Movie Review
by Eric Jeter
| * (out of 5 stars) STARRING Naomi Watts as RACHEL KELLER Simon Baker as MAX ROURKE David Dorfman as AIDAN KELLER Elizabeth Perkins as DR. EMMA TEMPLE Gary Cole as MARTIN SAVIDE Sissy Spacek as EVELYN Rated PG-13 Opens March 18, 2005 Studio: DreamWorks Directed by: Hideo Nakata Back to Movie Review Home |
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No "Ring" in "The Ring Two"
It’s been a horror heavy year, but ironically there haven’t been many real frights. From the listless "White Noise" to the pitiable parody "Cursed," almost weekly the box office has tested viewer patience with a long list of spookless pretenders. The reason for this recent surge of chillers might be the success of 2002’s "The Ring," an intensely creepy movie based on the Japanese mega-hit, R"ingu." Now "The Ring Two" arrives, offering what is perhaps this year’s best chance to scare us senseless. But surprisingly, this second installment is not only paltry in terms of frights, but, by virtue of expectations, is the worst of this year’s hapless haunts.
To understand the significance of the falloff in "The Ring Two," what made the original so terrifying must be reexamined. The Ring’s “you watch, you die” premise draped the film in an effective shroud of suspense, and its moody visuals bestowed an overarching sense of dread. But without question it was Samara, a murderous phantasm so ghastly it left its victims with a hellishly contorted face, who so traumatized audiences. Her eerie, herky-jerky movements and long, jet black hair helped make her one of the most terrifying female entities since Linda Blair’s "Exorcist" child. True, the film wasn’t perfect, but it was exceptionally scary.
The problem with the sequel is that its attempt to revive such scares results in nothing more than a lot of dry thrills. It relies heavily on Samara’s already established reputation, seemingly content that the mere sight of her death-pale hands or creepy form is enough to scare us witless. Most of her lurking in this film is mere hallucinatory stupidity, with no real rhyme or reason for her appearances. Mood is provided by the standard inclusions: false alarms, flickering lights, mysteriously opened windows, and some “for effect only” scenes, including a brutally bad one involving a herd of computer-generated deer.
Similarly, the storyline is an exercise in misery. It moves along almost aimlessly, tossing us an occasional bone by filling in a few lingering questions from the original. But for each element of the backstory that comes together, another senseless event leaves us scratching our head. Either way, none of these revelations are interesting enough to get us involved with the characters or the situations in which they find themselves. By film’s end the story takes a number of sloppy turns, finally ending on a note of complete off-the-wall absurdity.
I feel pity for Naomi Watts, the fine actress who headlined the original. She faithfully doles out another solid performance although faced with a poor script and having to put up with the torturous acting of her child co-star David Dorfman.
In terms of disappointing sequels, "The Ring Two" keeps very bad company with "Exorcist II: The Heretic" and "Poltergeist II: The Other Side." Sadly, there simply isn’t very much of "The Ring" in "The Ring Two," a fact that places it at the bottom as the worst of this year’s fright fests.
