dark Nurse
Carrie Clayton .... Dark Nurse
Rachel Crowther .... Dark Nurse
Zsuzsanna Cseh .... Dark Nurse (as Zsuzzana Cseh)
Judit Kovacs .... Dark Nurse
Chantelle Leonardo .... Dark Nurse
Onika Ndukwe .... Dark Nurse (as Onika Nduke)
Melissa Panton .... Dark Nurse
Nicole Ann St. Hill .... Dark Nurse (as Nicole-Ann St. Hill)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alice Krige .... Christabella
Alex Scrymgeour .... Silent Hill Cop
More Reviews of Silent Hill
Movie Review of Silent Hill from Roger EbertSilent Hill Movie Review and Information Page at The Internet Movie Database
