Release Date: March 18, 2005
Starring: Naomi Watts, David Dorfman, Sissy Spacek, Simon Baker, Kelly Stables
Directed by: Hideo Nakata
Written by: Ehren Kruger
Distributed by: DreamWorks Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (violence and terror, disturbing images, thematic elements, some language)
For every mysterious or terrifying element of 2002’s The Ring, the Hideo Nakata-directed follow-up, The Ring Two trots out a considerably cheapened version of it. This money-first sequel delves deeper into the story of Samara Morgan, the demon child who, through a strange videotape, is seeking revenge for her murder (as detailed in the first film). The Ring Two uncovers things in the Ring mythos that are mildly interesting at best, and painfully contrived at worst, taking us places that are either boring, unnecessary, or arbitrary. And sometimes all of the above.
The original Ring left the story somewhat open, which added to that film’s well-earned spookiness. Samara wasn’t defeated by Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) and her son Aidan (David Dorfman), they simply found a way to avoid her, and all we could do was hope no one uncovered the dreaded videocassette that killed anyone who watched it a week afterward. Returning screenwriter Ehren Kruger has decided to establish that the tape is still circulating and Samara still wants her revenge. That’s a scary premise, to be sure, but there had better be some good logical writing behind it. Unfortunately there isn’t.
This is where the bad case of sequelitis kicks in. Even though Rachel and Aidan (played once again by Watts and Dorfman) have moved on in their lives, they’re still haunted by Samara (Kelly Stables). Rachel investigates another videotape-related death, and, sure enough, the girl with the bad haircut and wet pajamas seems to have been tracking down the Kellers all along and is now bent on possessing young Aidan’s body so she can feel a mother’s love once again. This leads Rachel to dig deeper into Samara’s past, so she can figure out a way to send the girl back to the afterlife once and for all.
It should be noted that this film has nothing to do with the Japanese sequel, 1999’s Ringu 2, aside from it being directed by Hideo Nakata. Nakata succeeds in a few of the same places that Gore Verbinski did in directing the original American Ring, namely in creating a cold and damp ambience that elevates the movie’s creepiness. And he uses a few nicely done visual effects to create some scares: There’s a bathtub filling upside down and a herd of angry deer that look quite realistic.
Yet, the poor writing overshadows all of this. The premise of having Samara possess Rachel’s son is more of a yawner than a tool for creating terror. By the third act, the possession is in full swing, and Aiden suddenly doesn’t want to sleep, he only watches TV, and he starts to call his mom “mommy” instead of Rachel. Oh, and he kills anyone that gets in the way of him experiencing his mother’s love. So all of the sudden we’re supposed to believe that this evil, homicidal ghost just wants to be loved. Yeah, okay.
In addition to this subplot, there are a number of gimmicks written in simply to serve the movie, not logic. Like when Rachel investigates the opening crime scene and she happens to know exactly where the family hides their spare house key. (By the way, why aren’t the police guarding the scene?) Or the fact that Rachel and Aiden live so close to where they were in the last movie, only to make the events in the story more convenient. (I guess this proves they weren’t scared enough last time to move more than an hour’s drive away.) And then there’s a plot device that says Samara can’t hear Rachel and Aiden in their dreams, so the two are able to share important clues in their sleep. Turns out the dead can’t enter the dream world, but we humans can cross over into anyone’s dreams we feel like.
There’s also a scene with Sissy Spacek as a mental patient that we hope will make sense of all of this, but it doesn’t. Her character is the one that can presumably answer all of our questions, but she’s terribly underused and falls victim to the movie’s let’s-get-to-the-end-as-fast-as-we-can approach. Similarly, Simon Baker plays a male figure who’s almost completely useless, except for when Samara needs to up her body count, and he’s one of several loose ends never the screenplay never ties up.
Plagued by such an uninteresting and poorly conceived plot, it’s best to stay away from The Ring Two, especially if you’re a fan of the original, American Ring. It creates a very noticeable blemish on an otherwise creative horror franchise-in-the-making, and it therefore deserves to be forgotten like so many other greed-inspired sequels.
-- Andy Zientek (zfilm@earthlink.net)