Saquarry's Top (and Bottom) Movies and Video Games of 2012!

This year was an interesting year, bringing forth some absolutely amazing new video games and movies as well as some huge disappointments. It's not every year that I can see a movie in theatres that I absolutely love like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and see another movie that I absolutely dislike in The Avengers or Prometheus. It's not every year that my game of the year is a game that almost nobody else is even considering for game of the year. And it's not every year that I get slightly more positive about the direction of video games.

So, without further ado, let's talk about some movies first.

Top 5 Movies

Rounding out the bottom of my top list is The Tall Man, an extremely good movie that I also wrote a review about. I enjoyed this movie immensely despite the horror bait-and-switch. While this is certainly not a movie I would usually be attracted to if I had known the story outright, I found this one compelling nonetheless. 

With both great acting, great set-pieces, a wonderful dark story, and so many more things besides, this movie is more than a simple horror flick. It transcends that and speaks a very interesting... and very controversial... message. I think not mentioning this movie would have been a crime. I am so glad I saw it, and I also think that this was my biggest surprise of the year.

People have said a lot of things about my number four film of the year. They have said The Dark Knight Rises is awful and aimless and too messy and cluttered to be any fun, but this movie really stands out despite all of those claims. I loved this movie from beginning to end, loved it almost as much as I loved Batman Begins, which is my favorite superhero film ever. I am not always a Christopher Nolan fan. His movies are usually either hit or miss with me. I didn't really like Memento, I hated The Prestige (Hugh Jackman is an actor I cannot stand in any film he's in), and I found The Dark Knight to be all kinds of not my style. Yes, I am the only person on the planet that was not really all that into The Dark Knight. I had no particular affinity to the Joker, despite a good performance by the late Heath Ledger. I found Harvey Dent as the most compelling character of that movie, but then suddenly he's a villain for no good reason. But I do love Batman Begins and Inception more than any human ever should. But, going into this one, I was expecting more of The Dark Knight, which- while not a bad movie at all- just wasn't what I wanted from a serious Batman film or... well... any film I was watching at all.

The Dark Knight Rises gave me a great conclusion to a story and character that I really liked. I found it amazing, more about the city of Gotham than about Batman himself, more about the legacy of a masked character than about a single man. I know Batman is not really in the film much. I know it's more about Selena Kyle and good ol' Robin and Bruce Wayne and Bane and the stories of characters that revolve around Batman and Bruce. But I still loved this film because I could. And nobody can take that away from me. Bane was a better and more compelling villain than the Joker, and that is the biggest slap in the face I could ever give to The Dark Knight. So, there, I guess?

The Cabin in the Woods is one of the best deconstructions of a horror film I've ever seen. I loved it throughout almost the entire movie. I found the actual real plot of the film to be one of the bet plots I've seen in a very long time, and the movie was an incredibly enjoyable ride. This movie might have been higher up on the list than three if it had just had a compelling conclusion and last five/ten minutes of movie. But because it fell apart in those last minutes, I really can't. Read my review of this film if you want more info on it. Otherwise I think this choice is pretty self-explanatory.

Yes, I chose Silent Hill: Revelation 3D as my number two movie of the year. It was incredibly enjoyable. Maybe it was a little dumb. Maybe it was a little silly. Maybe it won't hold up once I buy it on DVD or Blu-Ray, but I don't even care. This was one of the best movie theatre experiences I have ever had. It was such a fun movie to watch. No, it wasn't ever scary, but I still think it understood two very important things. First of all, it understood what I, as a Silent Hill fan, wanted from this movie. Second, it understood what it means to be a good ADAPTATION of the material. Unlike the first Silent Hill movie that was less an adaptation of the material and more a serious look at a Christian cult and a woman alone in a foggy environment, this movie really stays consistent with the source material. Again, it's not scary, but I never found Silent Hill 3 scary either.

Honestly, I knew I would like this film. It's not a film I would recommend to anybody, but I enjoyed it so thoroughly that I seriously would have put this film atop my top films of the year and been looked at as a laughingstock if not for my number one movie...

