That's the only possible explanation I have for this quote, taken from his review of Gore Verbinski's atmosphere-soaked The Ring:
"While I normally appreciate open-ended motion pictures, The Ring takes things too far by leaving about 75% of its questions unanswered. This isn't an artistic choice; it's screenwriting sloppiness, and it results in a profoundly dissatisfying experience."
I have never before in my life seen a film that has gone out of its way so much to explain itself as The Ring. But I found however, that it was really the film's only true flaw. The rest, as the kids say, "is jazz, baby!"
This is the part of the review where I talk about how a horror film in Japan called "Ringu" was a bonafide success and so some suits in good old Hollywood USA decided to jerk off that success and splooge the resulting film, "The Ring", onto North America. And now I'm done.
Naomi Watts, last seen as the strange blonde lesbian in David Lynch's strange lesbian film Mulholland Drive, discovers this and that about a killer videotape that kills you within a week of watching it. This may or may not be a raging STD metaphor, but I suppose I'll have to ask Hideo Nakata about that. And of course, Naomi's character Rachel is skeptical about the whole thing, because every main character in movies like this are skeptical, because everybody knows movies about killer tapes being discovered by UFO enthusiasts are wicked boring.
And then there's her son, Aidan, played by Not Haley Joel-Osment. Not Haley is a creepy, creepy little kid, and possibly psychic, and possibly has a connection with the even creepier little girl (more about her later) from the killer videotape. And there's also Rachel's hot ex-husband played by the hot Martin Henderson who was in the hot Britney Spears video "Toxic" as Britney's hot but unfaithful (and hot) boyfriend.
So, yeah, it all sounds a little out there. But it's a ghost/STD-metaphor story, so we should be a little more open about logic (and lack thereof) in movies like this, alright? Besides, it's not the coherence of the storyline that's the showstopper here, it's the technical things. The cinematography and camerawork are both AMAZING; the ever present greenish-blueish-watery filter is both effective and somewhat relevant to the story... if you think about it really hard.
Then there's Samara. Oh, Samara. You vixen. The long hair, the white dress, the glazed stare. In addition to giving fodder to goth subcultures everywhere, she managed to scare the crap out of grown, jaded men - the type of men who consider drinking wine in a box to be cultured. Played deftly by Daveigh Chase (who is actually SO VERY ADORABLE OMG in real life), Samara had to be the wickedest villain of 2002. Anyone who's seen the film will remember that last scene she's in for a very, very long time.
So the atmosphere and the creepy villain are there, but what makes The Ring stumble is the fact that by the end, EVERY SINGLE THING HAD TO BE EXPLAINED AND SHOWN TO THE AUDIENCE AND SPELLED OUT BECAUSE LEAVING THINGS TO THE IMAGINATION IS A CRIME AGAINST GOD.
But I can deal. The creepiness, the tension, the atmosphere - those types of things are hard to do right, so kudos to Verbinsky. I do wish that other things would have been tightened - some dialogue is a little hamfisted, the aforementioned EXPLANATIONS OF EVERYTHING, and while the final scene with Samara is indeed creepy, anyone who's seen Ringu first can tell you that the original film's ending with Sadako is tons more frightening. Japanese horror films, I've noticed, aren't really that creepy during the majority of the movie, which is because ALL THE HORRIBLE SCARY AWFUL STUFF is saved for the ending. It's a technique that I love, and while it's somewhat used in the American version, you're given hints about what kind of horror Samara's packing, rather than being shocked out of your gourd about what kind of demoness that Sadako eventually turns out to be.
The ending here is flashier than the Japanese film, which is understandable what with Hollywood and America's penchant for non-subtlety. But it lacks the subversively horrific edge that the Japanese movie had.
I suppose it all depends on which film you see first. But I recommend spinning Ringu in your dvd player before The Ring if you so have the chance, even though I was being all minorly spoilerish. So all in all, Gore Verbinsky has created a suspenseful, dreary ghost/revenge/STD story that packs a punch, albeit not as much of a punch as Ringu. See the film and soak in the atmosphere. I almost gave the film a 3/5, but I decided that in the end, the tone and mood of the film spoke volumes - more so than the acting and the plot, and that deserved an extra point. It's a real treat for all you horror fans tired of the standard hack-n-slash affair.
