Why those complaints?

Rating: Null/10 (26 January 2003)

I don't get the problem that some of the critics have with this movie. "The Ring" is, for starters, NOT a bad copy of the Sixth Sense. Of course it has a few similarities (a little boy that could see a dead girl), but it still was a story of its own (the movie wasn't about the boy, it was about the tape). So the story was great and original, in my opinion.
I thought about another title for it "The Tape", but then I realized that naming it "The Ring" gave the viewer, next to all the other mysteries in this movie, another mystery to think about (I think it's a great title).
The final product had some flaws in the direction, for example the fact that some of the effects (I can not agree with critics who say 'all') were not as unexpected as they should be; like the part where the woman found the dead guy in his chair. There were indeed a lot of times I jumped up, and the way it was directed even made me jump up although I knew in advance that something was going to happen.
Another great aspect about this movie is that I sometimes thought that the movie was over (because everything seemed to be finished). But then I checked the time and it still had to go for some time, and even I (for a script-writer) had absolutely no idea in what way they could possibly make the movie go on and still keep it entertaining, but they did (and not just a repeat of earlier happenings, but entirely new unexpected ones). And of course the end is great; a closed but open ending at the same time. You don't see that a lot.
About the acting... I'm usually quite soon irritated by bad 'unbelievable' actors or acting, it doesn't matter how great the story is, then. The fact that I wasn't irritated this time during the watching, made me consider that the acting wasn't that bad. Important questions like 'Why was the main character not killed while everyone else is' were answered (which made the story complete), and questions that sound important, but could stay unexplained, were kept a mystery.
Finally, the greatest thing I like about this movie is that it is great in its essence and simplicity. Simple images and weird sounds (especially later on when the images of 'the tape' were repeated) brought the tension, even without scary music; a thing that a lot of horror movies need. It also didn't show that much blood like movies as 'Nightmare on Elmstreet', and it didn't need that. The simplicity was there from the story itself (for example the simple fact that just watching a videotape could kill you; how do you make up something like that?!) till the eventually product; the movie.
So in short, "The Ring" is a great movie and people who disliked it, should see it again with an open mind; I guess they had other things on their mind at the time watching (or they prejudged it before watching), to be able to just let themselves get sucked into the story. But I do agree with everyone who claims this movie should not have a sequel. That would ruin the entire uniqueness of this movie and would destroy the great thing about the ending.