...The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey! I have been looking forward to this movie for almost a decade. I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan (so much so that I've seriously dressed up like Aragorn before). I loved every single image in this movie, every single moment, every single line, and every single everything. This is the very definition of a movie of the year- a movie I enjoyed so thoroughly that it will stick with me forever. While it is a to sillier than The Lord of the Rings it works well integrating the source material and extras into its plot to tie up any loose plot threads between The Hobbit films and The Lord of the Rings films. Martin Freeman and the Dwarves and Gandalf are all pitch-perfect. Also I loved the cameo by Radagast the Brown. Man, that was awesome.

I will say that if you are not a hardcore Tolkien fan like I am... well, you may not enjoy this as much. I've heard complaints of being boring, or about the 48 frames per second thing... but I didn't really see any problem when I saw it. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had a better movie theatre experience in my entire life. I went with a bunch of very Tolkien-loving friends, and every last one of us loved the movie despite the fact that we all like very different films. All five of us loved it. So, yeah... there was never another choice for my best film of the year. This was always going to be it. Peter Jackson has delivered yet again.

Worst Movies and Special Mentions

Starting with special mentions of movies I really enjoyed this year but that didn't make the top five...

Chronicle was a brilliant little movie. It would have been in my top five if The Tall Man hadn't been slightly better. As a superhero film, and a deconstruction of what it means to be a superhero, this film is some of the best and heaviest hitting material I've seen in a long time. I enjoyed it thoroughly despite the movie giving me a migraine... and that's pretty high praise.

I just did a review of this movie! Check out what I thought there for more details. For one of my favorite books, this movie did a pretty competent job. It could have been better, could have been worse. I liked it for what it was even though I wished it could have been more.

And now... for the worst two of the year...

I really dislike The Avengers. I don't like Marvel, don't like the characters all that much, and found everything about the movie unappealing to the extreme. Well, almost everything. Mark Ruffalo makes an amazing Hulk, and is subsequently the best part of the film. But there is more here to dislike than to like. This is easily my second least favorite film of 2012. And no, it's not because it's popular, and I hate popular things. It's more because I genuinely did not enjoy the film. Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson were frankly awful, Jeremy Renner didn't have to be there, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth were going through the motions of acting, and I never found myself actually enjoying the film. It had one of the most forgettable soundtracks I have ever heard in a movie. The lines felt completely out of place... and did I mention I really dislike Marvel? It was one of the worst times I've ever had watching a movie despite being with my girlfriend who had seen the movie three times before seeing it with me. Every time she would whisper something to me about something she did or did not like, I would only be able to focus on the negative things she said, which really poked out of the film at me and hit me in the gut with their obvious awfulness. And the thing is I generally like Joss Whedon. No, he's not my favorite dude ever, but I usually enjoy his films. This one... not so much.

I probably wouldn't have even seen this film if not for my girlfriend being a huge fan of the film. I watched it with her when it came out on DVD and just hated every minute of it. She said I had a pained expression on my face for almost the entire movie. It was not a fun experience. I'm sure a lot of people enjoy it, but I am not one of them. So, sorry...? It's not my kind of film, which is one of the reasons I never reviewed it. I thought it would be unfair to give a critical analysis of something I was never going to like.

This pile of garbage that someone called a movie is the worst of the year. I have nothing else to say. Its nonsense plot, insane logic, and baffling decisions all make for a pretty bad movie. The directing and cinematography are some of the best I've seen in recent memory... but the characters look awful, the acting is awful, the script is one of the worst I've ever seen in an ACTUAL MOVIE, and I thoroughly abhorred this film. The great looking spectacle comes off as even worse in a movie that is actually this bad. Terrible movie and my worst of 2012.

Video Games

Mass Effect 3 is on the bottom of my list (because I only played 5 games released this year) and have no real interest in playing any others besides a couple indie games I haven't gotten to yet. To me Mass Effect 3 was a mess of a game, never quite finding where it should have been. Mass Effect 2 was one of the greatest games I've ever played, and that is one of the reasons this third game disappointed me so much. It is nowhere near as well put together as the second game. It does not have the wonderful story I was expecting. The gameplay was worse than the second game as well. The party members in the game are conspicuous because not a single character introduced in the second game comes back to stay in the third. This is about as big of a sin as I can imagine. I like James Vega, but why couldn't we have had a great character from the second game instead of him?

