You ought to know that in Japan, this movie was released simultaneously to Ring. The idea was that you saw the original, and then saw the sequel, a great idea for money. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great idea for two separate crews to work on these movies, because this one is complete trash, when compared to Nakata's "Ring".
Though you might like it. A few people do. The characters are boring, the dialog is uninspired, and it's too complicated. However, people see through that and find the goodness this movie offers.
You should watch Rasen with no anticipation for it to live up to "Ring" because both movies head in different directions. Nakata uses the setting to darken the mood, while Iida concentrates on using familiarity and stagnant settings to give feeling. Lastly, this movie approaches science to explain the curse. This is why people banish this film from its existence - it abandons Nakata's horror and feels like it was slapped together.
But enough about comparison. Lets concentrate on the acting in this film. Sato Koichi (who takes on the role of Ando Mitsuo) acts well, overall. But his acting seems to get better, and then worse, and that is just no fun for anybody. Such as the sub-plot of his suicidal issues. Sometimes, you'll just feel edgy for how cheesy the situation, others, you'll feel compassionate about his issues. His character also feels undeveloped, but this is because this movie takes on different roles than the proper storyline in the novel. The main character, in essence, feels broken.
Tsurumi Shingo plays Miyashita, who is just great. He really does feel like his counterpart, and it just makes me want to cry. Seeing him and Koichi on screen is just excellent. Those scenes are the ones to look forward to. Later on in the movie, he gets to show off his acting skills as his character becomes a major counterpart in the story.
Saeki Hinako plays Sadako Yamamura, who delivers one of the best performances any Sadako/Samara has. Yes, there is things to like in this movie.
Nakatami Miki plays Takano Mai, who is a mixed bag. When she is by herself, she is all over. You'll be impressed. When she's on screen with somebody else, she just looks like her mind is focused on other things, like as if she's staring at some crew equipment. But she does improve, at the end of the movie. (I did mention spoilers, and that will be the last three paragraphs. Don't worry, I'll warn you) This movie does have something to tell, but fails to execute it. I've questioned if the crew responsible for the movie even read the book properly, because it is so unfaithful to the source material (explained in spoilers) that it makes me sick. But after all, this is a movie adaptation, and it does not fail at that.
So, what is this even about? Ando Mitsuo is a pathologist who has to perform an autopsy on Ryuji Takayama early in the movie (his fate is explained in proper fashion in "Ring", unless you haven't already guessed). They were classmates in medical school, and Mitsuo feels burdened with the task of cutting his body open. While investigating, he finds an unusual tumor in his neck as well as a slip of paper laying in his stomach, revealing a code. Mitsuo, with his partner Miyashita, explore and find out about four teenagers who died under suspicious circumstances. They also bear the same unknown virus as Takayama. Then Yoshino steps into the picture, claiming information about Sadako Yamamura and a copy of the cursed video with a ridiculous premise. Mitsuo watches the tape, and then is forced with a decision dealing with humanity's extinction with Sadako pulling the ropes in the background.
**/*****
SPOILERS! Below is spoilers to the movie. These last paragraphs reveal even more concerns with this movie, but are unnecessary to read. If you have not seen this movie, everything read until now should be satisfactory enough
You should know the real story behind the cursed video. In short, 30% of it is Sadako's DNA, since she was the one who made the video. The other 70% is smallpox. The smallpox comes from the man who raped Sadako prior to her death. Therefore, the viewer can successfully become pregnant to Sadako if she is a woman and is ovulating while watching the tape.
In fact, in the novel, it is clearly learned that Mai Takano was the first person to impregnate Sadako. One thing that irritates me is that when we see Sadako re-born on screen, she looks EXACTLY LIKE MAI TAKANO. What were they thinking? I was so confused when I watched it! I've never liked this decision, because it is so unthoughtful of the crew to have left something like this in the movie. It just doesn't make sense. Since the host, Mai, acts like the incubator for Sadako, and since Sadako's DNA is not modified in any way with Mai's... it is just too confusing. And this isn't the only movie guilty of this "crime"... the Rasen TV series has also built upon this idea.
If you have read Rasen, you will probably enjoy it because it's an intelligent medical thriller, explaining the supernatural ways of Sadako with science. However, this movie makes the explanation feel like excuses. This is because Iida has destroyed the explanations and modified them... and god knows why. It would've just made more sense if he hadn't tampered with the formula.
