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66 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
First you see the Ring... then you see the sequel, August 3, 2005
This review is from: The Ring Two (Unrated Widescreen Edition) (DVD)
As a rule, sequels are terrible. And "The Ring Two" is not so much terrible as it is ordinary. It's graced with an outstanding performance by Naomi Watts and some truly creepy scenes, but it lacks the visceral direction of the first movie. In short, it's a sequel.
As the story opens, we see a slimy-looking boy tricking his girlfriend into watching (drumroll please) The Tape (anyone who saw the short film "Rings" will see the backdrop). As we know from "The Ring," if you get someone else doomed by the tape, you get to live and they die. But things don't turn out so well for the boy. Meanwhile, Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) is fleeing to a rural town with her son Aidan (David Dorfman). They thought they had managed to destroy the evil Samara's curse, but of course they were wrong.
And no sooner have they settled down, than Rachel finds signs of Samara's presence. A young boy has died inexplicably, left with a hideous facial deformity. When Rachel confirms that it was Samara who killed him, she finds that Samara is now targeting Aidan's. In a nutshell, she wants to possess him. Now Rachel must delve into Samara's past to find a possible way to stop him -- or risk losing her son to Samara.
"The Ring" revamped the modern horror genre, casting aside CGI ghosts and machete-wielding wackos in favor of subtle horror and demon-children. Not to mention getting Hollywood interested in Japanese horror movies. In short, it was a horror hit that deserved to be one. But "The Ring Two" is merely adequate, not really good.
Maybe the biggest problem of "The Ring Two" is that it has no bedrock to stand on. Author Koji Suzuki wrote a sequel called "Spiral," which was then adapted into the movie "Rasen." But "The Ring Two" has no such grounding. It's just a free-floating Hollywood sequel, to a movie which was remake of a Japanese movie adapted from a book. Given those stats, it's amazing that it's as good as it is.
Director Hideo Nakata, of the Japanese "Ringu" films, was brought in to replace Gore Verbinski. But while he does a competant job, the film lacks the quick cuts, fast-forwarding and sense of pervasive horror. Instead, we get water on the ceiling -- pretty and moderately creepy, but very obvious. The laughable deer attack was just random, especially as Samara has no connection with deer. And Samara's occasional "boo!" appearances take away from her creepiness -- whatever happened to "less is more"?
Not to say that there is no creepiness and no subtlety. Samara alone accounts for much of them -- she slinks around like a less deteriorated version of Gollum, and seeks a "mommy." Nakata does a good job with the odd symbolism injected into the film, such as the ever-present water all over the place. (Interestingly, Nakata also directed the Japanese adaptation of Suzuki's "Dark Water." A bit of seepage?)
Samara aside, much of the creepiness comes from Naomi Watts' performance -- as in the first "Ring" movie, she exudes a taut, quietly frantic demeanor, while keeping herself focused. She gives what is undoubtedly the best performance here. Sissy Spacek gives a solid if brief performance as Samara's birth mother, but Dorfman is pallid as Watts' son.
It quite obviously is leaving the way open for "Ring Three," which is either a thrill or a chill. Taken alone, "The Ring Two" isn't a bad movie, but it suffers badly when set next to its predecessor.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some Info on UNRATED Version, August 22, 2005
This review is from: The Ring Two (Unrated Widescreen Edition) (DVD)
the differences in the unrated version don't add any extra gore as some of you might think. the beginning scene is extended and extra character development is added back in. the editing and music in some parts is different and it flows much nicer. the only bad thing is that the editing and extra scenes stop halfway through the movie and don't stop this movie from being a sub-par horror flick.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Suspenseful sequel to "The Ring" quite a bit different, March 18, 2005
Coming off as a pale imitation of "The Exorcist", "The Ring Two" has its moments of jolting horror and surprise. While it can't possibly compare to the original US remake, "The Ring Two" has two important things going for it-- Naomi Watts and David Dorfman from the first film. Watts returns as Rachel Keller and Dorfman as her son Aidan. The two have nice chemistry on screen together so it's natural to believe that they are really mother and son in this sequel. By avoiding the pitfalls of most sequels (redoing the best bits, making it bigger and badder than the original), the film also stumbles a bit; the psychological suspense thriller this morphs into will disappoint some fans of the first film. Sadly none of the other supporting characters are developed all that well. That's not to suggest that this isn't a good film; it's best moments including a stunning attack by nature, a bizarre incident in the bathroom and some truly creepy moments make this a worthy if lesser movie than the original.
In this case, the story focuses much more on the personal side of things. Naomi Watts returns as Rachel Keller who has relocated along with her son Aidan to a small town. When the videotape shows up in her small town, Rachel feels responsible for the death of a teenager. She believes that the evil has followed her and she won't let Samara spoil their new world. When it becomes clear that Samara wants something from her and Aidan, Rachel and her son must fight for their lives to escape this evil child-thing.
First for those who watched "Ringu 2" this isn't a remake of the first film. While elements of that plot are incorporated into this film, its plot veers off in its own direction. Director Hideo Nakata (who directed the Japanese original of "Ringu" and "Ringu 2" as well as co-writing them)keeps the pace moving along nicely. Although a bit disjointed at times (it feels as large portions of the film were excised), it works quite well. Although it isn't quite as gripping as the original US film, "Ring Two" works much more as a suspense thriller than a horror film; it focuses the story much more on the personal relationship between Rachel and Aidan and the personal threat they face from Samara. With some nice cameos (Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins and Sissy Spacek)to support the main cast, the film proves to be a superior, different sequel but not an improvement on the first film.
The creepiest set pieces remind me more of the film "The Omen" than they do something out of the first film. I'd suggest (unless you want to spoil the film for yourself) to ignore a lot of the reviews with too much details of the plot. "Ring Two" seems to be much more a psychological thriller than the first film with just enough jolts to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
Certainly lower key than the first film and focused much more on build up than the pay off, "The Ring Two" will disappoint fans that want gore (either blood or director Verbinski)but will remain interesting for fans of psychological horror films. What ultimately pays off for the film is the strong relationship between mother and son and the actors playing them.
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