Potentially Brilliant, But Somehow Not Scary

Rating: Null/10 (29 November 2002)

There are several points in "The Ring" in which the movie almost reaches points of macabre brilliance. The opening scenes are edge-of-your-seat scary and the sadistic twist ending is nothing short of terrifying. Unfortunately, it's the long stretch in between those two points that is so disappointing.
The Ring is about a mysterious videotape, the contents of which will kill you. A journalist (Naomi Watts) is on the story, but unfortunately she has seen the tape, which may ensure her death in seven days. Of course a premise like this requires the suspension of disbelief, but this movie never did it for me. The entire time it was obvious to me that I was just watching a movie. I was never absorbed.
Which is a shame because The Ring had a big opportunity to really scare me. All the elements of a classic thriller are here, but few are really put to use. It builds atmosphere to be sure, but it does so entirely in cliches. Roll the thunder, cue the lightning, etc.
In between the long stretches of expository dialogue and gray storm cloudy backdrops, there are a few very disturbing moments. After viewing this movie, I guarantee you will be wary around television sets, or whenever the phone rings. For a PG-13 movie, there are a lot of disturbing images, too. (Rotting corpses and the like.) Unfortunately, in a nutshell, The Ring is a thriller with all the disturbing elements of a horror film, but none of the thrills. So in the end, we're left with a movie that is nothing more than simply disturbing.
(**/****)