Hope Betrayed

Rating: 3/10 (4 November 2002)

One thing gave me hope. As I sat through Naomi Watts' first few scenes, I knew she was playing the character wrongly, too strong, too directed, too much the antithesis of fearful. I think she could handle the Sigourney Weaver role from "Alien." But, thanks probably to the magnificent transformation Lynch gets out of her in the audition scene in "Mulholland Drive," I kept waiting for her character to change, to learn fear and grow in it, especially to show the effects of the social responsibility "Ringu's" tape forces onto each it touches. She ever does. Maybe these things are in "The Ring's" too-faithful script. But they're never in her eyes.
Hideo Nakata I consider a clever hack. "Ringu" is neither as visceral as "Evil Dead Trap" nor as cerebral and horrific as "Kairo." Even so, my comment at "Ringu" manages to back into some strong praise. No one who has a chance in hell of seeing "Ringu," even on a small screen, even your computer screen, should see this remake.
What if Lynch had directed Watts in "The Ring"? If only he had! Maybe draw a rule of thumb, something like this: Great directors can remake the works of hacks. Look at all the trashy mystery novels made into great films. Maybe hacks can remake great works. Roger Corman's Poe series. (Lucas' trashing of "Hidden Fortress" must be the exception that proves the rule. Oops! No! Here's another one: Besson doing Jeanne d'Arc.) But hacks probably shouldn't remake the work of hacks. "Ringu" simply doesn't support a careless, overly faithful remake like this one.