There's a lot wrong with Mass Effect 3. From the first five hours of the game being incredibly lackluster, to the game without the Extended Cut having one of the worst series of endings I've ever seen in a video game of this calibre... well, I think it's obvious I have my issues with this game all around. There are some good things though. The story works really well in the middle bits of the game. The characters are incredibly well-written, and with the Extended Cut and the Leviathan DLCs, a great deal of very important things were added to the universe of Mass Effect. Altogether, although this game is disappointing, I put it on par with the first game. It is a solid game, but has some pretty apparent mistakes and missteps that make it far from perfect. I was very disappointed by this game, but suspect I'll grow to accept it as the years go by.

One thing I've learned from this game though, one important lesson, is to never pay full price for a game that you have doubts about.

I had heard so much about this game, and I felt I needed to check it out. It is my fourth favorite of this year despite having some fairly awful technical bugs and glitches to it. I played it on the PS3, and there were a few times the world just disappeared, and I floated in a soulless white void as train noises played in the background. I did play the whole "season" by the way, and for the most part I really liked it.

The first three episodes, specifically the second and the third episodes, are really the very best this game has to offer. They are heavy-hitting, emotionally impacting, and full of every twist and turn you can possibly imagine with a game about the zombie apocalypse. I did not like the last two episodes nearly as much, specifically the fifth episode, which felt more like a grab for emotional attention than any true conclusion. The first and fourth episodes are pretty clearly in the sometimes good/sometimes eh category, but I did enjoy them both a great deal.

I have no overall issues with the game. It's well put together, and for an episodic game you can get for twenty dollars or under, it's well worth the price. I myself am neither a fan of zombies or of The Walking Dead franchise, so this game was clearly not made for me. That doesn't make it bad. Honestly, it probably makes it quite good that it can appeal to me, the uninterested person, as much as it actually does. The horror is very well done. The characters are all very well written. Sometimes the plot can be a little contrived and convenient (or inconvenient as it may be), but it portrays a (I think) fairly accurate idea of what an apocalypse with zombies would be like.

In playing the game I was instantly reminded of three games, all of which I think are better. The first is Fallout 3 and specifically that game of that series alone. I'm thinking the relationship between Andale in Fallout 3 and the farm in Episode 2 here. Spoiler warning, I guess? It's pretty obvious, but very well done. Also the apocalyptic things that coincide between the two games even though both are very different kinds of apocalypses. The second game is Alpha Protocol, a game I love and love to rant positively about. It's a game that was basically passed over in its time, but seems to have grown a cult audience because Obsidian knows how to make great games. That game is all about dialogue creating choices and those choices rippling out. The Walking Dead has a similar system, but it is not done nearly as well. Sorry, but it's true. The lack of actual control on character deaths (or lives) or any real choices besides what certain characters feel about your player character, Lee, reflects a bit poorly on the whole "This game is custom designed for you the player." aspect that The Walking Dead was trying for. And the sad thing is both Alpha Protocol and Heavy Rain (the third comparable game) do the choice thing a lot better in my opinion.

Now, despite all of that, this is a great game... but nowhere near as good as my top three...

How could I mentioned a game of the year list without Dishonored being mentioned? How could anybody who thinks and loves video games? I loved this game. I loved every aspect about it. I can complain that there wasn't enough game... but that's kind of not a negative thing, is it? If that were the case every Portal game would get a very low score indeed. It's a game designed to be played more than once, a game that has a ton of wonderful things to explore and to do, and a game that is one of the single best original properties, not associated with any other franchise, I've seen in a few years. I love how it does the steampunk, the deiselpunk... the whatever you call whatever it does-punk. It does it so amazingly that I wonder if the creators knew what kind of perfect pitch they were hitting.

