A brief review of "The Ring"'s plot.

Rating: 4/10 (17 October 2013)

To begin, I have neither read the book or seen the Japanese movie, so my review is about this version only. "The Ring" was artfully filmed, with good color choices and lots of tiny features that were fun to find. Visually, I loved this movie. But I watch for the plot, and there wasn't much of it here. "The Ring" is the detailed story of a chain letter. It is one of the "pass it on or die" stories that I'm sure we've all seen at one time or another. Yes, this is much better written than a usual e-mail, but it's still, in my opinion, an overused and cheap plot. I laughed at the first few scenes of the movie, but from there it went downhill. There were clichéd characters (the skeptical detective, the all-knowing young child, the creepy little girl) and unoriginal exposition techniques. As the story progressed, I began to enjoy "The Ring" a bit more, but it left many unanswered questions and loose ends that I feel should have been tied up. Many interesting characters are introduced, and their histories are extremely important to the plot, but we only receive the very minimum information. So many ideas are introduced and never properly explored. I was left wondering at the end of the movie--not thoughtful, more exasperated that they hadn't included more information. Throughout the movie, I never related to any of the characters and never felt like we got a grip on who they were. Each character has a role in the movie, but their stories feel not fully developed and I think this could have been improved upon. If you are looking for a beautiful film with good colors, interesting shots, and carefully placed details, "The Ring" isn't a bad movie to watch. But if, like me, you care more about the plot than anything else, I wouldn't recommend it.