Rachel (Watts) is a journalist that analyzes a video tape that possibly killed four teenagers, including her niece. There is a myth that after a person watches the tape, they will brutally die a week later. If that myth is true, Rachel will have to hurry in order to save her life and her son's life, too.This is a hard film to sympathize for, this being rated PG-13, any adult viewer and even teen viewer will walk start out having low expectations. This being adapted by the novel by Kôji Suzuki, the screenplay is also terrible and must disappoint Suzuki greatly. Most of it consists of over-analyzing small talk, that bares little relevance and confuses the viewer even more. There may only be one key plot point throughout each conversation that's important, but besides that, the screenplay is no where near special.
The cast is terrible, the only big name being Watts' after making Mulholland Drive. When the cast gets serious, it sounds more funny than over-the-top. To learn how to make over-the-top yelling fantastic, it would be nice to show the cast Network. The child and young adult actors give sub-par performances, too, showing no promise for a future in any way. Being made on a 48 million dollar budget, they could have picked up better actors.
What else is there to say? This film is for lack of a better word, lame. There is no promise of this movie having a legacy besides "that movie with the deadly tape." This is a horror film you should skip. The Ring receives a 1.5/4.
