|
Snuff video
It may take repeated viewings to appreciate the subtle terror of The Ring, a tale of a videotape that guarantees death to those who watch it.
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 17, 2002
[Photo: DreamWorks Pictures]
Newspaper reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) watches a videotape that brings death to anyone who watches it in The Ring.
|
The Ring begins like any other teen horror flick, with a female victim demonstrating, at least to a point, how people will die for the rest of the movie. The urban legend dialogue about a videotape guaranteeing death to viewers sounds hokey, and the brief terror jolt after a lengthy prologue seems like a cheat.
Then comes the obligatory introduction to an amateur detective who knew the victim, in this case a Seattle newspaper reporter named Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts, Mulholland Dr.) with a creepy son, Aidan (David Dorfman), who looks ready to declare: "I see Haley Joel Osment." Rachel and Aidan will see the tape, believe its powers and try to determine its origins and a way out.
Yet the mechanics of The Ring move in a peculiar rhythm, one that will lull moviegoers into a sense of suspense or drowsiness. I'll admit the latter until the movie started working on me and kept on long after the ending, much like The Sixth Sense did three years ago. It may be a movie that gets better with multiple viewings. Certainly its morbid tone and visually arresting dreamscapes are worth experiencing again, even if they're just window dressing for a slim plot shuffled into complexity.
[Photo: DreamWorks Pictures]
Martin Henderson, as Noah, and Naomi Watts, as Rachel, try to figure out the mystery of a deadly video.
|
The somber precision of The Ring's terror was even more surprising when the end credits announced Gore Verbinski as director. Verbinski made the terrifically manic Mouse Hunt, then the equally rambunctious but brain-dead The Mexican. Here, he moves into M. Night Shyamalan's territory, with pregnant cinematic pauses that may seem dull if you're not paying attention, collecting information to assemble later. This isn't an easy film to figure out, and when you do, it's almost too literal.
The Ring is based on a Japanese novel that became a twice-sequeled film and a 12-part TV series that captivated east Asia. Some elements of that culture can be identified, along with American influences as varied as Videodrome and the Three Stooges. Verbinski is playful with the material, yet respectful of its terror potential. The killer videotape he creates -- someone's nightmare, but whose, and why so tormented? -- is a grainy mosh of cryptic images that are played beyond repetition into clarity.
All this weirdness is easy for Watts to handle after working with David Lynch. She makes Rachel a sympathetic guide to follow even when clues fall into her lap. But Verbinski and screenwriter Ehren Kruger keep everything on a level of sleepy reality, making the occasional special effects more effective. Giving The Ring a chance can only make us smarter about what should be scaring us at the movies.
The Ring
- Grade: B+
- Director: Gore Verbinski
- Cast: Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, Brian Cox, David Dorfman, Daveigh Chase
- Screenplay: Ehren Kruger, based on the novel Ringu by Koji Suzuki, and the screenplay Ringu by Hiroshi Takahashi
- Rating: PG-13; violence, scary images, profanity, sexual situations
- Running time: 114 min.
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
