The Ring Two

I was prepared to be disappointed by The Ring Two, but I didn’t expect that I wouldn’t even feel like reviewing it. At the beginning, there are still some promising directions that the story could take, but as the film subsequently serves up clichéd and nonsensical scenes, the viewer loses trust and eventually stops caring by the end. It’s the complete opposite arc of the first film. The screenplay is just contrived fluff that attempts at all costs to find something to from the previous movie’s subject matter to grab hold of. The character of Samara no longer has any gravitas, the fear aspect works at 30% capacity (whereas it worked at 90% in the first one) and often fails due to the director’s reliance on digital effects, which he hadn’t been able to afford previously and which are unfortunately completely gratuitous. The only positives: the initial “supernatural feeling” culminating in the great scene with deer, decent cinematography, an excellent Hans Zimmer central motif and the always pretty Naomi Watts. (12.04.2005)

Technically brilliantly filmed, unatmospheric boredom. The main problem is that it completely lacks the atmosphere of part one. This is mainly due to the incredibly dumb screenplay that is all sixes and sevens, absolutely ignoring the rules laid down last time round. Here “fear" is invoked by randomly located, cheap, non-functional frights. The actors have nothing at all to act, so they are stylized into one common expression, and that unfortunately includes Naomi. It is painfully obvious in her performance that if she weren’t bound by contract, she wouldn’t have played in it, given the choice. Only two scenes of the entire two hours of running time are worthy of mention. One for its incredible dumbness (the scene at the university) and one coolly made scene with the bath and the water on the ceiling. I think that Nakata wanted to put an end to remakes of Asian pictures and so he sacrificed himself, putting his reputation on the line and filmed this pile of codswallop to end up on the shelves at the very back of the video rental stores: I see no other logical explanation... (04.05.2005)

Same cassette, same Rachel and Aidan, same gloomy "neither night nor day" atmosphere, same musical background. And Nakata didn't manage it the same way. The plot itself is already absurd, and from the trailer, it is more or less clear that the film has to fall apart at some point, which eventually happens with the unnecessary detour to Samara's mother. However, it is precisely the connection to the visual style of the first film that gives a sense of a cohesive story. Moreover, when I remember the deer or the fateful well, it immediately gives me goosebumps and convinces me that the second Ring is definitely not the disaster it promised to be. However, I wouldn't venture into further experiments because the aura of the first film could develop a dangerous crack. (08.07.2006)

Solidly shot wholes/half-parts clash with utterly incompetently shot details in this aesthetically very uneven work. But the camera impotence and the inability to captivate are nothing compared to the stupidity of the script, which has more logical errors than holes in Swiss cheese. And even the idea itself – if it can be called that at all – is rather laughable. (09.12.2005)

A typical sequel. The screenwriters apparently decided to give the first part a good beating, they wanted everything to be even more gripping, shocking and scary, but somehow it didn’t go beyond the effort. The Ring 2 doesn't have nearly the atmosphere of fear that Verbinski's film could boast, all the scares are forced and unsuccessful, the director serves one cliché after another, ultimately drowning the great performances and plot potential. The story digs its own grave from the beginning, sinking deeper and deeper into it, despite the great effort to scare the viewer and keep a true horror face. A big pompous sequel trying to capitalize on the success of the excellent first one, which, while watchable, is still best avoided. (11.03.2012)

"Ring 2" marked the beginning of the decline in interest in Japanese horror. It was a gradual decline because even today there are still people who seek out Japanese supernatural stories, but the interest is no longer as huge. It's logical. Hideo Nakata is just repeating himself in the film "Ring 2" and trying to come up with an interesting ending, but he gets lost in the whole sense of the story. And the worst part is that the only scene that is frightening is the one with the deer. (04.11.2014)