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The Ring Two (2005)
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Movie Review by Matthew 
April 5th, 2005
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Rachel (Naomi Watts) and Aidan (David Dorfman) have just moved to Astoria, Oregon, trying to escape the events of six months ago. Rachel is starting a job at the small, local newspaper and her boss, Max (Simon Baker) is confused about why she is basically taking a step down the ladder. Rachel just wants their life to get back to normal. Before you can say “Boo”, that infamous videotape pops up in the home of a local teenager and Rachel and Aidan are drawn back into the mystery. Rachel soon learns that Samara will never leave them alone, until…
“The Ring Two” is easily one of the most disappointing films I have ever seen. Directed by Hideo Nakata, the director of the original Japanese film that inspired “The Ring”, the film is devoid of any of the suspense or chills that made the first film so memorable.
All of the production values are top notch, but what the film really lacks is an involving story. For a sequel like this to work, we have to be drawn into the story, along with the characters, in a plausible way. Why does Samara continue to torment Rachel and Aidan? We don’t really find out. The teenagers who watch the videotape, in the beginning of “The Ring”, oh, wait, “The Ring Two”, oh, wait; they do that in both the films. In “Two”, the difference is that they have no connection what so ever to Rachel or Aidan. In the first film, there was a vague family connection, causing Rachel to start investigating. In “Two”, she overhears the story on a police scanner and investigates.
It seems like the film takes hours to get Rachel investigating again. When she finally does, she learns very little as she visits the teenager’s home and then revisits the horse farm. Just as you think something different will happen, she spends the equivalent of five minutes at a mental hospital talking to a ‘pivotal’ character.
When the film isn’t rehashing moments from the first film, it tries to recycle them, changing them slightly. Remember the ferry ride in the first film, when the horse jumped off the deck? In “Two”, there is a scene with a lot of deer. The significance of this appearance isn’t really explained. During Rachel’s revisit to the Horse Farm there is a brief shot of a lot of antlers, but we never learn the connection.
The character of Max is clearly a retread of the same male character from the first film. Except in “Two”, Max doesn’t really know what is going on until very late. Because he doesn’t know he is in danger, we don’t feel any suspense as he plods through the story.
The film is also filled with plot holes. Typical, is when Rachel visits the teenagers home. In the opening sequence, a boy is trying to get a random girl to watch the tape, so that he won’t die. He only has a few minutes left, but he manages to convince her to watch the tape. Or does he? Rachel only talks to the girl. In the next scene, she is outside the house and realizes it is locked. Looking through some garden rocks, she comes across a fake rock with a key inside. How did she know this was there? The boy brought the girl to his house and mentioned that she was some ‘random’ girl. She wouldn’t have known about the key. At a flea market, she spots a videotape on a table. It is unmarked. Horror! But she doesn’t even pick it up.
There are many, many more instances like this, but if I take the trouble to list them, you might actually be tempted to see the film.
“The Ring Two” was so bad I have changed my opinion of the first film and don’t consider it as good.
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