Review:
I paid to see this film as I missed the pre-screening and wish I would have seen the freebie here in NYC. The first film "The Ring" US version was good. I liked it and give it a thumbs up. I also have that on widescreen DVD and thought the story and effects were good. This new film "The Ring Two" was a bit of a bland outing and even with the great (and original) "Ringu" Director Hideo Nakata at the helm, the film was a mediocre snoozefest. Nakata is great but I feel he brought nothing to the film that made it stand out. The story does not really line up with the first film and the plotline is already getting old. I am more of a fan of the Japanese originals and think the "Ring" US franchise should be buried after this film had little impact and a so-so response from fans of "The Ring".

Watts is great again as Rachel and the boy is ok as well. He is not as spooky as they may have wanted you to see him as. The actressl playing Samara was Kelly Stables she was great and she did well (no pun intended). She gets alot of credit for acting demonic and wearing all that extreme makeup. In real life she looks like the cute girl next door (see link in cast list). The makeup by Rick Baker was as always top notch. The intro segment of this film had a real "Scream" feel to it and I am not really a fan of the "Scream" series so that left me with mixed feelings. I am far beyond the dead teenager films of the past having grown up with Freddy and Jason. Samara' scenes seemed to be cut down as there were some promo pics floating around in mags and on the web that were not in the film. Also what about the spinning well scene that was mentioned in Fango?. I really did like the water and bathroom tub scenes, they were well done and they were very effective special effects scenes. The boosted up Evil Samara scares were ok but the spooky little kid scenes with Aidan just were not effective, he's not spooky at all.

I did not mind "The Ring" like I said but "The Ring Two" was a bit dissapointing. I was thrilled that Director Hideo Nakata was doing it, but in the end that made no difference and did not help the film at all. I am not one to slam remakes just because, but the Asian film remakes are in full swing now and of course will eventually burn out.We will see how "Dark Water" does later in 2005.

You see "The Ring Two" and then you die....

Just in: The Ring 2 now on DVD from Dreamworks

Review By Allen F.

Photos © DreamWorks Pictures

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