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Friday, August 26, 2005

The Ring Two (2005)

Following up on the heels of the wildly successful horror/thriller film The Ring (the Americanized remake of the Japanese Ringu), The Ring Two was released in theaters earlier this year. As with many sequels this was heavily anticipated, but middling reviews and word-of-mouth tempered the excitement and it disappeared relatively quickly. So is it as bad as they say, or is it worth a look?

It has been about half a year or so since the terrifying events in the original and news reporter Rachel (Naomi Watts) and her alien-like son Aidan (David Dorfman) have moved to a small, quiet town in Oregon. Things seem to be going all right for them, until a local teenager dies a vicious and mysterious death. Rachel investigates and quickly discovers that his death was linked to the eerie videotape - and the young ghost named Samara - that previously plagued her life. Without much effort, she locates the tape and destroys it. This sets off a disastrous chain of events, and she continues to probe the mystery in order to make things right again.

The sequel - now directed by Hideo Nakata, who helmed Ringu, Ringu 2, as well as the original Japanese version of Dark Water - plays as some sort of demented cross between the Nightmare on Elm Street series and The Exorcist. Unfortunately it has neither the wit nor the appeal of either of those films, though. And while we have the same general story as in the first Ring, it somehow manages to lose nearly everything that was good about it.

Instead of the edge-of-your-seat tension, threatening atmosphere, and some truly horrifying images and moments that we saw in the first film, the action in The Ring Two is stale, dull, and rather forced. And perhaps more importantly, the characters are practically lifeless and not worth caring about. It may not have aspired to be an award-winning drama or anything of that ilk, but it is at least necessary to have some connection with the characters or else any potential scares are wasted - because there is nothing to get scared about. Watts and the rest of the cast pretty much sleepwalk through the production. Though there are a couple brief scenes that are slightly thrilling, you never get the feeling that Rachel or Aidan are in any real danger. Further, even considering that this takes place on a supernatural level, there are numerous moments of disbelief and forgotten logic.

Will there be another sequel (or even a prequel, as there was in Japan)? I don't know, but I sure hope not. What is most amazing is how the man who directed both the original and the remake could botch this so badly. Of course, I imagine that the studio heads will cluelessly think up some hair-brained, incomprehensible drivel for a plot and some people will still go see it. This movie was not necessary. The gap in quality between The Ring and The Ring Two ranks as one of the largest in cinematic history between a first film and its sequel.

The Verdict: D+.

Michael Bentley 1:48 PM

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