| Making a sequel to a film is
never an easy task. There are many aspects one
has to juggle in doing so, such as creating a
picture that reminds the audience why they loved
the first while at the same time crafting a story
that isn’t simply a reinvisioning of the
plot from the first. Spiral
(1998), the Ring’s first sequel,
certainly accomplished the latter, but trampled
all over what the first had established in doing
so to the point that it was written out of the
continuity entirely. Ring 2, now seen
as the series’ true second entry, reunites
director Hideo Nakata with the series he first
made famous. So how does Nakata’s sequel
fare? Well, unfortunately, not very well at all.
Across the board, this film flounders pretty hard,
lacking the scares or intelligence of its predecessor,
while the characters are generally uninteresting.
In fact, about the only genuine praise that this
project deserves comes from composer, and series
veteran, Kenji Kawai who conducts another pleasant,
and appropriately eerie, soundtrack for the film.
In terms of plot, the movie starts
off right where the first left off, as in the
wake of Ryuji Takayama’s death, Mai Takano
begins to attempt to uncover what led to her boyfriend’s
untimely demise. Quickly she begins to piece together
the legacy of Sadako’s curse, a young girl
who died years ago and had tied her revenge to
those who viewed a VHS tape; unfortunately, her
powers are no longer confined by the tape, as
she begins to attack survivors. To complicate
matters, her powers are also slowly appearing
in Yoichi, Takayama’s son, as it becomes
a race with time to try and solve this new dilemma
before Mai and the young boy are killed in the
process.
The story, to put it simple, goes
for the age old approach of raising the stakes
and making the danger more of a threat than in
the first entry. Predictably, this is also where
most of Ring 2’s faults lie. In
removing Sadako’s connection the tape, most
of what the previous film had set up is thrown
completely out the window, while this film makes
little effort to try and explain what type of
shape her new powers have taken. The first film
was as much a horror picture as it was a mystery,
as the audience joined in while the cast of characters
attempted to uncover how they might save themselves
from Sadako. This film follows a similar approach,
but gives no satisfactory resolution to why they
end up escaping from Sadako (in a sequence that
more or less spits on the terrifying climax from
the first) or exactly how she is attacking those
who haven’t seen the tape. True, there are
some generally frightening moments in this film,
but these feel simply like an “aftermath”
from what was established by the first, and the
general atmosphere is crushed as the pictures
grinds to its end.
In fact, the film unravels in such
an incoherent fashion, with sloppy pacing and
plot holes aplenty, that it also raises the question
if director Nakata had simply gotten lucky with
the first entry in the series? Regardless, the
main point of Nakata’s film seems to be
that Sadako, regardless of precautions, will live
on, as hinted at when she appears to have possessed
the dead girl’s body near the end of the
picture. It’s a nice concept, but one that’s
poorly explained here, and almost seems like a
counterstatement to what was established in the
first when it set up rules for who she was able
to kill.
Sadly, the faults of the movie’s
story only seem amplified by the weak characters
that inhibit it. Gone this time around are Ryuji
Takayama and Reiko Asakawa, who only have fleeting
roles and the latter of which is killed by running
out into traffic of all things, while Mai Takano
takes center stage. Thankfully, she is more inline
with what was seen of her character in the first
movie then she was in Spiral
(1998), but still doesn’t end up being very
interesting or complex enough for the audience
to care. Consequently, that’s really the
problem with her character. Where as the audience
generally wanted Reiko to survive in the first
movie, they only feel indifferent about Mai which
causes for the audience to simply shrug whenever
she is placed in danger as opposed to being placed
on the edge of their seat interested in what might
take place. The rest of the cast is all secondary
here, although the movie ends up weaving far too
many of them into the picture over all, and doesn’t
give a clear view on which of these other participants
might become important to the story later on.
Thankfully, the acting in Ring
2 is stronger than the character development,
but that’s saying next to nothing as it
still falters to make the movie any more enjoyable.
Unfortunately, the principal actor of this entry,
Miki Nakatani as Mai, ends up giving a fairly
unconvincing portrayal of the character. Oh she
can scream alright, but ends up doing very little
else of interest with the material she was given.
To be fair, Nakatani is not a bad actress, but
her talents seem inappropriate for a leading role.
To look at the rest of the cast, Rikiya Otaka
as Yoichi, Ryuji and Reiko’s son, takes
the main supporting role for the film and, for
all intensive purposes, is fairly awful in the
part. Granted, his portrayal in the first movie
was perfectly creepy and unnerving as he let little
emotion show, but it’s quickly discovered
that, sadly, that’s about all Otaka is good
at. To that point, it’s actually embarrassing
to watch him attempt to act frightening or the
least bit concerned about the events transpiring
around him in this film. In regards to the rest
of the cast, none of them really stand out in
anyway, either positively or negatively. It’s
nice to see Nanako Matsushima and Hiroyuki
Sanada reprise their roles from the previous
film, but, as previously mentioned, their characters
don’t do much here.
Fortunately, the film does have
one light at the end of the tunnel, which is Kenji
Kawai’s wonderful score for the picture.
Granted, Kawai’s music does have some slight
repetition with his Ring
(1998) score, but it still manages to heighten
the fear factor on this normally timid movie.
There aren't any cues that are all that memorable,
with the exception of the Main theme and the return
of Sadako's theme, but the score does enhance
the viewing experience a lot and isn’t a
bad stand alone experience either.
Overall, this sequel is best left
forgotten though. It answers questions asked from
Ring
(1998) that never really needed answering, while
adding even more questions, this time in a clumsy
and confusing fashion, to the Ring legacy. The
only thing to make this film stand out in any
positive way is that it’s certainly a much
better successor to the throne than the first
sequel was.
|
(2/5)