Yes, I've heard comparisons between this game and Bishock, but it's not even a good comparison. I didn't like Bioshock because it gave off the illusion of a lot of things... choices, horror, philosophy, and politics. It didn't really say or do anything different or new to me besides having the game look really good. Dishonored doesn't take that route. It is a very fat game, full of a ton of information, choices, horror, adventure, and everything else as well. It has a wonderful art style, but not realistic at all, a great and amazing world to explore and learn about, and some of the best characters I've seen in a non-RPG game. So, it's basically the exact opposite of the shallow Bioshock.

The silent protagonist of Corvo only adds to the game, making it better at every turn. The voice acting is wonderful. While the plot is standard, it absolutely works, and the characters are so well done and clever that it's hard to not fall in love with them all (or hate them).The choices I made in the game mattered to me. The high chaos choices lead to a chilling conversation with a little girl... one that sent shivers down my spine... and the low chaos choices are harder to achieve leading to a slightly better ending... even if it's not really more satisfying.

I loved this game so much. All I want is more. Seriously, give me DLC, give me another game... just don't dumb anything down. And always leave me wanting more.

This game was my best game for most of the year, and my actual best game only narrowly beat it out. For all intent purposes these games are basically tied, but it is very difficult to not see how hard it must have been to get my game of the year actually out on store shelves, which is why it has to win. Silent Hill: Downpour impressed and surprised me no matter what anybody else says. While never a genuinely terrifying experience, it unnerved me constantly, leaving me off guard and jittery. It was an experience of a game, one that I will play again and again because of how much I love the story, the characters, the scenes, and basically everything else about this game.

While it hasn't overtaken Silent Hill 2 as my favorite of the franchise, it is a close second tied with The Room. I loved this game from beginning to end, even though there were a few issues here and there. The choices are pretty shallow when you get to make them at all. The game doesn't really have the strongest ending(s), even if it is (they are) very good and a very new take on the Silent Hill series at the same time. The town of Silent Hill has never been as amazing to look at or as real as it looks here. No, it does not have the claustrophobia of the early games, but it works well in a very different way. No fog, but rain. And a very different feeling setting despite it all being the same place. I love it so much! I love the mystery, the inconsistency, the game itself!

I never found the game all that scary, unlike both Silent Hill 2 and The Room, but again, it was unnerving and thrilling. I wanted to see more of the story. I wanted to have it unfold before me. All I wanted was more and more and more. And it gave it all to me in the end, creating a game that is about as close to perfect as one of these psychological horror games can be. It is so well done, and I will continue finding time for this one for years to come.

Although Spec Ops: The Line came out earlier this year, I did not get a chance to play until a few days ago. It is the very best of gaming this year. Everyone involved in this game's development and production should be proud of themselves, proud of what they accomplished, and proud of this game. It is, in a single word, brilliant. It is more horrific than almost any other horror game out there today despite not actually being a horror game. It is a painful, systematic, and scathing deconstruction and criticism of the modern war games genre and of the people who play those games.

Also, if you like those modern war games, play this one. Please play it. It might change your perspective on some very important issues.

This game is tonally fascinating, starting out as nothing more than a regular third person gung-ho modern war shooter, then morphing into a very different game by the end. Somehow I never had the game spoiled for me, and for that I'm thankful. I will, in turn, not spoil this game for anybody else. All I say is that every game player should give this game a try and a chance. It is so well put together, so well thought out, and so amazing that it deserves the attention of every single person it can get.

I am disappointed it is not on more game of the year lists, as it really should be. Yes, The Walking Dead is very good, but calling it innovative would be disingenuous. It would be forgetting about other games that really should be remembered. Again, it's not a bad game, but it isn't this game. It doesn't say what this game says. It doesn't do what this game does. Yes, I was attached to the characters in that game, attached to the characters in Mass Effect 3 too, but there was never a moment in either of those games where my mouth hung open as I played the game with a migraine raging in my head, pain both in the game and in real life... and only wanting, desperately, to see where the game was going next, to see what would happen... to wonder if the hallucinations were real or in my head... to wonder if the tonally dissonant happy music playing was the game screwing with me or my own head screwing with me.

