View Larger Image |
Ringu 2 Director: Hideo Nakata Number of Items: 1 Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 95 minutes Studio: Dreamworks / Universal Studios Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2005-08-23 Buy from Amazon |
 "98 minutes of my life that I'm NOT getting back!"Don't let my title put you off reading my review, I am really a highly respected reviewer elsewhere and I know what I'm talking about. When I watch horror movies, I expect two or one of two things... To be scared and/or to be at least entertained. I want that bubbly feeling you get when you watch a great horror movie. That feeling we got when we first watched 'Ringu'. Remember? We you aren't going to get it here! This is the worst film in the entire Japanese 'Ring' series. Some elements of it were worse then what you find in 'Spiral', and that was a terrible movie. It has come to me that there is no such thing as a good sequel to 'Ringu'. There are two sequels; 'Spiral' that was so bad that the director had to change his name AND face. And this is 'Ring 2' that despite the fact that Nakata directed it... It's still a waste of money, time and I'd have had a lot more fun sitting in a boxed room for 98 minutes making up my own sequel in my head! 'Ring 2' picks up a week after where it left off, Reiko Asakawa's father has been found dead and his daughter had gone into hiding with her son, Yoichi. Enter Mai Takano... whom ruined the movie just by being present... Ryuji Takayama's (you remember him) assistant and his supposed girlfriend... (...Despite the fact [I might add] that there was nothing romantic between them whatsoever and Takayama was still in love with Asakawa... Hmmm, not a good relationship then! Frankly, it looked like Ryuji wanted to get as far away from her as possible in the flashbacks...) ...Being the annoying and pathetic kid she is, she teams up with Reiko's assistant to try and track her down to find out what happened to Ryuji. Seeing as Okazaki wants to know where Reiko is, he agrees to help. The police also have the same plan. When Mai finds them, Reiko is in morning for Ryuji and her father, and in no mood to deal with Mai. Yoichi has been a mute ever since his father died, and been doing strange things like wondering about in the town where Ryuji used to hang and blowing up TVs. Too scared that the police will find her, Reiko pleads with Mai to promise not to tell them where she is. Mai promises her, and goes to ask the doctor (a name I've given up trying to write) to find out how to help Yoichi. However, after one of the schoolgirls Okazaki was interviewing dies... Mai thinks that Reiko must have had something to do with it, and rats her out... This movie is a real flop, and the only people I liked in this were Reiko and Yoichi Asakawa and Takeshi Yamamura, original stars of the movie. I was also pleased to see some flashbacks that included Ryuji, as he's always a treat to watch. Acting in this was far from great, I only really liked watching Matsushima and Sanada, as they were still the Reiko and Ryuji that we loved from the first one. Rikiya Otaka was great to watch... The use of his eyes was wonderful, and he has some real potential as an actor. However, the lead female was a real disappointment and only a little less irritating then she was in the first and original sequel movies. Miki Nakatani is normally a good actress and the sad thing is that the way Mai Takano makes you want to kill her, wasn't so much Nakatani's fault... Mai Takano is one of the most pointless characters ever to be adapted from book. In the novel, her role seemed to be as the only acting woman in the tale. However, as you see in the first movie, her presence as the woman was smashed with the presence of Reiko Asakawa. This lives on in the second movie as when Reiko and Mai are together, you still find yourself resenting Mai for her actions and childishness from the first movie. The role of Mai in question has only ever been portrayed as shallow, boring, annoying and just plain pathetic. When watching her in this film, I wanted to tear my hair out! THIS FILM NEVER GOES ANYWHERE! The finale is just suddenly thrown in, and the end is rushed. Half the time, you can't be sure what the plot is. There is no strong male lead. The only male actor who you'd even consider the lead was Rikiya Otaka playing Yoichi. The plot was so full of holes; you could market it as a new Japanese cheese. The only good actors have been limited screen time, and never make contact with each other during the film. The feel maybe similar, but it isn't the right 'Ringu' style. Just having Nakata directing DOESN'T make 'Ringu 2' the same as 'Ringu'. Don't buy this film, it isn't worth it! Like I said before, you'd have more fun sitting where you are now for the next 98 minutes making up your own sequel. THERE IS NO GOOD SEQUEL TO 'RINGU'... The prequel however is another story, and one that was more exciting, scarier and entertaining then 'Ringu 2'  "Agree"I agree with Johnny, Kira, and Sophie Lee. This is NOT what I think, anyone expected. The story of Sadako had to continue obviously, but there was no story here. That would be why the US remake almost never was. (They had to call in help from Japan to rewrite a new story!) At the turning point (i don't want to spoil anyone), the movie was over for me. I was asking why? Why taint Ringu? For the disappointed, take comfort in the fact that The Grudge 2 is even worse a sequel than this. Rent Rasen/Spiral instead, or the deeply sad Ringu prequel: 0 Birthday.  "Not as terrible as some would have you believe...but still not great."Sequels, to just about anything, usually have a tough hill to climb in order to actually be worth any sort of merit. Sequels to movies are usually the least rewarding of them all...and when you have to follow up a classic that makes things even harder. And on top of all that, it is a horror movie sequel. Horror being a genre where there is almost no middle ground. A horror movie that doesn't constantly scare in people's minds is a bad horror film. Period. End of story. It is also a genre that gets churned out en masse every year (since they can be made cheap by just about anybody) so much that like any protagonist in a survival horror film...the good ones are heavily outnumbered. Ringu was a movie that created a sense of dread and urgency about it. It didn't heap on the jump scares or anything but if you ask any horror aficionado the "sense of dread" a movie elicits is better than being "jump scared" every five minutes. It was a movie with a mystery to it. One that just didn't need to be solved but HAD to be solved at all costs...and mystery is an ingredient that makes any horror outing all the better. So what happens when you have to follow up a movie where the main mystery of the prequel gets solved? Having read the Ringu and Rasen novels respectively Rasen turns out to be the more interesting and dread inducing piece...and as you no doubt already know from other reviews the movie adaption to that one didn't fly so well. So how do you essentially "re-do" a sequel to a movie that already had one? For a movie that had just about everything against it Ringu 2 is one of the more competent horror movie sequels you will come across. Is it great? No. That is even RARER in horror sequels. But it is a worthy effort. The movie (while sadly not following the "viral" concept of Rasen) essentially deals with the idea that even if you get saved from the cursed tape you are still "imprinted" and effected by it in some way. So much so that if you are near TVs your body sends off a sort of transmission that plays the cursed video on television. It sounds a lot more interesting than it turns out. What would have made it better would be if people actually started dropping dead from this phenomenon...but, alas, they don't. I can also understand the issue another reviewer had with the character of Mai Takano not being all that interesting or likeable a protagonist. Though you have to consider the fact that the character was out of the loop (no pun intended) in Ringu and therefore -is- a rather clueless character when it comes to all that is going on. Long story short (too late) is that Ringu 2 while not being all that scary or dread inducing is an interesting attempt at a sequel. Some parts may drag a little and the ending may be a little too hokey, happy, and confusing (japanese horror and thrillers seem to consistently have a problem in this area) it is still a rather interesting sequel...and one where a friend of mine (who has a peculiar taste in movies) actually liked it better than the first. Yeah, I don't get it either. Do yourself a favor and rent it. If you loved Ringu you owe it to yourself to check it out...just don't expect a masterpiece. "Horrible, boring, no thrills whatsoever"I was surprised to find this movie on Region 1. I guess Dreamworks wants to milk the franchise as much as possible, coupled with the upcoming Ring Two on DVD. I watched Ringu 2 with an open mind, hoping they wouldn't just rehash the first Ringu. Nakata didn't, but what he did was make an incomprehensible, reprehensible piece of garbage, that goes nowhere with the story of Sadako, and wastes the main characters from the first movie. My boyfriend fell asleep halfway through and I could barely stay awake for the appalling third act (and I'm the horror freak). Even the so-so Ring 0: Birthday was a good movie compared to Ringu 2. Don't waste your money if you're expecting any remotely resembling the scares of the original or The Ring. Ring Two, while not entirely successful, was at least an attempt at a good sequel. Believe or not, for once the Hollywood product is better than the Japanese version. Seek out the Ring 0: Birthday import DVD if you prefer a decent Japanese sequel. Or wait until the third American Ring comes out on DVD and they might release 0 in Region 1 then. "HORRIBLE!!! "There are two sequels to Ringu: The Spiral (AKA Rasen) and Ringu 2. Neither of them are very entertaining and this one is even less entertaining than The Spiral; in fact, it isn't entertaining at all. It is extremely hard to follow, very very boring, and not even the slightest bit scary. It is everything that Ringu isn't. It is one of the biggest wastes of my time and money that I've ever spent. I am a huge fan of the entire Ring series, including the American remakes and the novels as well. I'd recommend the American version of Ring 2 before I'd recommend this piece of garbage. That one also isn't scary, but at least it's entertaining. However, I highly recommend the prequel to Ringu, which is Ring 0: Birthday. That is highly entertaining and (IMO) scarier than Ringu and The Ring combined. |
