And with all the exposition in the film, I still left feeling like I never knew what I was supposed to know about the Order, Rose's presence and purpose, why I should care about the seal, the meaning of the town being so wild like it is, etc. Bassett said that one could watch this film and understand & enjoy it without ever having seen the first, and that's just not true in my opinion. I watched the first film the night before I went to see Revelation and was still left feeling, "Whaa...?"
Now before likers of the film dive into my stew about this - I actually enjoyed watching the film, even loved many parts of it, despite certain absences in necessities. It was fun - a definite thrill ride through hell. I feel the acting was absolutely wonderful all across the board - Kit and Adelaide had this certain chemistry I rarely find in "film couples", as in two characters going through an adventure together.
Bar the ROUND ONE - FIGHT!!! at the end, the scenes with the monsters felt solid, especially the spider doll. Heck, I'll go ahead and admit the fight at the end was cool, even if it was entirely unsatisfying for what was set up until then. The whole sequence with the mannequin factory was very impressive, and I HATE CGI IN MOVIES. So that was surprising for me. Visually, Revelation was a feast.
Yet, a lot of the talent felt wasted or that it just amounted to thrill and chill because the film didn't cover its own in terms of wrapping up loose ends, generating substance and giving the audience time to comprehend and care about the large amount of exposition, spectacle, violence and dialogue. I feel that for all the exposition there was, audiences still didn't have enough to go on to form a good idea of what the hell is going on, who some of the characters even are, and why they're doing what they're doing. I dunno, maybe I'm not expressing this in the right words.
The exposition scenes Bassett did film (as in the flashbacks, I suppose), were really interesting to watch and helped me to care more about the characters and the story - but they didn't seem to flow.
Some even felt like hitting a brick wall. The first film's pacing (at least until Rose and Cybil enter the church after the third Otherworld transition) built up so much apprehension and juice I could hardly stand it. And it bounced back a few more times at the end there, and even the exposition flowed better than Bassett's multiple instances of it.
By the time Heather is handing Claudia the seal I don't know enough about her to really care if she lives or dies, so her defeat kind of feels like an afterthought - especially after the intense and respectable carousel scene.
Which, by the way, I took as a representation of Heather (Sharon) - again being the separated goodness of Alessa - defeating and expelling he evilness and hatred side of Alessa versus simply absorbing it and becoming whole again. I get that she took something away from the confrontation, but in no way was reuniting with her "other half", the darkness of Alessa. Sharon is her own person and doesn't need the nasty hatred of her "other half", so she engages in an (admittedly sorta funny) hug challenge with her other half, and comes out on top as good prevailing over evil.
Anyway, I don't tend to tack number grades on films, or anything really.
So my grades I guess kind of read like weather reports: Revelation is not without its shining moments, and a fun and visually exciting sci-fi/horror/fantasy, sure to quench any thrill and chill cravings one may have. Performances and production quality are better than most films, but beware of some moderate to serious pacing and character development roadblocks. And expect a downpour of exposition and not too much from what it sets up.
I really expected a better follow-up to the first Silent Hill film. While Revelation keeps it real and true to the first film and games (with what some may say are major exceptions and random ass deus ex machina-age), it falls short too many times to be deemed as a successful sequel.
The least it could've done was to strive to legitimately answer some lingering questions from the first film, such as the true origin of Alessa's powers and why the town is like it is, but it didn't even do that. It started to do this and then key characters that could've helped with answers were left in the dust while ones bringing up more questions were left alive or were unforgivably absent.
I get that some exposition tried to show that Silent Hill was built on ancient burial grounds, but c'mon... Why does Alessa have these powers? Why, besides accusing her of being a witch and not having a father, did the zealots from the first film want to sacrifice Alessa? Sure, there's the fact that she has some kind of powers, but why? From where? And why should we care?
Maybe I'm bleeding too much between the first film and Revelation, but I just feel that a sequel is there to continue the story and maybe even tie up some loose and lingering ends from the original. Revelation continued the story in an even more puzzling direction with a lot of flare, but that's all that was there. Like a fun-sized candy-bar - fun and tasty, but always leaves you yearning for a king size.