The Ring 2 [American version]

[Dagger]

I haven't actually gone out and seen this myself, but I'm assuming that at least a couple of other people here have. So is it a worthy sequel to the original film? Is the style of directing markedly different, and if so, would you consider the change to be a good thing or a bad thing? Does the ending leave things open for yet another continuation?

I can't even remember the last time I went to see a movie in theaters, but I enjoyed The Ring enough that I might make an exception for The Ring 2.

~Dagger~

[James]

[color=#B0251E]I haven't yet seen this either (apparently it's not out here yet, surprisingly). But so far I've heard mixed comments.

Apparently the plot is sort of thrown together, which makes sense but isn't exactly a good thing. As you may know, Hideo Nakata directed the American Ring 2. So story aside (presuming that the screenplay and such was written by someone else), I'm at least hoping for some good visuals and interesting scares. Afterall, he was responsible for awesome visuals in the Japanese films.

I was really hoping to see this today, but as I said, it's not out just yet. So...maybe next weekend. Either way, I think I'm going in with blunted expectations. I'm just hoping for a few good frights - for something different, just as the first film was something different from what had come before.[/color]

[LittleCherryZoo]

All, and I mean [I]all[/I] my friends who seen Ring 2 told me it stinks.

According to them, the Americans messed took out everything that made the first any good, smited it, killed it, then spat on it, and finally beat it until there was nothing left except this horribly made sequel.

Since more than 10 people pretty much told me that, I advise you not to watch until it comes out on DVD, since then you can make fun of the movie without getting thrown out!

[eleanor]

[color=darkslateblue] I saw it opening night (no, I'm not a fan, my friends and I just needed something to do) and I didn't like it. First of all, the first Ring movie did nothing to scare me, so The Ring 2 did less. And if the horror factor is gone for me, I will look to the plot. The plot was pretty much sort of 'bleh'. You can follow what James heard: it's thrown together in order to just release the movie. So.

Is it a worthy sequel? Hecks no. It made The Ring look like some sort of genius work of art.

I mean...I don't know if this was the director's intention or something...or maybe the screenwriter's fault, but the first one was just....eck. Gaping plot holes and about two-thirds of its questions unanswered. Artistic style? No. If it was meant to be, they did a crap job doing it. The only thing it had going was a bunch of good 'boo!' moments. But basically, that's it. A bunch of quick thrills. It was so focused on making the audience get freaked out that the storytelling became crap.

The Ring 2 doesn't even have the 'boo' moments. I mean, it does. But they were more crappily made. Way too usual. I think I predicted every thirll moment. And ok, to those who have seen it:

[spoiler] That scene with all the deer in it was possibly the DUMBEST SCENE IN THE HISTORY OF MOVIES. I don't CARE if their were deer antlers in the basement of that house. It still SUCKED. And when Samara was climbing up that well like Spider Woman on steriods, it was not [i]scary[/i]. It was freaking gross. [/spoiler]

God. I'm still angry about that stupid scene.

[i]Anyways[/i], if you MUST watch it, wait until it comes out on DVD, because I think they best way anyone could enjoy this movie is alone with some friends in your house on a stormy night. Maybe it might be decent.[/color]

[TheShinje]

[size=1][color=Gray][b] I thought[/b] it was a pretty good movie.

[spoiler] I didn't like the deer scen much either, although it did give me a jump when the first deer rammed the car. A pack of ravenous deer smashing up a car? I still can't take that scene seriously. Comic relief?[/spoiler]

The first movie was better though, it had more varying scenes and exploration of the video's cotnents, and how that tied in with what happened to Samara.

I wouldn't mind contrastign the American versions with the original Japanese ones. I found out recently that my local video retailer has them.
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[James]

[color=#B0251E]Okay, I've finally seen it. Now to deliver my verdict.

As an avid Ring/Ringu fan, I was disappointed.

I was not disappointed in the story - it was fine. In fact, considering that the film could simply have taken more ideas from the Japanese version (it took few), I was quite surprised. Not only did it effectively gel with The Ring (the adoption of Samara and her history before coming to the Morgan family), but it also made some quite logical connections.

For example, the first film suggested that Aidyn (or however you spell his name) had some kind of connection to Samara. Unfortunately, this was never really explored in the first film (and thus was somewhat pointless). The reason the connection exists - at least in terms of the remake - was because Aidyn's Japanese counterpart (Yoichi) played a very specific role in the story, in terms of his connection to Sadako (Samara). So it was as if they took the surface idea but did nothing with it.

