MOVIE - THE RING - Review Rating $$$$$ $ (OUT OF 10)
STARRING - NAOMI WATTS (Mulholland Drive), MARTIN HENDERSON, BRIAN COX, DAVID DORFMAN, DAVEIGH CHASE, LINDSAY FROST, AMBER TAMBLYN & RACHAEL BELLA.
A reporter (Naomi Watts) investigates the origins of a mysterious tape, which when watched results in the death of the viewer, 7 days later.
The Ring is an english language adaptation of the first film in a very successful Japanese trilogy.
What separates The Ring, from a host of other horror movies, is that it doesn't blindly follow scary movie convention. Yes, the characters do stupid things like watch the tape that kills everybody who does, but for the most part The Ring focuses on unraveling the mystery behind the tape.
While I wasn't scared at any point during the film, and neither apparently was the rest of the audience I watched the movie with, the mystery was intriguing enough to keep you watching to the end.
The willingness to watch the unraveling of the mystery was aided and abetted by decent acting, direction and cinematography. The Ring is internally consistent and well paced if not brilliant. The Ring also keeps you guessing.
Unfortunately, the ending is unsatisfactory. Something may have been lost in the translation, from japanese, that contributes to this but I'm not sure. Apparently, an entire subplot involving a serial child killer was filmed and then not used. The script also underwent several rewrites both before and after the studio conducted test screenings (See Greg's Previews). In a rush, to meet the test audiences' stated preferences for connecting the dots, the producers may have overlooked important aspects of the original story that hinted at the source of the evil as opposed to what unleashed it.
The Ring also, at times, closely resembles The Sixth Sense in that it too has a young boy who sees dead people. In fact the resemblance between David Dorfman and Haley Joel Osment is uncanny to say the least.
The Ring, while at times engaging, is far from riveting.
Alternative Reviews:
http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dkasman/reviews/thering.html
http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-ring18f.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/review.asp?mid=2045209
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheRing-1116705/
Official Website:
http://www.dreamworks.com/ring/
MY TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2002 LIST
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2003
David Schwartz.
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