Post by angelsthanatos on Nov 16, 2012 23:15:15 GMT
Been meaning to write a review for this all week, but probably the wait is an advantage since I've had time to calm my rage. xD Also, hi all, I know I've been gone ages, but that was because of reasons.
Right then .....*cracks knuckles*
I saw the movie last week, and I have to say I wasn't too disappointed...mainly because I didn't really expect it to be good in the first place. I thought it would be ridiculous and mainly catered towards "the masses" as they say, and it was, so *shrugs*.
First of all, let me start with a few qualifiers. I actually really like the original SH movie, and I know that's not an opinion shared by all fans. So before anyone goes thinking that I'm just one of these negative types who automatically hates "new" SH, bear that in mind. Also much like "SH:Homecoming" there were some bits about the movie I liked and others I didn't. And before I rag on it too much, I must say that I do appreciate the hard work that goes into making movies, especially nowadays, and the fact we even got a sequel at all is a feat in itself. I doff my hat to the filmakers overall for managing to get it out of the cutting room at last.
Okay, so here's what I liked about it. List comes now:
GOOD
- The sets were very well made and atmospheric. You could tell they put a lot of effort into them, although some didn't seem as big and epic as the sets from the original movie. I can forgive that though.
- The effects were pretty decent too, and although the spidery-mannequin doll monster was a little silly, it was really well animated and constructed; as someone who studied computer animation for years, I know from experience how much of a bitch it is to convincingly animate something with multiple limbs and spinning bits. =)
- Costumes were also good, and I especially loved Claudia's outfit; I wish we'd seen more of it though. I liked how they updated and adapted Heather's clothing and I may start sporting a hoodie and sports vest combo myself...
- The actors all gave fairly good performances, but as I mentioned some of them were a little underused. However it was good to see Carrie-Ann Moss in something again; I don't think I've seen her in any films since the Matrix trilogy. And I'm always happy to see Malcolm McDowell in anything; he brought his trademark style of crazy to Leonard. It's a shame Jodelle wasn't in it this time, but I understand that she's probably too old to play Alessa/Sharon now.
- One particular scene that really stood out for me was the part where Heather is in the mall, and she gradually starts to hallucinate weird things. As strange as it may sound, for me that really captured the essence of the original SH games; everything seems fairly normal at first, but then you slowly realise things aren't quite right. And when she goes down to the kitchen of the Happy Burger and sees the chefs casually slicing up live victims and frying them as if they were regular burgers, I genuinely thought that was a great moment. If they'd kept that tone throughout the whole film, it would have been much better in my opinion.
- While I generally hate 3D, it actually kind of worked for this film; the falling ashes were particularly effective. If I'd been able to see it in 2D I would have, but 3D was the only option available at the time.
- "Rain of Brass Petals" over the end credits. It was the only reason I stayed to the end of them. ;D
BAD
- Okay, where to start? Having talked a bit about the acting and the characters in the "good" section, I must say I was hugely disappointed by Vincent in this movie. When I heard Kit Harrington was playing him, I thought, "Ooh great, I like him. This'll be awesome!" but they completely changed Vincent and he never really got the chance to shine. I have no idea why they chose to change Vincent into a teenager, or to
- Characters never really got the chance to develop as they were introduced and then whipped away, often minutes later. Douglas and Claudia were very underused, especially Claudia since technically she was supposed to be the mastermind behind this whole thing. At least I think that was it; more on the story later. I know they're trying to condense a 6-7 hour game story into a 2 hour film, but it felt a little like they were trying to cram as many characters as possible in there.
- The absolute worst part for me was the story. There were times when I had no chuffing idea what was going on, and that was with prior knowledge of the game's story! God only knows how people who've never played the game managed....Not only did they mess with the game's story, they also pretty much retconned the original movie by (spoilering just in case)
- On another point, the film-makers couldn't seem to decide what kind of tone they were going for, so the film seems to flit between cheesy shocks-and-gore horror and psychological terror. I mentioned earlier that they started off well with the mall sequence, and then by the end of the film we have
- Some of the dialogue was terrible, frankly. It just didn't sound real, and there was a fair amount of pointless exposition in there. Dahlia in particular just seemed to be there as a device to fill in the plot of the first movie for anyone crazy enough to go and see this one without having seen the original first. She had lost all of her personality and tortured demeanour from the first film, and once again she just wasn't in it enough.
- One more thing about the confusing plot that I felt merited its own section; Claudia mentions that she is Christabella's sister, which would also make her Dahlia's sister. So doesn't that make Heather and Vincent cousins? Kinda puts a weird spin on the romance angle....I know they weren't close as kids or anything, but still.....ewww. On a different note, it does beg the question of where the hell Claudia, Vincent and indeed all these other people were at the time the events of the original movie took place. The Order were supposedly all killed by Alessa in the church; were there more of them in some underground bunker somewhere? This is why I hate it when a sequel tries to introduce new characters that were apparently around when the original took place; it never ends up working.
Believe me, that review is a lot milder than my immediate reaction after seeing the film, which was basically lots of flabbergasted noises, swearing and this face:
Overall I suppose I disliked the film, but as I said my expectations weren't sky high to begin with. I guess I've realised that the SH franchise has long since passed its best and I take every new addition to it as what it is; somewhat entertaining, but not a patch on the old days. If anything the movies may add new fans to the series, although I'm not sure what they're expecting after seeing "Revelation".
Right then .....*cracks knuckles*
I saw the movie last week, and I have to say I wasn't too disappointed...mainly because I didn't really expect it to be good in the first place. I thought it would be ridiculous and mainly catered towards "the masses" as they say, and it was, so *shrugs*.
