Film reviews
Title: The Ring Two
Director: Hideo Nakata
Stars: Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, et al.
Reviewer: Matt Eccles
Rating (out of 10): 6
Review:
The Ring, Gore Verbinki’s effective re-make of the highly-rated Japanese chiller Ringu, was an enormous success at the box office, so the appearance of this follow-up was one of the safest bets in recent cinema history. By drafting in Hideo Nakata, the director of Ringu and its sequel, everything seemed to be cemented in place for the studio to make similar large gains.
And so it did. However, this film can be added to the long list of sequels that stay too close to its predecessor’s well-beaten path. It is a shame that The Ring Two seems to exist solely to capitalise on the success of its forerunner rather than add any interesting or gripping new slants on the central premise. Where the script of The Ring at least made some sense, it seems here to strive only to make money. So this film has too many by-numbers scares and set-pieces which, while being slickly directed, lack tension and innovation. Worse, the contrived, regulation-issue plot manages to tie itself in knots very quickly indeed, rendering a finale that is as underwhelming as it is predictable.
However, Naomi Watts, as Rachel Keller, again gives a fine performance without stretching herself too much, and the increased role played by young David Dorman as Aiden, Rachel’s creepy, possessed son, is impressive and promising.
It is they alone who elevate The Ring Two to being an adequate, watchable chiller rather than a dull-as-ditchwater yawn-fest. So as the green-lighted Ring 3 will feature neither of them, the outlook for this diminishing franchise appears increasingly gloomy.