Reviews

I rate this as a pretty good adaptation of the creepiness of the game, with lots of blood and gore and similar to keep the kiddies entertained. More than they've bargained for in some respects; I am sure there will be complaints. I wouldn't advise taking young children along for this one.

Even given the level of horror presented, I feel that the games were stronger in terms of psychological impact. They carry a weight that the film cannot. The games are actually worse in terms of their actual horrific content than the film is (though viewers who've not compared will find this hard to believe).

There are parts of this film that I wish they had been handled differently; At one point the film goes into soliloquy mode to explain things people who played the games already knew about the town of Silent Hill. I feel it interrupted the flow of the film; audiences should have been given a chance to figure it out on their own. One of the best parts of the game series was that so much of it was up to personal interpretation; "What just happened?" generates a different answer depending on who you asked.

The soundtrack to the film was good though it could have been lifted right out of any of the SH games. I'd have preferred something redone with an orchestral score, but that's just one viewer's gripe - your mileage will certainly vary, particularly if you haven't played the series itself.

Still, despite these minor failings, this is easily the best video game adaptation to date. It has some trouble standing on its own as a horror flick, though it certainly captures a large measure of the creepiness that Silent Hill is famous for. 7/10 (should be 6, but I'm a fan of the games).

The story for this film is set just after our Civil War. At the time, Japan had just overthrown the Shogunate and gone back to Imperial rule in a process known as the Meiji Restoration. The Emperor, Meiji, had a vision to bring Japan into modern times; to achieve this he began hiring experts from the world over to give Japan heavy industries, modern architecture, and a current, up-to-date Army. This movie chronicles the fictional events surrounding an American Army Captain, Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise), and what happens to him on the ancient isles; also what happens to the Samurai as they are rendered classless, and pointless, in the new Meiji Era. (For more details, look up the battles of Chosou and Satsuma sometime.)

The storyline is fantastic and historically accurate; armor and weapons were up to par with what they had for that era. This movie has *the best swordfighting choreography* I've ever seen anywhere -- ever -- and I look for that kind of thing. Tom Cruise gives a solid performance and is very believable, even if his screen presence feels diminished standing next to someone like Ken Wantanabe, who steals the show with his carefully calculated manner.

The acting is great, the scenes are beautiful, the swordplay fantastic and realistic; this movie is totally worth anyone's time. There is a lot of care taken with respect to historical and cultural accuracy, so if you're a bigtime anime fan or student of japanese culture, you'll pick up a *lot* of details that most people miss (the depth of people's bowing, the honor accorded by someone committing seppuku, or being asked to stand as one's second for the process, etc).

Probably not the best family film, but definitely worth seeing repeatedly.

As disheartened as I was to hear that a feature film had been made based off a Disney ride, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Johnny Depp's performance as Captain Jack Sparrow really carries the entire film and is completely worth watching.

This film also marks the only time I have ever seen CNN's movie critic and the critics at The Onion's AV Club both say that a film was worth seeing; that alone should drive you to the box office. ;)