Rebooting popular horror franchises can prove to be both a risky and daunting task as the newer films must not only successfully revive their respective series that faded out previously, but add a new spin to their storylines. With Rings, the film aims to revive a hit horror franchise that burnt out with 2005's less than stellar sequel to The Ring titled Ring ll. A remake of the 1998 Japanese horror classic Ringu, 2002's The Ring with Naomi Watt's as the main star, managed to be a hugely satisfying remake both critically and financially with it becoming one of the highest grossing horror movie remakes, as well as beginning the trend of other Japanese horror stories being remade for American audiences such as The Grudge, The Eye, and Dark Water. Fast-forward Fifteen years after the release of the first Ring and its direct sequel, the 2017 Rings reboot aims to reintroduce the concept of a cursed video tape that has the power to kill off anyone who watches it within seven days unless they make a copy of it and show it to someone else, to a newer generation of horror film audiences with an all new cast and loose connections to the original films. The end result is a poorly executed and uninspired reboot that lacks all of the suspense, creepy atmosphere, and energy that made the Japanese classic along with its stellar American remake so memorable to audiences. Rings much like the 2020 reboot of The Grudge, are prime examples of horror franchises that should've stayed dead and buried as their respective legacies become further tarnished by another poor attempt to revive a horror series thats well past its prime.
In this third sequel in the popular Ring franchise, the plot for Rings continues the terror of the cursed video that causes the deaths of numerous watchers seven days after viewing it with the content now terrorizing a college campus when it becomes incorporated into a lab experiment. With Rings, the third sequel/reboot aims to give the series a fresh restart while remaining loosely connected to the first two films. Absent from the film are the main characters that audiences became connected with in the first two films such as Naomi Watts character Rachel, a journalist who investigated the cursed videotape along with her son Aidan played by David Dorfman. In their place are both less interesting and forgettable characters such as a young woman named Julia, who becomes increasingly worried about her boyfriend Holt when he becomes exposed to the contents of the video. In an effort to save her boyfriend, she sacrifices herself by watching the clip and discovering that there's a film within the film that no one else has seen before. Such a plot sounds promising on paper and could've worked far more effectively had the writers brought Rings closer to the previous two films by bringing back Watts and Dorfman's characters to help aid the newer characters in defeating the tapes tragic figure/antagonist Samara one again. Rings is a reboot that could've worked had more thought and effort been put into both the script and overall film itself. The film lacks the atmospheric build up of the 2002 film, as well as the amount of investment the audience had in becoming connected with those main characters. The reboot ultimately feels like a cheap horror film slapped together for the sake of making a few extra bucks off the Rings name with it ultimately lacking the heart and soul of both the Japanese and American classics.
The acting from the main cast of Rings also proves to be nothing groundbreaking to write home about despite everyone doing their best work in making the most of their overall experience. One definitely misses the presence of Watts and Dorfman in the story with the new casting additions providing serviceable, though ultimately forgettable performances as the originals replacements in the main leading roles. In the role of Julia, Matilda Lutz does a likable and convincing job of playing the loyal girlfriend who slowly discovers the truth behind the curse her boyfriend's been exposed to with Alex Roe delivering a passable performance as Holt Anthony. Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki turns in an effective performance as College professor Gabriel Brown, who ends up purchasing a VCR containing the cursed tape while also overseeing a group of people known as the Sevens, who are involved in an experiment involving the cursed video. Vincent D' Onofrio delivers an effective performance as Galen Burke, a blind man revealed to be the biological father of Samara. Onofrio succeeds in being creepy in his role despite his character mirroring Brian Cox's role in The Ring. The rest of the supporting cast does fairly decent with Aimee Teegarden as Skye Johnson, a member of the Seven group that unsuccessfully tries to get Julia to watch the tape, and Bonnie Morgan in a chilling role as Samara. Whereas the rest of the film largely disappoints in regards to being an efficient reboot of The Ring storyline, the cast for Rings makes the most of their characters and story with them being one of the films few elements that works despite there being no main actor or actresses who stands out the way Naomi Watts did in the original as a film like this depends on whose placed front and center in the main role. Whereas the story stalls in the suspense department, the actors work overtime in trying to compensate for the scripts shortcomings. Given the attempt that the actors put into making their roles believable, one wishes they received a script with more substance.
