Roger Ebert once said that if you don’t notice a film’s flaws while you are watching it, the film has won. You can’t lower your grade later after researching the flaws. As such, I’m on the fence about “Rings” (2017), the capper of the trilogy that started with 2002’s “The Ring.”
Asked to describe the rules and logistics of the inexplicably changing videos that cause ghost girl Samara (contortionist Bonnie Morgan) to become corporeal and kill the viewer, I’d struggle. But director F. Javier Gutierrez and his three writers create such a sense of mystery and thematic depth that I was on board – even if it’s smoke and mirrors.
Taking the reins
“Rings” is helped – in terms of enjoyment level, not in terms of box office – by coming out 12 years after “The Ring Two.” It’s not jarring that Naomi Watts is no longer the lead. We’ve moved on to college-aged Julia (Matilda Lutz) and her boyfriend Holt (Alex Roe), along with professor Gabriel (“The Big Bang Theory’s” Johnny Galecki).
“Rings” (2017)
Director: F. Javier Gutiérrez
Writers: David Loucka, Jacob Estes (screenplay, story); Akiva Goldsman (story)
Stars: Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki
I like how Julia and Holt genuinely like each other and work as a team while investigating this curse. First, he watches the video (which means he’ll be killed by Samara in seven days unless he gets someone else to watch it). Then she watches it in order to spare him and buy them some time.
Gabriel had gotten Holt to watch the video, but he immediately tells him afterward and intends to find someone else (a “tail”) to watch it, thus sparing Holt. Gabriel is bad, but not totally bad. If every viewer of the video finds a tail in seven days, no one will ever be killed by Samara. It’s exhausting, but it is a solution.
Meanwhile, Gabriel and (inexplicably) willing students are studying the soul and the afterlife; the Samara tape is the centerpiece of their experiments. There isn’t just one string of viewers and tails, there are multiple strings (because the video has been copied). Gabriel’s girlfriend Skye (Aimee Teegarden – nice to see her again after “Friday Night Lights”) is also among the people he used, but is now planning to save.
Lutz and Roe are the B-list answers to Ellen Page and Robert Pattinson. Later, an actor who looks like exactly like Vincent D’Onofrio comes aboard – but in this case it is Vincent D’Onofrio!
Still looking good
“Rings” is better than you’d think it would be for a third film trying to wring more bucks out of a once-popular franchise. The cast is dialed in, and the Seattle-area settings look as good as the first film’s (and better than the second), with blue and black hues and regular rain.
I think “Rings” is worth a watch – obviously worse than the original but also obviously better than the first sequel. Does the plot with Samara and the videos make sense, though? To explore that question, I’ll institute a SPOILER WARNING.
Through most of the action, Julia and Holt are looking into the backstory of Evelyn (Kayli Carter), the mother of Samara. It seems Evelyn’s ghost has altered Julie’s copy of the video. We learn that Evelyn was held by mentally unstable priest Galen Burke (D’Onofrio) in secret rooms underneath the church in the small town of Sacrament Valley.
Burke rapes Evelyn for the sake of fulfilling what he believes is a prophecy that he’ll father a powerful child. The movie is unclear and inconsistent about how Evelyn feels about her unborn daughter. Burke says he chained Evelyn’s hands so Evelyn couldn’t kill the unborn baby. But also, we see the wall where Evelyn scratched out potential baby names. (But we know from the previous films that Evelyn killed Samara.)
At one point during a fracas, Julia accusingly yells at Burke: “She (Samara) was your daughter!” But this has already been established. It’s almost like Julia is throwing out the accusation that Evelyn was also his daughter, but no evidence supports that. In the end, despite Evelyn seemingly having some beyond-the-grave pull, it was still Samara all along. Evelyn’s thread is set aside.
Multiple threads stitched together
“Rings” includes an intriguing cold-open and closing stinger, but comes up short of a full exploration. The concept of a guy being on a plane when his seven days runs out is clever, but it might’ve been neater if Samara somehow killed only him instead of the whole planeload of people.
The closing scene showing a connection between Samara and Julia makes for a good lead-in to a fourth movie (of which there are no plans, natch).
I think many viewers will have a problem with “Rings” being multiple concepts stitched together. Gabriel’s science experiment is a bizarre yet fascinating angle into this mythology, yet it’s abandoned (for now). Then we get a traditional “Ring” investigation into the buried past, and that twist ending.
This is arguably too much for a coherent narrative. But the game cast and overall look and vibe kept me on board, and I wouldn’t have minded exploring the mythos more in “The Ring Four.”