This isn't just a game. Don't think about it like that because if you do you'll be disappointed. The multiplayer should be avoided, and the gameplay is all over the place. It is an experience. It is one of the most depressing and disheartening experiences I've ever played through other than Silent Hill 2. The sense of failure, of reeking with not only a physical defeat but a mental one, is something I have never felt in a game before... and here... well, let's just say that this game is my game of the year because it is different, because it is brilliant, and because it is like a punch to the gut.

And those are my lists this year. Yup.

Movie Appraisal: Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (2012)

Pyramid Head! What are you even doing here in this movie? Shouldn't you be tormenting James in the REAL Silent Hill 2?

Or Alex in Silent Hill: Homecoming?

Or Rose and Cybil in the original Silent Hill movie?

Honestly... why are you always there, Pyramid Head? Wait... are you... are you operating... a... a...

...carousel? What?

Why...? Why are you operating that carousel, Pyramid Head? Why do you have fish hook looking thing attached to your nipples for some reason? Why do you make it all spin? Why do I feel like I'm losing my mind?

Look the reason Pyramid Head is here is because Pyramid Head is a marketable character/creature. He has basically become the FACE (Uh... Awkward Head?) of the Silent Hill series. Now, how you feel about that can vary. Many think that his being used in every little thing involving the franchise sullies his name, makes his role in Silent Hill 2 lessened, and makes him an incredible gimmick... as well as making him less interesting/terrifying and actually making him a boring character when he actually does show up. But on the other hand, the dude with the pyramid-shaped head is hella awesome. And marketable. AND WE LOVE YOU, PYRAMID HEAD! You are recognizable and I feel comfort in noticing things.

My opinion quite obviously veers to the former. He shouldn't be in this movie. His presence, although decently well-explained away, is somewhat baffling nevertheless. He does very little towards the end and seems to have much of the same role that Valtiel has in the original Silent Hill 3, a guardian and a watcher. This becomes incredibly apparent as he makes the carousel near the end of the movie go around or when he chops men's arms off who are actively attacking and grabbing out for Heather. He is a much more active guardian than the observing Valtiel, but in some ways that works nicely... and in others it's a big, odd gimmick that never really fits or finds a place to feel comfortable in. Once you let Pyramid Head out of the bag like the first movie did, you really have no choice but to use him again, just as Homecoming did. Pyramid Head is a trap, and one this franchise seems to keep falling for. Using him once was incredible. The movie using him in the wrong context was confusing. Using him in a second game for no reason was creatively unacceptable, and bordering on self-plagiarism, and using him here just points out how far this franchise will go to pound that familiar pyramid face into the ground. It's disheartening. Even if he were used well it would be disheartening. And here he is used acceptably, but that doesn't excuse that he's being used at all.

Now, even though this is the second Silent Hill movie, it is actually based upon the third game, Silent Hill 3, which also happens to be one of the games I am not overly fond of. Most of my problems with that game stem from its paper-thin plot, its weak characters, and the motivations behind it all. I don't just mean the motivations of the characters or writers, but I also mean the motivation of the creators making a direct sequel to the original game because they were under a lot of pressure to do so. Silent Hill 2 was initially panned by critics and reviewers because it was no true sequel, rather a self contained story with nothing to do with the first game other than aesthetics. And it worked well. Silent Hill 3, to me, felt like more of a cop-out than an original plot. But I'll get to my opinions when I review the game (if I ever review the game). Right now I'm just telling you that the game this movie is based upon is one I am not overly fond of.

So, imagine my surprise when this movie starts working for me. Imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying it. Imagine my surprise when I found myself engaged and wanting to see more. Wait, I was supposed to save that glee for later. Dammit. Now the cat is out of that locker. It's wandering the school and probably being hunted by monsters.

