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| 3/22/2005 |
| The Ring Two= Van Halen Three |
A Movie Review
by Wes Bennett
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In recent years, it seemed Hollywood was at least getting better at making sequels. They were putting more money and talent on the job and as a result a lot of the movies were at the very least comparable to the originals: “Terminator II and III”, “American Wedding”, “X Men II”, “Bad Boys II”, “Shrek II”, “Spider Man II”, “Jeepers Creepers II”, “Toy Story II”, “Austin Powers II” and those damn “Harry Potter” movies.
I’ll admit that my argument isn’t exactly bulletproof on the heels of “Dumb and Dumberer”, “Tomb Raider II” and “Blues Brothers 2000.” But in general, the majority of sequels today, are probably better than those released fifteen years ago.
Now, combine this idea with the fact that horror films almost always are followed with sequels. There are sequentially awful films in the “Psycho”, “Exorcist”, “The Howling”, “Halloween”, “Child’s Play”, “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” series. (Do you know that they even made a sequel to “Leprechaun in the Hood?”)
Therefore I felt more than justified in having somewhat high hopes for “The Ring Two.”
But, yeah the movie sucks. All I can do now, is form a list of the possible reasons why the film didn’t turn out.
Producers brought in the highly regarded Japanese director Hideo Nakata, responsible for “Ringu,” which the two American “Ring” films are based on. You would think that he could do a better job than Gore “Pirates of the Caribbean” Verbinski. But he did not.
They also brought back the main screenwriter, Ehren Kruger, who had previously written the ultra-intense “Arlington Road.”
His partner in crime from the first movie, Scott Frank, did not return. I believe that he might have been the more talented of the two, judging by his work on both “Minority Report” and “Out of Sight.”
What I liked most about the original, was that the plot centered around a video tape. You watched it and had seven days to live. This provided a sense of urgency, a fight against time, with a one week deadline. Somehow that premise has been thrown away completely.
There was also the fun of finding out about the mystery and background of Samara. This time, the more we see her, the less threatening she becomes, leading us to believe that she really isn’t that cool of a movie villain.
The opening scene is very promising, so much so -that I could see “The Ring” spanning tons of sequels about the high schoolers that fall victim to it’s fate.
But of course, the focus of the movie centers around reporter Naomi Watts and her creepy son Aidan, and truth be told, her story is really that interesting or needed continuing.
It’s worth mentioning that there is a really bad scene involving a group of deer that ram into Rachel and Aidan's Volkswagen. It’s mainly hurt by the fact that the computer animation looks ridiculously fake.
I’m not really giving any plot summary because I’m pretty sure that the movie didn’t actually make any sense. We don’t know how to react when Aidan forces a nurse to kill herself. We aren’t told that if you destroy a tape, then Samara is able to posses anyone she wants. Or can she because Rachel “let her out” in the first one? Are there any rules here?
In the end we don’t care enough to consider these questions and dissect what went wrong, we only want to tell others to stay away and maybe go see “Coach Carter” at the discount theaters instead.
PS:
1-I’m calling it early that Michelle Trachtenberg of “The Ice Princess” is the next big thing. She looked really good in “Eurotrip” and she was only 17. I didn’t know at the time.
2-Here’s a shout out for the next Weezer album “Make Believe” hitting shelves on May 10th. I’m excited. |
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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