The Ring 2

Review by Douglas

The movie starts off several months after the end of the original movie and Rachel Keller and her son (Naomi Watts and David Dorfman) are settled in a small town in Oregon.

Both are trying to get beyond the horrifying events of the first film and trying to adjust to the new lives they are trying to form, which is kind of hard considering the small-town mentality and the noisy neighbours that come with it.

Rachel now works for a small town newspaper and is covering small town life to it’s fullest until her police scanner picks up a strange call from a house outside of town.

It appears that a young man was killed in a strange (and eerily familiar way) and the survivor claims that it happened after viewing a certain videotape. Rachel suddenly begins to fear the worst and once she gets to the crime scene, her fears start to take shape.

The work of the ghostly Samara Morgan is at hand once again and this time however, it seems like Samara has become more powerful in the fact that death happens instantly after viewing the tape instead of the seven day waiting period.

At first Rachel does not want any part of what is going on but once the bodies start to pile up and her son begins to act strangely around her, she has no other choice but to dig even further into the mystery of Samara Morgan’s life and what she finds during the course of her investigation will once again put her and her son’s life in danger.

The movie starts off fairly ordinarily but it gets much better once the spookiness gets going in full swing and it does build on the foundation that the original set forth on the life of this tragic, yet very evil child.

It could have been a run-of-the-mill sequel with no originality but it handles itself well in the story department and delivers a few genuine shocks and surprises during the course of the film.

One of them is the character of Sissy Spacek, who has a small but pivotal role and her performance is actually pretty creepy in itself.

There is a nice twist that that links both Ring films together because of her character, but I will not spoil it for you. The movie as whole is really pretty good, but not as good as first film in terms of its sheer spook factor.

Director Hideo Nakata, who directed the original Japanese film (that the first film is based upon) does a good job in keeping up with the pace set by Gore Verbinski's original remake, and he does bring a calm before the storm feeling to this film that does it’s job perfectly in creeping you out.

Unfortunately, he lacks Verbinski's sense of urgency and dread that made the first movie into a very scary and intense experience. Also the cinematography is not in the same league as first film because it lacks the underlining feeling of evil that made the first film very disturbing to look at, while this film feels a little too sunny in certain spots.

The acting is just as good as the original with Naomi Watts giving a very good performance with a tightly strung character that is trying to hold herself and her son together despite the total chaos that is happening around her, and David Dorfman is fantastic as her son, who is slowly unwinding beside her.

If I can give an accurate comparison of the two movies, I would say that it’s in the same league as The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy in how the sequel is to the original. It’s not quite as good as the original but its worthy follow up that does do the first film justice.

3.5 out of 5

The Ring 2
Australian release: Thursday 24th of March, 2005
Cast: Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Simon Baker, Elizabeth Perkins, Sissy Spacek.
Director: Hideo Nakata.
Website: Click here.

Brought to you by MovieHole