Finely crafted, superior film

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2005)

After her niece and three of her niece's friends mysteriously die on the same night, at the same time, but in different circumstances, reporter Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), hears the rumors of a video that when seen, "curses" the viewer so that they die in 7 days. She investigates the phenomenon with the aid of her ex, Noah Clay (Martin Henderson). They end up seeing the video. Can they figure out a solution in time?
For my money, although the Japanese "original" upon which this film is based, Ringu (1998), is worth watching, this Gore Verbinski-directed U.S. version is superior in many ways, having none of the flaws but all of the assets and then some.
I'm going to do something unusual and examine the differences between the two films by detailing just a portion of one scene present in both. I think the examination reveals why the U.S. film is superior. The scene is the tail end of the opening, which results in a death.
Here's how it goes in Ringu: Tomoko Oishi's (Yuko Takeuchi) television mysteriously turns on to a baseball game as she's looking inside the refrigerator. She looks up, above the door, surprised. We get a reverse shot. We can see the television through frosted glass in the next room. A steadicam follows her from behind, peeking around the corner with her. We cut back to her face, which is relatively expressionless. We go back to a rear shot and see her walk to the remote and shut off the television. She turns around and walks back to the kitchen, pouring herself a drink. We cut to a lower-angled closer shot. We hear a noise. A subtle fear crosses her face. She trembles. Cut to a close shot from over her shoulder. Suddenly, she turns around, frightened. The frame freezes and quickly turns a blue/gray-tinted "negative" color.
Here's how it goes in The Ring: Katie Embry (Amber Tamblyn) is in the kitchen, just about to drink, when the television turns on by itself to static. She stops dead in her tracks, her glass just barely touching her lips. Cut to a close up of her slowly turning her head and looking at the television, horrified. Almost achingly slowly, the camera creeps around the corner to show us the television. We see Katie look for any sign of an intruder. She sees the remote on the chair, but no one is around. She hurriedly shuts off the television, then walks away, trying to rationalize the event.
Before she can get out of the room, the television turns on again. She stops again and turns even slower. The camera slowly creeps into a medium shot of Katie, with the television and its static reflected in a pane of glass. She runs over and puts her face right next to the television. We see this from a fantastically skewed angle, which distorts the television screen, sticking one end right in our face. We get an insert of Katie yanking the plug. Sparks shoot out. Back to the skewed angle, but now the screen is blank. We circle around slightly. Suddenly there's a noise from the kitchen. Katie gasps and turns around.
Slowly, she peeks into the kitchen, just in time to see the refrigerator door open by itself. She runs to shut it, now breathing heavily. She mutters to herself and begins looking around with a very subtle panic on her face. As she quickly turns towards the hallway, the camera rapidly changes focus. We cut to an interesting overhead angle on the stairway. Katie appears, peeking around the corner. She calls for her friend Becca. She trots up the stairs.
We cut to a beautiful, extremely low angle of the upstairs hallway, which exaggerates the perspective. As we see Katie reach the top of the stairs, we also see water slowly flowing into the hall from beneath a door. The camera stays at the low angle until Katie reaches the water. We cut to a close up. She's scared and bewildered, then trembling. We get an extreme close up of the door handle as her hand comes gradually into the focal range. She grabs the handle. Another close-up of her face. Cut to the interior of the room--her bedroom. Katie flings open the door, horrified. With a series of extremely fast cuts, we see a snippet of the Ring video on the television set in her bedroom. Cut back to Katie. A super fast zoom to her distorted, horrific face. Then back to the Ring video in a series of quick cuts, before the entire screen goes to static.
The point here isn't that the U.S. version is longer. Rather, it's to exemplify the attention to craft, from technical to emotional aspects. Verbinski's pacing is much more deliberate and varied, creating intense suspense. Bojan Bazelli's cinematography is breathtakingly beautiful. There is an obsession with details, from those that integrate and propel the story to those that are artistically striking. The construction is much more complex, but every shot is analyzed for relevance. Every angle exists for a reason. The ornate aesthetics amp up the effect of the story. This approach isn't unique to the opening scene, but occurs throughout the film, including the famed "Ring video" itself.
The music is also better here, and is better integrated into the film. The performances are excellent, with Aidan Keller (David Dorfman) just as creepy and disturbing as the antagonist, Samara Morgan (Daveigh Chase). As would be expected for U.S. audiences, Verbinski includes a lot more exposition in his film, working in explanatory material from Ringu 2 as well as new material exploring Samara's history. It works well here, as the story is much tighter. Everything eventually fits together like pieces of a puzzle, and it gives the Ring video and the varied settings of the film more relevance.