The movie, directed by Michael J. Bassett, who also directed Deathwatch, follows the same basic premise as the third game. Heather Mason (played by Adelaide Clemens) is a seventeen year old teenager who lives with her father Harry (Sean Bean). Heather and Harry move around a lot because they are avoiding being found. Heather tries to start another new life just as things all go to hell. While the plot is basically the same as the game major and minor things are changed all over the place, with some things added and some things taken away. Douglas Cartland arrives to meet and greet Heather, but not in the mall like he did in the game, but rather in front of her school bus. He waits for her, somewhat pesters her, and then follows her, trying desperately to warn her of the impending shadow of the Order. Movie Douglas, unlike his game counterpart, dies. He dies in the mall Otherworld sequence. He never even makes the drive with Heather to Silent Hill proper. While this is slightly disappointing, I'm not overly surprised. Douglas is not my favorite character, and the plot flows in a similar manner with or without him there.

Replacing Douglas and his role for the rest of the movie is Vincent (Kit Harrington), who is easily my least favorite character (or actor) here. He is no high school student, looking more like he's in his mid-twenties than his teens. And he can't seem to hide that British accent. He was obviously not from West Virginia is my point here. Sean Bean has similar problems disguising his accent, and seems to forget completely about disguising it at all. Why not? He's still good in the role. Why have him be American when he can be anything he wants to be? Sean Bean also, for some odd reason, will not die. The man, an actor who is known for playing characters that die by the end of the movie, survives this film... somehow... even when Harry, in the third game, is explicitly dead by the middle of it. It made some sense, truth be told, to not have him die, but it was surprising as well.

Vincent and Heather also have this whole romantic subplot going on throughout the movie. I have to mention it because it was creepy. At least one person in the theatre agreed with me. I heard a hearty "Ew" when he kissed her. I concur, person in the theatre!

Most of the movie is fluff. I can't even hide that. I can't say most of the movie is even worth anything at all. The plot is a mess, paper-thin at best... although again, the third game's plot has similar problems. The characters are barely there. The actors are only needed for scary reaction shots and some decent dialogue. Most of the plot and characters could have disappeared and I wouldn't have cared. Hell, the entire movie could have been monster encounters, and I would have been happy. We could have called it Silent Hill: Encountering Monsters, and although fanboys would have hated it, the movie wouldn't have changed much in content.

I loved some of the imagery and designs though. Unlike the first movie, a great deal of the images from this movie seem to be straight from the games. Also, there seemed to be a great deal of trying to make the interiors of buildings look convincing when they are all decrepit and abandoned in the Otherworld, because they succeed a million times in aesthetics. I can't say just how much I loved that the decaying buildings actually looked like decaying buildings. And throughout the movie this was true, with every building having its own unique look and layout. I was impressed.

The monster designs were also really well done. Yes, there were some returning monsters from the last movie, but most here are new, at least somewhat. The Missionary is the really big new monster. She is even a match for Pyramid Head in a fight. She appears throughout the film until she is revealed to be Claudia somehow. This takes fetus-eating right out of the picture, and for that I am truly disappointed. Instead we get Missionary Claudia fighting Pyramid Head. And you know what? It's fun. I liked it. I'm a dumb man who liked watching the monsters fight, okay? And other "monsters" appear as well often faceless, with stitched seams or fleshy... uh... bits all over. They're all kind of hard to explain. Some of the moments in the movie with the monsters are almost hilarious... and I wonder if they were purposefully meant to be funny. I kind of have the inkling they were meant to be humorous. Maybe that's just me.

Two new monsters were absolutely amazing though. The first was a mannequin spider creature who looked absolutely stunning. The idea was brilliant. I loved watching it, and it was almost frightening and horrifying in a way. It had easily the best and most serious scene in the entire movie. And for that, I am seriously glad. I needed that monster. It kept this movie interesting and moved everything along nicely. It was the highlight of my experience except for a moment at the end, which I'll get to shortly. The other "monster" that I really enjoyed was more a collection of monsters. They were under the floor grating, these heads and hands, almost making a floor underneath the floor. I have no idea if they were people, monsters or something else, but I loved the look of them.

As for everything else... Well, Heather merges with Alessa eventually, like in the game. And they do it on a carousel that Pyramid Head is inexplicably operating. Maybe there is symbolism there? Or maybe it's just dumb. I have no idea. I just know I was laughing so hard at Pyramid Head and his ridiculous nipple piercings... His operating of that carousel was less horrifying and more incredibly and ridiculously amusing. I laughed for a while and made jokes underneath my breath constantly.

