Review: Rings (2017)

A young woman tires to solve the mystery of Samara and the curse surrounding her when she watches the video and has only seven days left...

It's hard to believe that Hideo Nakata's film Ringu is nearly 20 years old. Based on Koji Suzuki's novel of the same name, it has had a sequel and prequel in Japan a second sequel, based on Suzuki's follow-up novel, Spiral, that takes the story in a completely different direction. Quality wise, Ringu is a horror classic, while the follow-ups are of mixed quality.

In 2002, the Americans decided to have a crack at it with a remake of The Ring. Personally I didn't like it, mainly as it completely botched the ending. It did get its own sequel, which was directed by Hideo Nakata (yes, really!).

Now, over 10 years later, we get a new film, that is really a reboot than a continuation of the American take on the story.

So, how does this new film fare? In short, not well.

I'm going to start with the good stuff first. The director, F. Javier Gutierrez does his best with the material. He does create a couple of good 'jump' shocks in the film. There is also a sense of building tension in the climax of the film as the truth is uncovered.

The lead actress, Matilda Lutz, gives a good performance as Julia despite the really bad story she has to deal with.

But that story is dreadful. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've seen a similar idea as this one in a non-Rings film, Certainly the final half owes a bit of a debt to to a film that came out last year. But the idea of dreams, images and visions being used to try and solve a mystery is nothing new.

Further, Julia as a character really makes dumb decisions. Her boyfriend goes off to college and when after a lack of contact she goes to find him. Then after being told NOT to watch a video, which results in the death of a character, she decides to watch it anyway. Of course, because it is a reboot, this video is different, and cannot be copied for someone else to watch. She then seems to figure everything out so easily, things people for years have been unable too. While the actress is good, the part and story is awfully written (not a surprise when you see Akiva Goldsman credited as one of the scriptwriters. I'm not a fan). Characters have to do really stupid things for the story to work.

What's worse is that potentially, there is a hint of an idea that could have worked, that of a group studying the Ring curse and how it works. Though it is wasted in what really becomes a reworking of pretty much the standard and cliched 'girl with visions solving a mystery' plotline. It didn't need the Ring connection at all.

It doesn't help too that there does appear to be a bit of reshooting or re-editing as there are moments in the trailer that aren't in the film and possibly suggest the film was heading in a different direction. To be honest, I'm not sure if that other direction would have been better though.

The rest of the cast, includes Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki and a rather wasted performance from Vincent D'Onofrio that really deserves a better film (like Ruiz's one). They all do their best, but the story and script really doesn't help them at all.

But the worst aspect of the story, the absolute worst is that it is yet another horror film that simply isn't. Yes there are a couple of good jump scares. But jump scares don't mean the film is scary. You need atmosphere, a building sense of dread, something more. Any film can make you jump, but a horror film needs much more than that to be truly effective. Ringu had this. Rings has nothing.

The director has talent, the reveal aspect of the mystery and how that is resolved is fairly well done, and Matilda Lutz is good in the lead, but both deserved better material to work with. Rings is not a terrible film, thanks to these two.

But despite their efforts, it is a poor one.

Rating - 2/5