Silent Hill: Revelation Review

Let me just start by saying that while I am a huge fan of the Silent Hill series, I understand that there is always room for adaptation and changes that could potentially make a movie version easier to understand or more fun to watch. Silent Hill: Revelation has none of these though. As a horror movie that's an adaptation of a horror game, it fails even on the most fundamental level of being scary. You can see everything before it happens and it doesn't even try all that often. 

Silent Hill: Revelation takes places roughly ten years after the first movie. After coming up with some nonsensical explanation for how Sharon (now Heather, played by Adelaide Clemens) escaped from the Otherworld in the first movie, the plot centers around her father's (Sean Bean) efforts to protect her from the crazy cultists of Silent Hill. The plot of the film isn't terrible. The actual idea is sound and makes sense even if you haven't played the games. The issues come from nearly everything else. The dialogue is awful, the acting is even worse, and certain events that take place within the film quite literally have no other purpose than to explain things to you.

Our lead, Adelaide Clemens does a serviceable job as Heather, easily portraying the stress and horror of the things going on around her. Problems quickly arise when she tries to act "tough". Her acting devolves and her dialogue becomes insane one-liners that would have fit better in an 80's action film.

Kit Harrington, God bless him, is probably wondering why his agent gave him this film. Looking at the role he plays, I don't understand what made him want to do this movie. He stars as Vincent, who shares only the name with his video game counterpart. A fascinating character in the game, here Vincent has been reduced to a teenager who fills every cliche in the book. Harrington's acting is -  like his leading lady - serviceable at best and cringe inducing at worst. Harrington falls a bit shorter though because for some reason he isn't able to keep his accent in check as he speaks, so the longer his lines, the less American he sounds. 

These two are the only characters you'll see for ninety percent of the movie, but the movie is filled with other actors with screen time long enough to qualify for a glorified cameo. Sean Bean is probably the best in the bunch, but I fear that if he had any more screen time he would have fallen to the awful dialogue. Other actors such as Malcolm McDowell as Leonard Wolf and Carrie-Anne Moss as Claudia Wolf give some of the worst performances of their lives. Whether they can be blamed though is hard to say as they have the worst of the dialogue. Their appearances are more of a waste of space as they only service to move the plot forward, before being cast aside permanently. The same goes for Martin Donovan, who plays the private detective Douglas. For a character who lasts throughout the entire game, Douglas serves only to explain things to the audience before he his disposed of and never seen again. Choices like this plague the entire movie. 

Despite being a chore to watch, the film suffers from being too short. If perhaps some of these characters were given more time (namely Claudia, who as the villain of the movie has about five minutes of screen time), their parts wouldn't feel so worthless. It all culminates in an ending worthy of the worst fanfiction you've ever read. 

It's not all bad though. The set design is as amazing, if not better than it was in the first film. Everything looks completely life-like, even if the monsters aren't really up to snuff. The music, a blend between remixes from the games and some original stuff, is amazing. There's even a new song from Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in the end credits. The film also has a lot of random references to the other games that fans may enjoy. Unfortunately they're so randomly placed (some even out of chronological order) that they may drive fans up the wall instead of pleasing them.

I will also briefly mention that I did wind up seeing the film in 3D and aside from a few cliched 3D moments (fingers flying at the screen for instance), it's actually very well done. The 3D add some great depth to the the outdoor scenes with the ash snowing around the town and other scenes such as the carousel fire. 

All in all, my experience with in the movie can be summed by a friend's remark to someone who was interested in seeing the film: "If you were planning on seeing the new Silent Hill movie, might I suggest stabbing your eyes out. It will be both scarier and more enjoyable."

Yep. 

Metro 2033 Review (PC)

Though it isn’t clear at first, Metro 2033 suffers from a severe identity crisis. The game starts out cohesive enough introducing you to the FPS mechanics of the game and giving to the basis of the story. Unfortunately as the game goes on things start to unravel. Random turret levels are suddenly forced upon you and near impossible stealth sections throw any sort of patience you once had out the window.

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic Russia. Because a nuclear event that happened years ago, the citizens of Moscow were forced to live in the underground metro system. Roughly eighty-five percent of the game takes place in that metro system. The environments here are well detailed and feel very “lived in”. You can’t engage in conversation with many of the citizens in the various cities you’ll come across. But there are the few that will give you pieces of lore, or even a side quest. 

