Review of The Ring Two (2005) by Moviemastereddy — 02 Apr 2016

"The Ring Two" is the inevitable sequel to "The Ring," which, in turn, was a remake of the wildly influential Japanese horror flick "Ringu." Released in 1998, "Ringu" spawned several other films and turned its director, Hideo Nakata, into an international brand. It was only a matter of time before Mr. Nakata went Hollywood, and so he has at last as the director of, yes, "The Ring Two," the sequel to the remake of his original hit. (Got that?) Such creative cannibalism is of course part of the pleasure of genre movies, especially horror, where directors like Wes Craven ("Scream") and Takashi Shimizu ("The Grudge") return to the scene of the crime to scare up new frights and profits.

Good horror, like George Romero's zombie trilogy, works by balancing the reassuringly familiar with the totally unknown: it's like getting tossed in the air as a kid: you shriek with a mixture of pleasure and fear, and then after you safely land, beg for it to happen again (and again). Sustaining that balance is tough, however, and even the most muscular directors soon grow weary repeating the same old tricks. Mr. Nakata has either become tired of the "Ring" premise - a murdered girl haunts and hunts those unlucky enough to watch her on videotape - or something went seriously awry during production. Whatever the case, despite Mr. Nakata's track record and the radiant presence of its star, Naomi Watts, "The Ring Two" is a dud.

Once again, Ms. Watts plays Rachel Keller, a journalist and a single mom to a young son, Aidan (David Dorfman), recently relocated from Seattle to a small coastal town in Oregon. In the first movie, Rachel successfully escaped the marauding ghost in the machine and now thinks she has entered a new chapter. No such luck; she is actually mucking about on a slag heap of recycled scares, dumb lines and predictable entanglements, including some static with a potential boyfriend replacement (Simon Baker), an encounter with a guest star meant to lend either giggles or gravitas to the proceedings (Sissy Spacek in a fright wig) and a handful of disposable bit players. Once again, blood pools, water flows and the ghost comes calling through the magic of video, scaring to death anyone foolish enough not to have made the move to DVD.

The mercurially talented Ms. Watts had to endure an unfair share of humiliation on her road from obscurity, including stinkers like "Tank Girl" and a host of similarly forgettable fare. Since her breakout appearance in David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" four years ago, she has followed the now standard trajectory that finds certain higher-profile screen actors methodically alternating between nominally independent boutique items, like "21 Grams," which helped lift Ms. Watts's serious-film profile, and bigger-budget, high-concept entertainments like "The Ring," which are meant to show that she can hold the larger-stakes screen and do the mainstream thing without selling out her talent. Or so the Hollywood thinking seems to go.

When this formula pans out, you have a career like that of Ms. Watts's friend Nicole Kidman. When it does not, well, the hall of studio shame is lined with glossies of performers permanently stalled by the usual tabloid woes and too many wrong choices. One of Ms. Watts's current projects is Peter Jackson's remake of "King Kong," and while the real star of that show will be the special effects, the movie should help secure Ms. Watts pop-movie credibility. By the time "King Kong" opens, "The Ring Two" will have rotated to the DVD bargain bin. Meanwhile, here's hoping her handlers begin exhibiting as much prudence as Rachel Keller does in her fight against evil; an actress in Hollywood has a preciously short shelf life, and you can't build a brilliant career with expired goods.