The films directing by F. Javier Guiterrez serves as being largely underwhelming in comparison to the work that Gore Verbinski delivered with the 2002 remake. One of the key aspects of Verbinski's directing that worked so well for the original was that he was able to generate an atmosphere which felt bleak in regards to the mystery surrounding the tape. The audience was left in suspense wondering what would happen if one watched the tape a full seven days later with that feeling of tension and dread being largely absent here. Guiterrez also makes an attempt to modernize the story with the use of more digital devices such as cell phones and laptops, making for an interesting yet underdeveloped way of spreading the terrifying video of Samara to a wider audience rather than just copying and sharing a tape. The cinematography for Rings is standard with nothing standing out in comparison to the work done with Verbinski's film with its usage of a blue filter that generated both a cold and creepy atmosphere. Along with the films camera work being uninspired, the editing and score both feel uneven with Rings feeling rushed as a story rather than having the slow-moving buildup that the 2002 film carried with its shocking climax having such a huge payoff for the audience. The score for Rings also pales in comparison to Hans Zimmer's work on the original with the music here being rather bland and forgettable. The biggest disappointment in regards to the directing duties of Rings is the clear lack of imagination and enthusiasm that's shown here. The film lacks the striking visual presence that the 2002 film carried with Guiterrez relying on poorly timed jump scares to compensate for the lack of real suspense that's largely absent. With the original, Verbinski gave the film a presence that felt disturbing from start to finish. Even with the story moving as slow as it did, he kept the audience attention with the key moments of terror that popped up on the screen. The visual elements regarding the video shown in Rings doesn't freak out nor terrify the audience as the images of the well that Samara climbs out, or the gore aspect of people getting killed off from watching the cursed clip. If Rings ever was going to be successful at rebooting the franchise, it needed a confident filmmaker with an uneasy vision behind it to helm the story. Sadly, F. Javier Guiterrez failed to be that director as one can't think of a single terrifying image in the new film that comes close to the phenomenal moment from the original when Samara climbs out of the television.
The screenplay by David Loucka, Jacob Aaron Estes and Akiva Goldanan can best be summed up as being a both a messy and poor effort. The script lacks compelling enough characters to make the audience care when they watch Samara's video, as well as feel the devastation of doing so such as how the audience felt when it was revealed that Aiden watched the tape in the first film. The screenplay for Rings contains absurd moments such as the opening sequence on the airplane, which gives the impression that Samara isn't phased about killing off an airplane full of people, even those who haven't watched the clip. The story also doesn't appear to be well thought-out when watching it such as why settle for a group of College kids sharing the cursed video with their friends, when they could upload it on You Tube making others see it, resulting in a wider viewership of the tape. What made the script for The Ring work so well was the main characters being given a clear time clock on defeating the curse of Samara's video. While the story was relatively slow-paced by today's horror film standards, it masterfully worked in regards to establishing the main characters in showing the audience what was at stake as well as providing clues on what was coming. The script for Rings lacks that sense of impending doom as well as the building connection with the characters to make the audience care. One simply doesn't care about Julia and Holt's characters no matter how hard the actors try to make the audience like them because they're not written in a way for us to become invested in their subplot. The films two side characters that are interesting such as Johnny Galecki's and Vincent D' Onofrio's, are not developed well enough to make them truly compelling figures within the story to evoke the response form the audience their characters demand. The character of Samara also feels tired and not very scary this round given that no new upgrades have been given in regards to the rules of the curse, or what she can do besides crawl out of a well and television set. While those moments were genuinely thrilling and tensely frightening the first time audiences saw them, they don't carry the same effect here as the element of surprise is gone. Instead of providing newer elements to the story as well as stronger characters that manage to be engaging, the script for Rings feels slapped together with random ideas that make little sense including the adding of an extended origin story regarding Samara's past, that's completely unnecessary and just serves to confuse the audience even further. It's hard to tell at times whether this film is meant to be a sequel to the previous two films or a complete reboot as the script tries to have it both ways.
The biggest letdown with the new Rings is the lack of fresh ideas along with a desire to connect all three films together as a proper trilogy. The script is completely devoid of any real tension and characters that stick with audiences long after the story ends. There's no real surprise or unexpected twists here regarding the curse because audiences already know the mechanisms behind the tape and what to expect because the filmmakers don't bother to provide anything new. None of the characters are worth giving a damn about and the level of enthusiasm and excitement for the project is relatively low and it shows. One wonders why the filmmakers would even bother with another Ring film if they can't bring it back to the standard of the first film, or take the series in a newer direction that remains more connected to the previous films. For fans of Ringu and The Ring who waited years in anticipation for a solid reboot that would bring the series back to its prime, this film serves as being a huge disappointment as well as a waste of 102 minutes that they could've spend rewatching those films as it would've been a more satisfying experience than what's presented here. If Rings accomplished anything, it gives audiences a newfound appreciation as well as a certain level of tolerance for The Ring 2 which is an extremely low bar when looking at its steep drop in quality in comparison to its predecessor. The only redeeming aspect of Rings is that its short and can easily be forgotten about so the experience of watching it doesn't tarnish the image of the series past glory days. What Rings as well as Grudge 2020 prove, is that some horror film franchises (Or Curses) are best left unearthed once they died out if they're not gonna have the full effort thrown behind them in regards to properly reviving them for a newer generation of audiences. Those curious about the character of Samara as well as the curse she brings upon those who watch her tape are best to revert to the past stories for inspiration. In all honesty, it's a much more satisfying and less painful experience than this. A thrilling return to the franchises roots, Rings is not.
Final Verdict: For horror fans and fans of The Ring franchise, Rings is an absolute must skip as it lacks the suspense, the thrill, and creativity of its Japanese creation along with its stellar American remake which looks continuously better with each failed sequel or attempt at a reboot.
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