The tunnels of the metro look as though they’re designed to frighten you. It’s damp, dark, and the sounds of the unknown echo throughout. It all looks like something out of a horror game. Unfortunately Metro 2033 is nothing like a horror game. Though it tries to be atmospheric and haunting at times, the game up ends all the tension by constantly throwing waves of enemies at you. It’s like they were trying to frighten you but couldn’t figure out how so they just had everything attack on sight.

The fact that half the time you’re fighting humans doesn’t help either. During these sections you have the “option” of trying to “stealth” your way through or by opening fire on everything you see. This choice is an illusion though. There are several sections of the game that practically require you don’t be seen. Anything short of that leads to a quick death from all angles. All in all it’s rather frustrating because you’re given very few tools to work with and those barely work as it is. Silenced weapons can still be heard (even from afar) and throwing knives randomly connect with the enemy.

Above the ground you’ll find the winter wasteland that Russia has become. It’s beautiful in a haunting sort of way. These sections are few and far between though and you are usually unable to explore because you’re being hunted by a winged mutant. It’s a shame these areas were expanded on a bit more.

Another mechanic of Metro’s is the gasmask and stopwatch. When you’re above ground, or in areas with polluted air you’ll be required to wear your gasmask. When you wear it, your character will set his watch. This indicates how long the filter will last before needing to be replaced. Sounds like an interesting idea, no? Alas, you’re given plenty of filters throughout the game so there’s never any danger of running out. The only thing you have to worry about is getting in a fight that could break your mask, but it’s unlikely to happen. My mask only broke once throughout the entire game.  

As you continue on your journey throughout the tunnels of the metro, you’ll come across several of your fellow Russians. Most of them are well voice acted, but there are a few (especially the children) that sound absolutely fake. There’s nothing worse than listening to two people talk to you with accents of opposite quality.

The goal of Metro 2033 is to save your station from these mysterious people called “The Dark Ones”. Not much is known about them in the beginning of the game and by the end even less if known. There are two endings to game and one of them explains a bit more than the other, but nonetheless you’re left completely confused about who you’re fighting and why.

Metro 2033 seemed interesting enough at first, but it suffers from trying to be several different games at once. It’s certainly a good looking game and plays well enough, but you’ll become frustrated by forced stealth sections and awkward vehicle turret levels.  All in all, I would pass on Metro 2033. 

The Dark Knight Rises Review

The Dark Knight Rises marks the end to Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of Batman films. It brings about an end to a series that without a doubt revolutionized how we look at “comic book movies”.

The Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years after The Dark Knight and things have changed in Gotham. Batman is no more, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is a recluse, and Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) is living with the guilt of lying to the Gotham people. All of these things come to a head with the arrival of Bane (Tom Hardy) in Gotham City. Bane represents a ferocity and brutality that Gotham, or Batman, has never seen before. Bane’s arrival combined with the appearance of Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) is finally the excuse Batman needs to return to Gotham City.

What follows is a series of awesome set pieces, great character moments, and fun ride all around. Even if the movie is a tad too long for its own good, there’s very little you could say didn’t need to be there. Every scene and character serves a larger purpose that you may not realize at first, but it all comes together in the end.

Christian Bale continues to amaze as Bruce Wayne. Here we see him a shadow of his former self. He’s old and broken and Christian Bale represents this perfectly. He brings out what drives Bruce as a person to be Batman and why when that’s taken from him becomes a shut in. It’s also sad to see what becoming Batman has done to him.

Anne Hathaway surprises as Selina Kyle in the best way possible. Her turn as Catwoman (though she’s never called that in the movie) is fun to watch and easily a high point of the movie.

Bane – while the weakest of the trilogy’s three villains – is a joy to watch. Many will no doubt think of Darth Vader when they hear him speak. The mask adds quite a bit to him. Even if his accent is odd and you lose a word here or there when he speaks, his menace is without doubt. The speed and power with which he moves is unparalleled, making his action scenes the best in the whole series.

The action reaches new heights in Dark Knight Rises. There are several confrontations between Batman and Bane and they’re all exceedingly satisfying. The action is visceral and the soundtrack (or lack thereof) only helps to punctuate each blow. The large scale action also excites, though the highlight of the movie are definitely the more personal battles.

The end of the movie will be debated about by fans for years to come. Despite that, the ending is exactly what it needed to be. Nothing more, nothing less. It was the perfect way to bring the life of Bruce Wayne (and Batman) to a close.

Nolan without has given us the most fitting conclusion possible to one of the greatest film franchises to grace the silver screen in years. If you loved the previous Batman films, or just enjoy good movies in general I couldn’t recommend this more.