The Ring (2002) Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson, David Dorfman, Brian Cox, Jane Alexander Movie Review

The Ring (2002)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Naomi Watts in The Ring (2002)

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When her niece is one of a group of teenagers who mysteriously die, journalist and single mum Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts) knows it has hit her son really hard. But as a journalist she is curious as to what happened especially when at the funeral she over hears some of her niece's friends discussing an urban legend about a video tape which after you watch you receive a phone call and a girl's voice says "seven days". After tracking down a copy and watching it as well as getting her father's son, Noah (Martin Henderson), a video expert, to take a look Rachel finds herself in a race against time to save her son when she finds him watching it.

Did you know your tastes change over the years? If you read that and think well of course they do then the statement really wasn't for you but for those who are still young and don't realise it yet. As such I reckon that if I had been a teenager in 2002 I might have been impressed by "The Ring" as the creepy nature and the imagery probably would have had me gripped. But as a thirty year old when I first watched "The Ring" I can't say that it really hooked me or reeled me in.

Martin Henderson in The Ring (2002)

Now I actually quite like the story as we have Rachel analysing the video for a clue and then unravelling a ghost story behind it which has her on edge especially when she discovers her son sat in front of the TV having watched the video. The potential to be disturbing and terrifying is there and in fairness some elements to "The Ring" are effective in making you feel distinctly uncomfortable. But this is a slow process and rarely delivers the level of horror which gives lasting nightmares which is what someone told me would happen the first time I watched it.

Part of the problem with "The Ring" for me is the handling of Naomi Watts and her character which to be honest is quite forgettable. The problem is that director Gore Verbinski delivers one scene after another which captures Watts' beauty and it starts to dominate the movie. It is not just Watt's as this ends up a movie full of pretty people which isn't realistic.

What this all boils down to is that "The Ring" ended up not to my taste as whilst some scenes are disturbing such as one involving a horse for the most the movie struggled to hook me and reel me in to the unfolding horror story.


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