It's true this is the sort of movie that works better with a more smooth style and a bigger director and actors involved but the movie is what is it and it really isn't being anything too bad at all!

Well, it's also definitely true the movie thinks its being something more clever and important than it in fact truly is but as far as these movies go, this is not a bad attempt. Of course especially when considering this is not a big movie with a not so high budget or big studio behind it involved.

It's the sort of political thriller, in which a man gets himself involved to bring down a big company. But don't worry, that doesn't mean this movie consists out of just talking and people sitting behind desks but it really in fact is an action loaded movie as well, which sort of goes at the expense of its credibility but it at the same time also helps to make this a more pleasant movie to watch.

The story itself didn't seem solid enough anyway to carry this movie over. Like I said, it's not as clever or heavy as it pretends to be and besides never gets all too involving to follow but at least it never gets poor or ridicules. Maybe it all would had been more interesting if the story in fact got based on a true story. That way it wouldn't had only been more interesting but also would had a certain amount of gravity and importance to it, which is something this movie desperately was searching for throughout.

It also has a bit too many distractions in it as well. It features some formulaic movie stuff, all put in there to strengthen the movie its drama and gravity but it actually works against the movie, since it doesn't feel very organic to its story.

You could say this movie is a bit of a weird blend between realistic and formulaic- and forced movie elements but it still for most part works out. Not that this movie shall win any big awards or is one that stays on your mind for long but it's still a movie to have a decent 106 minutes with, when you have absolutely nothing better to do or watch.

The movie does have some big and well known names in it, such as Andy Garcia, Forest Whitaker and Eva Longoria but it's still truly lacking a solid A-list actor as the movie its main character, that could had pushed this movie up a notch. Nothing against Andy Garcia but he has always been an actor who is better playing supporting roles and it's also true that his age is really starting to show by now. I didn't even recognize him at first!

It's a good enough movie, as long as your expectations for it aren't too high!

6/10

Watch trailer

(Review originally written at 26 November 2006)

Not that the movie is very bad but it's just that the movie, with its atmosphere and premise, had so much more potential than the eventual end result.

The movie suffers from numerous things. One is the build up and story flow. In all honesty this movie has an incredible bad build, which ruins the tension and mystery of the movie. Things happen in the movie too fast, without a proper build up. This way we never really get involved- and feel with any of the characters. It's a distant movie with distant characters and because of that neither the tension or mystery of the movie works out to the maximum. Non of the characters seems to be truly scared or surprised will all the unusual and scary things going on in the movie. It also sort of makes the movie ridicules to watch at moments.

This movie had all the potential in it to become a tense atmosphere horror movie. After all, The Silent Hill games are probably the most atmospheric, tense, mysterious and scary games around at the moment. But as a die hard horror fan I can assure you; this movie is not an horror. The movie really doesn't have any scares in it and although there is some gore, there is very little else to enjoy for the horror. So perhaps it's possible that a non-horror fan will like this picture more than I in the end did. The only thing horror about this movie is its atmosphere. Yes, the movie is great looking and because of that has a great visual look and atmosphere over it but the not so great story, characters, dialog and acting make sure that this movie never becomes tense or scary despite its fantastic atmosphere.

But yes, the movie is definitely still watchable, mainly because of the reason I just mentioned; the visual look. The movie uses some great camera positions (copied directly from the game I presume), good looking sets, make-up and visual effects. The movie also has some great highly imaginative sequences, that perhaps can also be described as art. You could say that this movie is a case of style over substance.

The story begins simple but as the plot thickens the movie becomes more and more difficult to follow. We're introduced to a totally new world and environment but the movie doesn't give us the time to adapt and get used to this strange 'alternative' world. The story also tends to make the movie unnecessary hard and difficult to follow, especially toward the ending, that even comes over as strange and not in every way completely understandable. No wonder, since the story is written by Roger Avary. The man behind the early Quentin Tarantino movies "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction". He always tends to write stories with several layers, multiple story lines and other complex writing techniques but in this case it's not for the best of it. The movie suffers from its 'over-done-written' script. A simple understandable for everyone script would had sufficed for a genre movie like this one.

Sorry to say but Radha Mitchell will not grow into becoming a big movie star. This goes for about all of the actors in the movie. Sean Bean also somehow got involved in this movie but to be frank, I don't know why he ever agreed to appear in this movie. He feels out of place and on top of that he also gets very little interesting to do. The only interesting actress in this movie seems to be Alice Krige but her character is unfortunately introduced too late in to the story. Non of the characters are really handled well in the movie and the dialog also isn't always the best, or most realistic thinkable, so that also isn't exactly helping them.

The movie is still good enough to consider it a watchable one but considering the potential this movie in its core had; a disappointing movie, especially from the viewpoint of an horror-genre fan.

6/10

Watch trailer