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The Ring Review By Shawn McKenzie 10/18/2002 My initial reaction to The Ring was that it was going to suck badly. The plot reminded me of an earlier movie I had reviewed called FearDotCom (see my review), which I consider the second worst movie of 2002 so far (behind Possession.) To make matters worse, The Ring was rated PG-13, and let’s face it, most horror movies that are not rated R are pretty lame. I know there are exceptions, like The Sixth Sense and The Others, but in general it is the rule. Well, we can add one more movie to the list of actually scary PG-13 movies. The
Ring is a remake of a 1998 Japanese movie called Ringu. It tells
the tale of Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), a reporter for the Seattle P.I. She
is raising her young son, Aidan (David Dorfman), by herself. One day she
gets word that her 16-year-old niece, Katie (Amber Tamblyn), has
mysteriously died. Rachel finds out that Katie had previously watched a
strange videotape that somehow kills whoever watches it exactly seven days
later. Katie, her boyfriend, and two others are dead after doing just that,
and they all died at exactly the same time. Also, Katie’s friend, Becca
(Rachael Bella), who was with Katie when she died, is in the mental hospital
now. Rachel has a hard time believing that all of this is possible, but
starts investigating the events and hears that others know of this urban
legend and the creepy phone call one receives after watching the tape. She
tracks down the tape at the cabin where the kids had watched it and decides
to watch it herself (apparently she wisely missed seeing FearDotCom
herself.) What she sees is a tripped out grainy collection of disturbing
images that, as one character points out, looks "very film school." She gets
the phone call too, but she is still in doubt. She then shows the tape to
her friend, Noah (Martin Henderson), who is a film geek and also happens to
be the father of her son. Noah also doesn’t believe that the tape can kill,
but goes along with her wacky theories. Not long after she shows Noah the
tape, weird things begin to happen (which I will let you see for yourself.)
Rachael and Noah then begin to further investigate the tape and the contents
of it. That leads them to
I think it’s the quick editing and visuals that set this movie apart from FearDotCom. Director Gore Verbinski has shown a style that wasn't evident in his past movies The Mexican or Mouse Hunt. The killer tape itself is weird enough, and it is really creepy to discover the reasons for the appearances of the things in the video as they are discovered by the characters. The weird things that happen after they watch the video are all there with the intention to give you the chills and have a purpose for being there to further the plot. The weird things that happen after they visit the web site in FearDotCom seem to be there just to be weird and don’t necessarily further the plot. Another
huge difference in the two movies is the acting. Where Stephen Dorff is the
only decent actor in FearDotCom, everyone in The Ring is good.
The only problem I had with the movie was with Dorfman. It wasn’t his performance I had a problem with, just his character. Ever since 1980’s The Shining, there have been many movies that seem to employ the character of the freaky weird psychic kid. It is getting a little old. As far as his performance as the freaky weird psychic kid, Dorfman was actually one of the freakiest. He has this bug-eye look that I don’t know if it is natural or acting, but it adds to the mood of the movie. The Ring is the movie you have to see this month. I really hope it becomes a hit and sticks around, because this would be a perfect movie to watch on Halloween night. As my colleague Reggie McDaniel says, “The Ring is what FearDotCom wants to be when it grows up!”
Ratings System:
SEE THIS MOVIE!
Catch this movie at the theater if you can...
Wait until it comes out on video...
Wait until it plays on HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc...
Demand your money back, even if you saw it for free! |
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