Director: Hideo Nakata
Writer: Ehren Kruger (Screenplay) Koji Suzuki (Novel)
Starring: Naomi Watts, Simon Baker, David Dorfman, Elizabeth Perkins, Gary Cole, Sissy Spacek, Ryan Merriman
Plot: 6 months after the incidents involving the lethal videotape, new clues prove that there is a new evil lurking in the darkness.
Tagline – Fear comes full circle.
Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Weaker Sequel
Story: The Ring 2 starts as Rachel (Watts) and her son Aidan (Dorfman) have set up to start a new life after the events of the first film, Rachel in a small paper, while Aidan has taken after his father, with his love of photography.
When the town has its own video tape going around, killing people, Rachel decides to burn the tape, which only draws the attention of Samara again, as she sees her son targeted by Samara, with Rachel needing to get to the bottom of the tape once again.
Thoughts on The Ring 2
Characters – Rachel has moved her child to a smaller town to start a new life away from the pain of the previous one. she gets a new job, only for the first day on the job, Samara takes her next victim. Wanting to stop the spread of the curse in this new town, Rachel destroys the video tape, only to see herself become the target once again of Samara. Rachel will need to continue the investigation into who Samara was and why she is still haunting the world. Max is one of the co-workers at the newspaper, he isn’t trying to hit on Rachel, but does become the only person that Rachel can turn too. Aidan is the son that has started to take after his father with his love of photography, he does become the target of Samara, we see two different sides to David in this film. Dr Temple is trying to figure out what has been happening to Aidan, first seeing that it could be child abuse, she needs to make sure the child is safe before anything else.
Performances – Naomi Watts is still strong in the leading role, we need her to show extra motherly emotions in the film this time around. Simon Baker doesn’t get a chance to get going in this film, while David Dorfman does make a big improvement because of the extra additions to his character. The supporting cast are not the strongest either with most getting left to limited screen time.
Story – The story here continues to see Rachel haunted by Samara needing to continue to unlock the truth about Samara to save her own son from her curse. Now this is a confusing as for a story because everything felt pretty wrapped up at the end of the film, this did end up just putting a forced sequel out there which tries to build more on the Samara legacy. Where this falls short in the story as by giving us weak supporting characters, having the events literally start the day Rachel arrives in the new town and going against certain things that happen in the first film.
Horror/Mystery – The horror in the film does give us basic moments of scares, though dream sequences a hoping the same jumps can worked in the first film. the mystery continues to look at the mystery about Samara and why she has continued to haunt people.
Settings – The film was moved to a smaller location, while returning to certain other locations with them being an extra clue involved in the film.
Special Effects – The effects in the film have dated already, you can see certain green screens being used, which were meant for uneasy scenes.
Scene of the Movie – The bath surprise.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The dated effects.
Final Thoughts – This is a weaker sequel that tries to build up on the original legacy, only to dive further into something we didn’t need to get more about what is happening.
Overall: Simple and weak sequel.
Rating