In The Ring 2, Aidyn's link with Samara is not only fully explored, but it becomes the central focus of the film. In that sense, I think The Ring 2 is a very logical step forward. If you have seen Ringu 2, you know that there was a lot more to Sadako than just her curse. So in that sense, The Ring 2 manages to merge some of the Japanese film's concepts with concepts from the first American movie. And in that regard, it was as much of a success as anyone could hope for.

The problem with this movie comes in two forms, I think.

One, the effects were quite poor -- worse than in the first film, surprisingly. The main problem, I think, is that there was an overuse of average CGI and not enough emphasis placed on lighting and camera work. This is surprising, given that in the Japanese films, Hideo Nakata placed very strong emphasis on beautiful/subtle camera work and moody lighting. Perhaps he was simply trying to make The Ring 2 [i]look[/i] like its American predecessor -- but the result is ultimately a pretty diluted visual experience. You get a few cool moments, but you don't get anything especially unique. Even the more original moments (which are good ideas in principle) are hurt by the way they are displayed.

When it comes to the Japanese sequel (Ringu 2), we already knew about the tape and we'd seen Sadako do her stuff. So that wasn't surprising anymore. Yet Ringu 2 managed to remain incredibly creepy with plenty of new ideas - in particular, there was a lot more to the story and the mystery was unravelled quite a lot more. We learned more about Sadako's family and when combined with the "science experiment gone wrong" vibe, the end result was something pretty unique and frightening on its own (in my view, Ringu 2 is more scary than its predecessor).

So, in The Ring 2, the effects were generally poor and poorly used. And this ultimately hurt some genuinely good ideas. [spoiler]For example, Samara's hair coming out of Aidyn's mouth and Aidyn using Samara's powers against various people - this was explored a lot more in the Japanese films and it only appears toward the end of The Ring 2[/spoiler].

Part of the problem, I think, is also pacing. The first half seems fairly redundant - the movie only picks up and starts doing something interesting in its second half. If the film had spent more time examining Samara's history and if it had spent more time featuring the [spoiler]"posessed Aidyn"[/spoiler], we'd ultimately have a better film on our hands. As it stands, the second half was far more enjoyable.

So ultimately, I find it a bit hard to rate the film. My biggest beef is the fact that so many good ideas just weren't produced correctly. It didn't have the impact that it [i]could[/i] have had, given the director. So that disappoints me.

But by the same token, it [i]does[/i] manage to deliver a story that is interesting in and of itself. It's a story that, thankfully, gels with not only the first film, but also introduces some elements from the Japanese movies (though it could probably have leaned on the Japanese films a lot more, to be even more creepy). So I have no real complaints about story - my main complaint there relates to pacing and how much time is devoted to what parts.

I tend to find that people either enjoy this franchise or they don't. It's a bit like zombie flicks. If you take them the wrong way, or expect them to be something they aren't, you won't enjoy them. Pure and simple.

The Ring is very similar. There's no denying its innovation - I mean, in terms of the entire franchise (Japanese and American films included). For those who are looking for a sci-fi movie, or something extremely rational...you won't find it here. Don't forget that The Ring is based largely on Japanese folklore, which involves demons and ghosts. It's a supernatural film. It's not about demonstrating everything in a realistic way; though the Japanese films go to some pretty significant lengths to actually combine science and spirit.

If you hated the first movie, or if you didn't like the Japanese films, you absolutely won't enjoy The Ring 2. That's a given.

But if you're a fan like me, The Ring 2 will be bittersweet. You'll enjoy it on some level and you'll appreciate the new things that it uncovers. But you will be wanting to slap Nakata for taking some great ideas and delivering them in fairly mundane ways. And that, in the end, is unfortunate. Still, it's worth seeing - there's some entertainment value there and if nothing else, fans will appreciate some of the hints to the Japanese films.[/color]

[Guest Ami the 2nd]

I saw it a few days ago, and I can't say much. I really enjoyed the first movie, and so I was expecting the second movie to be even better. While I liked the special effects, that was all the movie had going for it. It could have been so much better, but it had nothing in it that made the Japanese francise so wonderful.

[Kamuro]

I saw it, and as everyone in this post said, it just wasn't spectacular, and with all the promotion done for the movie you'd think it'd be amazing, I havn't seen the japanese version of the ring, so I can't really compare the two, but I believe the first was definitely better, I'm not really a horror fan in the first place, but I don't think the movie was above average in anyone's opinion, at least not from what I read

[Guest Zero000]

I personally thought the first ring was not scary at all. The second ring was a little better than the first but still not something I'm willing to buy and watch over and over again. I really want to see Ringu though.