The Ring: 8/10

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2002)

Aren't you glad that they have DVDs now? In Gore Verbinski's The Ring, viewers of a special videotape of seemingly unrelated shots get a phone call saying "seven days", meaning they have seven days to live. That's right. Mr. Budweiser Frogs and Mr. Mouse Hunt made this movie. Quite a transition.
Naomi Watts, fresh from Mulholland Drive, plays skeptic newspaper reporter Rachel Keller. She hears about the videotape at a niece's funeral, and decides to investigate. And what does Ms. Smart do? She watches the tape and she gets the phone call. Oy, she'll regret that.
The Ring, put in one word, is scary. It checks off the four ills: chills, thrills, spills, and yes, even a few kills. There are many, many tense scenes and scenes that make you jump (or scream, whichever type you are). I'm the jumping type, but in some parts my mouth was open. That's how scary it was. On the downside of the creepiness, Verbinski made too many jump scenes. If he had concentrated on putting on a few more sustained thrills, that would have helped.
Watts wasn't super or anything, but she was serviceable. Martin Henderson, as Noah, a partner, was the same, nothing to write home about. Their son Aidan, played David Dorfman, made me think of him as a cross between Haley Joel Osment and a Disney cartoon. He had the look (and at the funeral, was exactly the same way) and he had huge eyes. And speaking of cartoons, I just noticed that Daveigh Chase, from Lilo and Stitch and Spirited Away plays Samara, a very important part of the movie.
In a small but important role, Brian Cox plays Richard Morgan, Samara's father. He seemed to do like Donnie Wahlberg did for The Sixth Sense, playing a small part but obviously working hard to perform it. Cox seems to be the hardest working man in showbiz now.
The runtime could have been trimmed by a little, but The Ring still kept engrossed me for two hours. It is the type of movie that will either keep you up at night or give you nightmares. Or both.
The Ring doesn't really give you any characters to connect with. There aren't many, but some of the time used unnecessarily could have been used with characterization or time to feel for and with the characters.
My rating: 8/10
Rated PG-13 for scares, violence, ickyness, and some language.