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The sequel to the US version of his own Ringu movies, The Ring Two continues the story of Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) and her son Aidan (David Dorfman) six months after the events of The Ring.
Having escaped Seattle and the troubles with the ghostly Samara (the girl who pops out of TV sets), Rachel and Aidan have settled in the quiet town of Astoria, Oregon where Rachel has landed a job with the local newspaper. Inconveniently, the nasty videos from the first film have spread to Astoria too. When Rachel discovers this she burns the offending tape, only to find Samara on a campaign to possess Aidan.
Unfortunately for fans of the US original, after opening scenes of victims of the fateful video, the movie goes off on a silly tangent of spiritual possession and abandons the ‘you will die in seven days’ hook of the original. Fans of Ringu 2 will be equally disappointed as this film shares very little with the original aside from its basic premise.
After finding Ringu 2 difficult to follow, I had hoped that the Hollywood version would be less hard work, but unfortunately not. At several points the plot takes directions with no apparent rhyme or reason, increasingly departing from the premise of the original. The importance of the video tapes goes out the window when Rachel burns one of them (though surely there are plenty more in circulation to worry about in the meantime) and the audience is treated to ill-fitting and unexplained scenes such as where she and Aidan are harassed by a group of malevolent deer, which tragically is one of the best in the movie.
The acting from most parties is decidedly average. Watts does what she can, though she’s given very little to work with, Simon Baker does a very unconvincing job as her co-worker David Rourke, whilst it’s hard to say what Dorfman is trying to achieve as Aidan.
Despite its bad points, of which there are several, The Ring Two does at least fare adequately as a horror movie, yet the shocks given to the audience are hardly original and are those par for the course in the genre. The threat of infanticide by the child’s mother had the potential to be a lot more chilling than it comes across, but unfortunately it is handled without commitment and is not given nearly enough attention.
The Ring Two takes the franchise in an odd direction through a series of illogical turns and should be avoided by those wanting to keep the original untainted.
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When I opened the paper at the weekend to glance at the box office charts I was quite surprised to find that The Ring 2, starring Naomi Watts, to be at number 1. The film, which is followed on from the luke-warm, but still entertaining, The Ring, is directed by Japanese horror legend Hideo Nakata, who directed the Japanese series of The Ring films, a.k.a “Ringu.??? Unlike the original Americanised Ringu film, which is based on the first Japanese one, the Ring 2 is not based on the second film in the Japanese series, instead being a completely new story following on from the first film written by American screenwriter Ehren Kruger. The Ring 2 is a story about Samara, a rather unfortunate girl whose mother, now locked in a mental asylum, tried to drown her in a well as a child. For some unexplained reason Samara ends up in a video tape destined to punish all users who still use VHS in the 21st century. Now, for viewers of the first film, they may have witnessed the video been destroyed when the film reached its climax, but to no avail Samara’s cassette of doom mysteriously comes into circulation again at the start of this film, with deadlier results- Samara attempts to posses Naomi Watts’ onscreen son, played by the freakishly demon-looking David Dorfman, who’s acting ability is actually quite good, yet not enough to save the film. The whole plot is an imbalanced bazaar mix of visits to mental institutions, taking photos in grimy public bathroom mirrors and weird incidents during bathing, resulting in a weak and downright boring film. The only mildly scary bit being when a herd of random, fake looking CGI deer decide to charge at Naomi Watts’s car for still unexplained reasons. To summarise, this film really isn’t worth watching, which due to its unexplainable success will result in this boring series of poorly translated Japanese classics going on for an eternity. Do yourself a favour and buy the Japanese ones, put up with the subtitles and actually be scared by a horror film!
Very disappointing. I fear they have tried to make it clever and leave it up to the viewer to make their own conclusions about what is going on. The only point of watching it is to make you jump, after watching this, the thrill of the first movie is gone - it doesn't hold the tension that it did previously.
Although it seemed like forever until the film gained speed, this is a very decent sequel. It could have been a lot worse (ie remember the sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer). I'm relieved that this movie doesn't replicate Ringu 2 because quite frankly, said film was nonsensical and dull. But it makes the same mistake that that movie did; introduces questions but never answers them which is, all in all, quite frustrating at times (eg the deer). Superb acting from Naomi Watts and a fantastic line near the end ('I'm not your f*****g mommy!'), makes this a worthwile sequel. However, maybe the franchise should end here because I fear the third would be more of a flaw than an improvement. All in all, the film has a few scary moments but nothing truly terrifying but the original remake managed to be a success with its great plot; The Ring Two just manages to be a winner as well.
if you hadnt see The Ring then you would not have understood any of this film. Also, what was with the scene with the deer? very strange!! Also it detracted completely from the first- the vidoe tape scenario ( watch it and die with a week) was abandoned
This film was a huge disappointment. It was not scary whatsoever, and compared to the Japenese version it really didn't kick it!! Nothing was explained, such as when Naomi Watts finds the book, nothing in it was explained. And I felt that there were odd scenes in the film that were as random as they were unneccesary, for example when they go to the antiques fair. The end was appalling and disappointing, as well as unfinished, and I feel they could have made a much better job than this. It gives Hollywood a bad name.
I went to see 'The Ring Two' and was kind of glad that it was not a remake of 'Ringu 2'. I had seen the original Japanese 'Ringu' series (apart from 'Ringu 0:birthday'). The American versions of Japanese cult horror classics are spoiled by their American counterparts take The Grudge for example. The story is totaly different from 'Ringu 2' although it does have some close contacts. Although the acting from Naomi Watts was brilliant (in accordance with the story). The film does have some major plot holes which we will have to wait to figure out when the DVD comes out with deleted scenes(hopefully). The film is very intense at times although the story is very poor. There have been rumours of a 'Ring Three' and I hope that Naomi runs from it at all costs. The remake wants you to shout at the screen telling it to leave great Japanese films alone and go and do another cheap horror remake of your own!
I went to see "The Ring Two" and was kind of glad that it was not a remake of Ringu 2 i had seen the original japanese Ringu series (apart from "Ringu 0:birthday") the american versions of japanese cult horror classics are spoiled due to their american counterparts take the grudge for example. The story is totaly diffrent from Ringu 2 although it does have some close contacts. although the acting from Naomi Watts was briliant (in coordanance with the story)the film does have some major plot holes which we will have to wait to figure out when the DVD comes out with deletd scenes(hopefully) The film is very intense at times the story is very poor altough there have been rumors of a ring three and i hope that Naomi runs from it at all cost. The remake wants you to shout at the screen telling it to leave great japanese films alone and go and do a nothe cheap horror remake of your own!
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I found this movie weak to say the least - sometime sequels have little or no relationship to the first movie and this is a fine example. The acting is dire, the plot line thinner than Bobby Charlton's comb over and the the narrative - I mean - "I`m not you f**king mommy!!" -hardly Shakespeare. It does however provide moments of tension - the bathroom scene where Rachel (Watts) is forced to drown her own son to "release" Samara not with out a touch of the macabre. I don`t agree with the " it’s hard to say what Dorfman is trying to achieve as Aidan" line from Daniel Saney...I mean the kid is only 12 years old give him a break!! The tagline for The Ring 2 is "Fear comes full circle" - lets hope the ring is well and truly complete.