A note on the film

I won't be addressing the movie, as it is, for obvious reasons, not pertinent. However I will say a couple of words here. Firstly, Christophe Gans. I love you man. You put on a bit of a visual clinic here, and it's what you do best. (Unfortunately you set yourself up for failure - about which more later.) Even the dialogue, though bad, was passable. Luckily for you Roger Avary, my expectations have been significantly lowered when it comes to the writing in videogame adaptations. At least the film kind of worked. Right up until the end that is, when instead of climaxing it crumbles contemptibly under the weight of its own bullshit. Oh the denouement... What the fuck were you thinking? Seriously. Please revise and resubmit. I'd put that up against pretty much any other film I've ever seen for the worst writing Oscar based simply on the ending.

And speaking of failure Christophe, please decide what you want to achieve and do so without unnecessary compromise. Are you retelling the story of the first SH game? If so, don't produce a semi-canonical mishmash of several disparate games. Note to self: SH2 is not a proper sequel to Silent Hill. Retelling the story straight also doubles as a simple way to help you avoid adding unnecessary extra elements to compel your Frankenstein plot to make a little more sense. Fail.

Now, may I presume to suggest that you avoid all those problems altogether and tell your own story guided by the "rules" of the Silent Hill setting. Even the comics were smart enough to get that right. You would then be free to make a film that isn't likely doomed to failure before you even begin generating ideas. Silent Hill is a tailor-made storytelling platform. This is an axe I'll grind at length later, so I'll leave it for now.

A final point: any iteration of Silent Hill needs to be a primarily claustrophobic, solo endeavor. There can never be, for example, an effective cooperative Silent Hill game. A sense of solipsism is necessary not only to the themes of the story, but in many ways it is also integral to the plot. A large part of the atmosphere and appeal of the SH series depends on a sustained stay in the dreamlike world, where the character is alone and unsure of his surroundings. Taking the player/reader/etc out of that environment is never more than counterproductive. Which is to say that, for example, Cybil and your bastardized female Harry should mostly not be allowed to come to each other's rescue, or even appear in too many scenes together. And as much as I like Sean Bean, his character and storyline diminish the impact of your film. I know, you're worried about pacing, but the pace of the story can still be altered - obviously the player can't be imperiled continuously. As I'm sure you're aware, there is a mechanism for this built into, and dare I say masterfully employed by, the game. Why mess with it?

There are a lot of specific things I'd love to go on and on about, but I guess this isn't the place to do that. *sigh* I should add that, all things considered, I did enjoy the film...

[update] - For the purposes of this blog, the film will be considered outside canon!