Friday, July 7, 2017

Movie review: Rings

 
 Stepping back in time, this prequel takes a look at how the deadly videotape came to be. Julia sacrifices herself to save her boyfriend who has run out of time, but instead finds there is more to the tape than anyone knew.

Matilda Lutz (Julia), Alex Roe (Holt), Johnny Galecki (Gabriel), Vincent D'Onofrio (Burke), Aimee Teegarden (Skye), Bonnie Morgan (Samara), Chuck Willis (Blue), Patrick Walker (Jamal), Zach Roerig (Carter).

Though a prequel, somehow viewing the tapes has become a game, and possibly a business, where cheating death with a "tail", someone to watch your tape, is the thrill. Holt has seen the tape and is running out of time, so Julia sacrifices herself and watches his tape. Instead she finds a video within a video that nobody has ever seen.
While this sounds like a good plot twist, or an injection of something new, instead it comes across as a somewhat pathetic attempt at keeping the franchise alive. The plot feels thin, stretched, and simply an extension to perpetually repeat the same story over again.

Acting was okay, but the characters never really conveyed the fear of knowing death is imminent. Lutz and Roe both delivered fairly well. Galecki and D'Onofrio did nicely and both fit their roles well. The remainder of the cast was decent.

Camera work was ridiculously dark at times once again. Sets and backgrounds were okay but didn't include much of the detail in the original film. Dialogue was lacking depth and reality. Sound and soundtrack were okay.

Sadly, fans of the franchise may be disappointed with this one. It feels like a cheap reboot without the technical work and detail that made the first two films so good.

With some frightening scenes, this should be fine for teens and above.

Released: 2017
Reviewed: 6.24.17
Star rating: 2 out of 5
Genre: Horror, Drama, Supernatural Horror

copyright ©2017 Dave Riedel

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