And I guess that's the BIG PROBLEM of this flick. It never feels serious. It's made for the fans. That's obvious. If you are not a fan of the games skip this movie and never see it. It's not made for people who don't like the games, pure and simple. The moments ripped directly from the games, the jump scares, the decoy characters and plot points, and the gameplay mechanics basically shown in the movie are all there for the fans. My favorite one of those has to be the nurses. Yes, they also make a comeback, but they are impressive. They're there arguably more than the first movie, and they work well. They are intimidating, well acted, and relentless. In every way they were really one of the highlights of the film. And their sequence with Vincent and Heather works incredibly well, being both tense and effective.

But the rest of the movie has hilarious moments scattered throughout, and I have no idea if they were intentional or not. All I know was that I was having a great time. I made fun of the movie, I enjoyed sequences of the movie. I loved the imagery of the movie. And I had a grand old time. Were there problems? Yes. But none of those problems ever took away from my enjoyment of the feature. None of them ever made me want to walk out or stop enjoying what was in front of me. Some character decisions were baffling though... like Heather continuing to run into the darkness under the mall for some reason rather than staying in a populated area where she could yell for help. Yes, I know the nightmare world was nearly there (or maybe was actively there) but it would have made more sense for her to hold back. Vincent running off for some reason near the end of the film is also baffling. No idea why he did that. "Promise (Reprise)," a very good song from the second game, also seems to play constantly throughout the movie, no less than five times it seems. While it is a good song, you would think that thy would have more song selection than that to choose from.

Malcolm McDowell and Carrie-Anne Moss also are in this movie... but I can't really say much about them. McDowell is obviously a bad guy. And Carrie-Anne Moss seems to be both albino and a monster some times. It made literally no sense and I would rather not attempt to parse it.

Now, my favorite scene is the very end of the movie. Vincent and Heather have left Silent Hill for good. They hitchhike on a semi truck. The semi truck is driven by none other than Travis Grady. I called it out before it happened. "Travis?" I nearly shouted. "Travis, what are you doing here?" I was so excited! I have no idea why but that little nod to another game made me happy. And then the next nod made me honestly giddy. I love Silent Hill: Downpour, so when a few police cruisers and then a convict bus speed by the semi as Silent Hill gets all foggy again, I was basically ready to give the movie a standing ovation. Seriously. I don't think I've been as excited for a little nod from a filmmaker to me as a fan as I was here. It made me feel good.

So, overall, this was my best movie-going experience possibly ever. I loved this movie. I loved the parts that were great and the parts that were less great (and there definitely were some of those). I loved almost everything here except Kit Harrington and some of the more boring scenes that seemed to do nothing for either plot or character. I guess I should also mention that this is not a scary film. The first movie is a much more horrific experience. Although I found myself taken in by the plot here, I never found myself scared even a little bit, although I did find myself very engaged. I would call it a suspenseful experience, but not a scary one. While there were jump scares, most were predictable and none had a lasting impact. If I had cared about the plot or characters more maybe I would have cared about the scares more... but this movie wasn't about the plot or characters... it was all about the fans, the imagery, and the games. And I can't argue that. It was a wonderful homage to the games... even if as a movie it did seem to suffer under its own weight. I will stand by the fact that I loved this movie... that neither makes it a good movie nor enjoyable for everybody though. Be ready to go in there expecting the worst if you're going to see it. Be ready to poke a little fun at the movie. And be ready to just enjoy the ride. I did, and I'm nearly as happy as I could be. I would have been happier if the movie were actually scary, but I can't complain.

If you are a fan of the games, check this movie out... just don't take it too seriously, okay? I mean, Pyramid Head is pierced through his nipples... how can anyone see that and not laugh? Also, this is the first 3D movie I have ever seen. My opinion? Gimmicky, and not my favorite thing ever, but it worked a few times in more atmospheric moments. I still would have preferred to not wear the goofy glasses.

