Silent Hill

This looked to be a decent movie. With Cristophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) at the helm, art direction by the folks behind such films as A History of Violence and Dead Ringers, and the decent casting of Radha Mitchell, this appeared to be the video game adaptation to beat all video game adaptations. Then the studio decided to hide it from the critics. At first, it seems as if the studio was being a little paranoid. Silent Hill is a terrific-looking movie. Its combination of atmospherics, camerawork, and excellent old school and CGI effects make it one of the year’s better-looking films to date. While the setup for the movie isn’t exactly first rate, the film is far from bad for its first half hour or so. Then, quite appropriately considering the subject matter, the film goes to Hell. The second half, when a religious cult becomes the film’s focus, is incomprehensibly, unforgivably awful.