Movie review
Viewed on: Blu-Ray 3D
Released: 2012
This is a sequel of much debate; not reaching the heights the first movie, sporting gimmicky 3D, disappointing fans and with an ending much to be desired. It received a backlash of bad reviews and feedback from community. Yet, somehow, I recall liking it quite a bit. It was time for a rewatch!
I watched the first movie a little while ago, you can check out my review of that here! Suffice to say, it's the movie to watch prior to this one, don't jump straight into Revelation!
For a Revelation rewatch I dug out what must've been one of my first 3D Blu-Rays I ever bought and watched it on a 3D TV I still own! It's not often I watch 3D movies, but when they're filmed with proper 3D cameras and I have the technology available, I still enjoy watching them. Even though the movie companies have moved on, I quite enjoyed this era of physical movies to buy and watch at home.
Let's put on those stupid 3D glasses and take a closer look!
Some context first; this sequel returns with Sean Bean playing the father, Christopher, alongside his now teenage daughter, Heather, having escaped the town Silent Hill in the first movie. If you recall, the mother and daughter returned home but in a separate dimension from the father. The sequel cheaply gets itself out of this dilemma by telling us that the mother could send only one of them back from the alternate dimension.
Radha Mitchell returns in a short glimpse for this message. It's the movie's first red flag and an obvious cop out considering the tricky cliffhanger the first movie left behind in its wake. I'll let it pass, but it abandons the alternate dimension idea completely.
Following Heather, which is greatly portrayed by Adelaide Clemens both in her personality and emotional range. There's a clear direction that this movie follows the plot of the third game, which incidentally is the only proper sequel in the franchise; as Silent Hill 1 and 3 are connected and similarly the two movies are. Not a bad foundation to build upon, at least in theory.
Along the way Heather meets Vincent, which to my surprise is portrayed by Game of Thrones fame; Kit Harrington! I didn't notice this back in the day as his big fame wasn't a thing yet. Vincent helps her in her confusion of alternative realities, explaining that there are many cult members sent out from Silent Hill trying to track her down. However, if you recall the Vincent in Silent Hill 3, he's not a caring person and sadly the movie deviates from the creepy Vincent in the game to becoming a stereotype love interest for Heather in the movie.
Although the private investigator Douglas doesn't play a significant role here compared to the game, we become familiar briefly with his presence. He fits the personality and visual appearance of the game character well but is underutilised and killed off quickly.
We see Deborah Unger return briefly as Dahlia, in what appears a more convincing and less overdone costume this time around, but her screentime is brief. We also have a creepy and intense scene where Heather confronts a blind and chained, insanity ward patient called Leonard, portrayed by Michael McDowell. Overall, a lot of usage of the characters we're familiar with from the game.
Then we have the cult leader in Silent Hill; Claudia, who is portrayed by Matrix fame Carrie Ann Moss. However, the character is introduced too thinly, so we're left with a bad costume and little screen presence until the final battle. A battle where we suddenly are supposed to grasp the entirety of her evil intentions through a rant, which at the end she just turns into a vicious monster. Such a missed opportunity considering the actor.
People have also complained about the movie visually, which I don't relate to. I found the visual effects and environments well done. The new locations have the same quality of a worn down, foggy, dust filled and rusty world the story alternates between, just as the first movie. It even reuses some familiar areas from the first movie to tie it all together. When it comes to locations the movie gets it right, the problem perhaps lies in the 3D effects used.
For clarification; I'm personally a fan of 3D movies. I like to see how locations and rooms look like with depth; like looking into a little world within your TV. That said, it's a cool tech when used subtly, with close-ups of faces giving that detail and depth to a face. However, on the flipside are the overdone, dramatic 3D CGI effects. Typical for the 3D movie era, we have limbs being cut off and bouncing towards the viewer and monsters lashing out of the screen. Luckily, there aren't that many of these cheap 3D scenes.
So far, my opinion of the movie is positive, but my main negativity boils down to the last 20, or so, minutes of the running time. Of which the movie tears down any atmosphere and tension it accomplished prior to the final confrontation scene, ending with a huge disappointment.
Again, it's about how badly Claudia is presented and that she turns into a bland and generic, sword bladed enemy which wants to kill Heather and her father with some thinly explained reasoning. How can we as viewers even feel anything towards Claudia, having barely seen her most of the movie? They're taking it for granted we're all familiar with the third game, the opposite of which the first movie catered for newcomers to the franchise. After all, the movie and game audiences don't overlap completely, and explanations are needed.
Even worse, in a Deus Ex Machina moment, suddenly pyramid head reappears, but this time instead of chopping people up, he's on Heather's side and challenges the Claudia monster to some kind of mediocre showdown fight. The whole scene, riddled with cheap 3D effects, feels incredibly stupid and just out of context.
This is where the movie's plot stumbles in its own feet; indeed it goes much closer to the game source material, which even the first movie went father from to make it viewable for a movie audience, but in doing so this sequel fails to make sense in terms of being a sequel to that very movie. With no clear reason, the ruthless and murderous enemy of the first movie turns into a hero that saves the day, protecting Heather and her dad. Talk about a complete screw up of an ending!
For the close representation of one my favourite Silent Hill games, with environments that look in line with the game, and a well portrayed Heather I enjoy this movie in my own way. While it gets a massive amount of negativity, it's nowhere near disaster of some of the Resident Evil movie sequels.
How Revelation changes the presence and personality of main characters and how it disastrously stumbles at the goal line is just unforgiving and pulls the score down. Such a shame because the good parts I really enjoy.