(Okay, and now I have a special second part of the review. This is unheard of for me and this blog, but I'm going to introduce a guest reviewer: my girlfriend who bravely sat through the movie with me, expecting to absolutely hate this movie. She knows almost nothing about the series of games, although she has seen the first movie, the first half of the second game, and bits and pieces of Downpour. So, here are her thoughts, as a non-fan of Silent Hill or horror:)

 Okay, so I just saw Silent Hill: Revelation 3D. I will preface this by saying that horror movies put me entirely out of my element. I do not often watch them! I am not the expert Justin claims to be, and I don't know much about the Silent Hill series outside of what I've seen played of SH2, SH3, and SH Downpour.

Inexpertise laid bare, I had fun watching this! I was never really scared, and I am a self-proclaimed weenie about this stuff. It did have some decent jump-scares in predictable places, but jump-scares don't mean much as far as horror goes. There were tense moments, but nothing actually horrific. My heart never really jumped from fear. It was a thriller more than a horror- and, being called a thriller, I thought it was actually pretty entertaining!

The story did nothing for me. Going in nearly cold to this film and not having the Silent Hill nostalgia driving my interest, the plot came across as dry. Very dry! It made sense, especially when explained, but that didn't stop the protagonists' actions from being poorly motivated. I'm sorry, but Vincent, what did catching the Brethren's attention in the amusement park do for you? Why the hell did you kiss Heather? Heather, you're disregarding everything your father has ever told you and blatantly ignoring common sense when you dive headlong into the venture. 'Oh my dad has literally bent our lives around hiding from people chasing us and telling me to never go back to Silent Hill no matter what- so let's just make that little trip, shall we?' It seemed.... shallow. I mean, I get it, but it still came across as much more of a game-reliant plot and movie than one really meant to stand on its own, which was slightly disappointing for someone without that game experience to draw from.

I never really connected with Heather, either. It's hard to, especially when the first major speech she makes is one literally meant to drive everyone away. Effective as a troubled high-schooler, not so much as a movie protagonist I'm supposed to emphasize with. Or is that not a thing for horror movies, and the protagonist is meant really only as a scream-generator? I don't know. I might be off-base.

I liked Robbie the Rabbit. I now want a little plushie.

The monsters in the movie were... interesting. The new ones, anyway. I liked the mannequin-spider-conglomeration! It was creepy, new, and parasitic, while still keeping to the pieced-together-mannequin monster theme in other Silent Hill pieces (the double-legged monster in SH2, for instance). Probably one of my favorite monsters (except for when it opened its head, I would have preferred to not have CGI shoved in my face like that)- and the girl Heather rescued there was pointless. I knew the instant she got ripped out of that plastic thread-sac that she was a moot character, only meant as a forced kind of monster feed to generate screams. That came across as shallow to me, as well. Pointless.

The nurses are a Silent Hill staple- I think they're overused, but at least this time they were used well. They responded to the noise made, and only when noise was made! That part, with Vincent lying on the gurney and trying to silently escape, was a well-done tense moment, in my opinion.

Pyramid Head was... I'm getting tired of his cameos. His original purpose was to be James's torment in SH2, and he's been bastardized from that ever since. What is he doing turning a demonic carousel, chained in place with nipple-clamps? And couldn't he take them out any other way than by ripping them?

VINCENT IS NOT A BRITISH HORMONAL TEENAGE BOY. That seemed fan-service-y to me. I'm not a fan of that.

The rot effects were very cool. They reminded me of every single abandoned building Justin and I have ever explored- especially the Knight Hospital. That, overall, was probably what spooked me the most, the ties to my urban exploration; not the ties to the Silent Hill series, which shouldn't really be the case, I think.

Again, as horror, this movie seems to fall flat even to someone as inexperienced as me. It was thrilling, again, but never really that scary. The scares they tried to pull were predictable, at best. ...Also, it might not have helped that Justin and I were cracking jokes about Pyramid Head's nipple clamps the entire time.

The best part, for me, was actually at the very end. Silent Hill: Downpour is the game I know the most about, save for SH2, so seeing the bus and police escort pass the truck as they were leaving the town was a great stinger for me. I guess we'll see if they follow that up well!

Last note? I HATE 3-D EFFECTS.