First of all, let me start with a few qualifiers. I actually really like the original SH movie, and I know that's not an opinion shared by all fans. So before anyone goes thinking that I'm just one of these negative types who automatically hates "new" SH, bear that in mind. Also much like "SH:Homecoming" there were some bits about the movie I liked and others I didn't. And before I rag on it too much, I must say that I do appreciate the hard work that goes into making movies, especially nowadays, and the fact we even got a sequel at all is a feat in itself. I doff my hat to the filmakers overall for managing to get it out of the cutting room at last.
Okay, so here's what I liked about it. List comes now:
GOOD
- The sets were very well made and atmospheric. You could tell they put a lot of effort into them, although some didn't seem as big and epic as the sets from the original movie. I can forgive that though.
- The effects were pretty decent too, and although the spidery-mannequin doll monster was a little silly, it was really well animated and constructed; as someone who studied computer animation for years, I know from experience how much of a bitch it is to convincingly animate something with multiple limbs and spinning bits. =)
- Costumes were also good, and I especially loved Claudia's outfit; I wish we'd seen more of it though. I liked how they updated and adapted Heather's clothing and I may start sporting a hoodie and sports vest combo myself...
- The actors all gave fairly good performances, but as I mentioned some of them were a little underused. However it was good to see Carrie-Ann Moss in something again; I don't think I've seen her in any films since the Matrix trilogy. And I'm always happy to see Malcolm McDowell in anything; he brought his trademark style of crazy to Leonard. It's a shame Jodelle wasn't in it this time, but I understand that she's probably too old to play Alessa/Sharon now.
- One particular scene that really stood out for me was the part where Heather is in the mall, and she gradually starts to hallucinate weird things. As strange as it may sound, for me that really captured the essence of the original SH games; everything seems fairly normal at first, but then you slowly realise things aren't quite right. And when she goes down to the kitchen of the Happy Burger and sees the chefs casually slicing up live victims and frying them as if they were regular burgers, I genuinely thought that was a great moment. If they'd kept that tone throughout the whole film, it would have been much better in my opinion.
- While I generally hate 3D, it actually kind of worked for this film; the falling ashes were particularly effective. If I'd been able to see it in 2D I would have, but 3D was the only option available at the time.
- "Rain of Brass Petals" over the end credits. It was the only reason I stayed to the end of them. ;D
BAD
- Okay, where to start? Having talked a bit about the acting and the characters in the "good" section, I must say I was hugely disappointed by Vincent in this movie. When I heard Kit Harrington was playing him, I thought, "Ooh great, I like him. This'll be awesome!" but they completely changed Vincent and he never really got the chance to shine. I have no idea why they chose to change Vincent into a teenager, or to
make him Claudia's son, or to be in love with Heather
; it's like they turned him into Douglas and added a teen romance angle for the hell of it. Oh, speaking of which...- Characters never really got the chance to develop as they were introduced and then whipped away, often minutes later. Douglas and Claudia were very underused, especially Claudia since technically she was supposed to be the mastermind behind this whole thing. At least I think that was it; more on the story later. I know they're trying to condense a 6-7 hour game story into a 2 hour film, but it felt a little like they were trying to cram as many characters as possible in there.
- The absolute worst part for me was the story. There were times when I had no chuffing idea what was going on, and that was with prior knowledge of the game's story! God only knows how people who've never played the game managed....Not only did they mess with the game's story, they also pretty much retconned the original movie by (spoilering just in case)
having Rose somehow escape Silent Hill, when the ending of the first movie implied that she and Sharon were unknowingly trapped in the otherworld/dead. Where was she supposed to have found the Seal of Metatron, and when?? On her way back to the church after meeting Alessa? Also that ending suggested that Sharon was now merged with Dark Alessa, but according to "Revelation" Sharon was normal and conveniently forgot everything that had happened to her.
And, what exactly was the plan The Order were trying to enact? They wanted to lure Heather/Sharon back to Silent Hill so she could merge with Alessa and become God(?) so they could take over the world (probably), right? So when she got there, why were they trying to kill her? And why didn't they kidnap her at the motel instead of Vincent?? And I honestly have no idea what that ending/Pyramid Head battle was all about; I was too busy sitting with my head in my hands at that point. - On another point, the film-makers couldn't seem to decide what kind of tone they were going for, so the film seems to flit between cheesy shocks-and-gore horror and psychological terror. I mentioned earlier that they started off well with the mall sequence, and then by the end of the film we have
Pyramid Head swordfighting with a monster version of Claudia. : /
wtf happened?- Some of the dialogue was terrible, frankly. It just didn't sound real, and there was a fair amount of pointless exposition in there. Dahlia in particular just seemed to be there as a device to fill in the plot of the first movie for anyone crazy enough to go and see this one without having seen the original first. She had lost all of her personality and tortured demeanour from the first film, and once again she just wasn't in it enough.
- One more thing about the confusing plot that I felt merited its own section; Claudia mentions that she is Christabella's sister, which would also make her Dahlia's sister. So doesn't that make Heather and Vincent cousins? Kinda puts a weird spin on the romance angle....I know they weren't close as kids or anything, but still.....ewww. On a different note, it does beg the question of where the hell Claudia, Vincent and indeed all these other people were at the time the events of the original movie took place. The Order were supposedly all killed by Alessa in the church; were there more of them in some underground bunker somewhere? This is why I hate it when a sequel tries to introduce new characters that were apparently around when the original took place; it never ends up working.
Believe me, that review is a lot milder than my immediate reaction after seeing the film, which was basically lots of flabbergasted noises, swearing and this face:
Overall I suppose I disliked the film, but as I said my expectations weren't sky high to begin with. I guess I've realised that the SH franchise has long since passed its best and I take every new addition to it as what it is; somewhat entertaining, but not a patch on the old days. If anything the movies may add new fans to the series, although I'm not sure what they're expecting after seeing "Revelation".