Movie Review: Silent Hill
Watched Silent Hill today for the first time - on a complete whim (cause I've been on a film extravaganza all break). I have to say, it now ranks up with Event Horizon on favorite horror films of all time. The monsters were kick-ass, frighteningly beautiful, and utterly disturbing without crossing the line into disgusting; the characters had enough depth to catch and hold my attention (especially Dahlia and Sharon/Alessa/Evil!Alessa); the plot itself was quite intriguing (I loved the interplay of the different "dimensions", with Rose and Cybil stuck in the dark, terrifying version of Silent Hill and Christopher et al. kept in the "reality" of Silent Hill as merely an abandoned town); and... SEAN BEAN! I didn't realize it was him until the ending credits began, but he really pulled off Christopher very well - deperate, physically and emotionally exhausted, terrified for his missing wife and child.
And the ending. Woah! I won't go into details (as if people are actually reading these... haha), but it really got to me. I'm wondering if Rose and Sharon are trapped in that world forever, which would be horrible, especially after what Rose went through to get her daughter back. Also, it's not clear, but I think (and correct me if I'm wrong) that somehow Sharon and Alessa have become one person again - at least, that's how I interpreted the last scene with dark!Alessa and the slight personality changes to Sharon in the closing scenes. It's a comforting thought, that the tortured soul finally found peace after achieving some (admittedly very bloody) vengeance. I also think Dahlia's character was redeemed quite well. "Mother is God in the eyes of a child." Incredibly accurate and says volumes about the power of the mother-daughter relationship. I mean, corpse!Alessa was mutilating everyone in sight with those killer barbed wires, but she spares her mom. Perhaps she thought simply witnessing the carnage was enough punishment. I like to think she (Alessa) didn't really blame her mother; really, it wasn't her fault at all - Christabella forced her to give up her child to be burned.
Speaking of Christabella, it was really neat to see such a natural beauty like Alice Krige playing someone so... cultish and severe. She really pulled off the somewhat-archaic speach patterns quite well. Jodelle Ferland (Sharon/Alessa) was absolutely adorable - even when she was covered in blood with that secret, devilish little grin on her face. She actually kind of reminded me of a young version of River Tam (Summer Glau); odd, perhaps, but for some reason the two look uncannily similar. I think it has to do with the deeply expressive eyes. Gah, I'm such a sucker for the eyes. ^_^;
More on Sean Bean now. *insert appropriate squee-age* He really breathed life into this role and brought along the measured warmth and humanity that is so familiar to most of his other roles. I found the gender-switch especially interesting. Usually it's the females you see waiting fearfully, unknowingly on the outside, but this time it was poor Christopher stuck in reality while his wife got to be the kick-ass hero. :) It was rather refreshing. He dealt with it well, although I would have preferred him to put up more of a fight against the local police. They seemed to get rid of him rather quickly (save for his one futile attempt at forcing information out of the nun at the orphanage). Hm... something to ponder, at least.
Oh, and of course one cannot forget Armless, Grey Child, and the Red Pyramid!! *dies* And the janitor... I've heard talk about the "pyramid head" guy for quite a while now (from friends familiar with the SH game), and he was every bit as cool as people say he is. Not to mention he's got a blade that rivals Cloud Strife's in sheer over-the-top size; I think it actually earns a few more cool points simply because it's all rusted and beat up from being dragged across the ground and still manages to slice through a door as if it were butter. Legless creeped me out at first, but then I watched the extras on the DVD and the whole "Trojan man" comment completely ruined him for me. All I can do is laugh now, whenever I think of him. Oh, and I really want to figure out how to walk around like that guy! Grey Child was freaky in that it was the first real monster you come across - and it really set the stage! The skin stretched into an endless scream... eep! Mad props go out to Michael Cota (Armless), Yvonne Ng (Grey Child), and Roberto Campanella (Red Pyramid/Janitor/Colin).
And the nurses, of course. KICK ASS!
Next up on the movie queu: Free Radicals/Böse Zellen (Barbara Albert, 2003)