Prepare to be disappointed

Rating: 5/10 (19 September 2009)

There is a lot going on in the Ring, but none of it actually amounts to the horror film that critics are calling it. This film is hardly anything more or less than a weird, and often ridiculous charade of a ghost story, which is occasionally evocative but less so than it is dreary. sometimes it is on the right track, but usually it is not.
After the bizarre death of her niece, Rachel Keller, a young journalist is asked by the departed's mother to investigate. Her search leads her to a motel cabin where she finds an unlabeled video cassette. She players it once, it contains about twenty seconds of grainy miscellaneous shots including a dead horse, a girl coming out of a well, and bizarre ring of light. Moments later the phone rings and informs Racheal that she has a week to live. Can she uncover the truth before it kills her and subsequently puts her own son in danger.
The story is kinda spooky, but it falls apart. In the end, the Ring is a failure simply because it makes no sense. True horror fans will watch the Ring and probably dedicate the rest of the day to figuring out what it all meant. As a horror fan myself, when I see a movie, I want to be scared and intrigued as I watch, not hours AFTER I've finished watching.
As a protagonist, I kinda liked Naomi Watts. She doesn't have a lot to do but she does it well. A lot of her acting is done not with her words but with her eyes, in the same way Jeff Bridges acted with his body in Starman.
I guess she is the only thing memorable about this otherwise mediocre motion picture. The Ring is dull, sloppy and doesn't do much for me.