Though you might like it. A few people do. The characters are boring, the dialog is uninspired, and it's too complicated. However, people see through that and find the goodness this movie offers.
You should watch Rasen with no anticipation for it to live up to "Ring" because both movies head in different directions. Nakata uses the setting to darken the mood, while Iida concentrates on using familiarity and stagnant settings to give feeling. Lastly, this movie approaches science to explain the curse. This is why people banish this film from its existence - it abandons Nakata's horror and feels like it was slapped together.
But enough about comparison. Lets concentrate on the acting in this film. Sato Koichi (who takes on the role of Ando Mitsuo) acts well, overall. But his acting seems to get better, and then worse, and that is just no fun for anybody. Such as the sub-plot of his suicidal issues. Sometimes, you'll just feel edgy for how cheesy the situation, others, you'll feel compassionate about his issues. His character also feels undeveloped, but this is because this movie takes on different roles than the proper storyline in the novel. The main character, in essence, feels broken.
Tsurumi Shingo plays Miyashita, who is just great. He really does feel like his counterpart, and it just makes me want to cry. Seeing him and Koichi on screen is just excellent. Those scenes are the ones to look forward to. Later on in the movie, he gets to show off his acting skills as his character becomes a major counterpart in the story.
Saeki Hinako plays Sadako Yamamura, who delivers one of the best performances any Sadako/Samara has. Yes, there is things to like in this movie.
Nakatami Miki plays Takano Mai, who is a mixed bag. When she is by herself, she is all over. You'll be impressed. When she's on screen with somebody else, she just looks like her mind is focused on other things, like as if she's staring at some crew equipment. But she does improve, at the end of the movie. (I did mention spoilers, and that will be the last three paragraphs. Don't worry, I'll warn you) This movie does have something to tell, but fails to execute it. I've questioned if the crew responsible for the movie even read the book properly, because it is so unfaithful to the source material (explained in spoilers) that it makes me sick. But after all, this is a movie adaptation, and it does not fail at that.
So, what is this even about? Ando Mitsuo is a pathologist who has to perform an autopsy on Ryuji Takayama early in the movie (his fate is explained in proper fashion in "Ring", unless you haven't already guessed). They were classmates in medical school, and Mitsuo feels burdened with the task of cutting his body open. While investigating, he finds an unusual tumor in his neck as well as a slip of paper laying in his stomach, revealing a code. Mitsuo, with his partner Miyashita, explore and find out about four teenagers who died under suspicious circumstances. They also bear the same unknown virus as Takayama. Then Yoshino steps into the picture, claiming information about Sadako Yamamura and a copy of the cursed video with a ridiculous premise. Mitsuo watches the tape, and then is forced with a decision dealing with humanity's extinction with Sadako pulling the ropes in the background.
**/*****
SPOILERS! Below is spoilers to the movie. These last paragraphs reveal even more concerns with this movie, but are unnecessary to read. If you have not seen this movie, everything read until now should be satisfactory enough
You should know the real story behind the cursed video. In short, 30% of it is Sadako's DNA, since she was the one who made the video. The other 70% is smallpox. The smallpox comes from the man who raped Sadako prior to her death. Therefore, the viewer can successfully become pregnant to Sadako if she is a woman and is ovulating while watching the tape.
In fact, in the novel, it is clearly learned that Mai Takano was the first person to impregnate Sadako. One thing that irritates me is that when we see Sadako re-born on screen, she looks EXACTLY LIKE MAI TAKANO. What were they thinking? I was so confused when I watched it! I've never liked this decision, because it is so unthoughtful of the crew to have left something like this in the movie. It just doesn't make sense. Since the host, Mai, acts like the incubator for Sadako, and since Sadako's DNA is not modified in any way with Mai's... it is just too confusing. And this isn't the only movie guilty of this "crime"... the Rasen TV series has also built upon this idea.
If you have read Rasen, you will probably enjoy it because it's an intelligent medical thriller, explaining the supernatural ways of Sadako with science. However, this movie makes the explanation feel like excuses. This is because Iida has destroyed the explanations and modified them... and god knows why. It would've just made more sense if he hadn't tampered with the formula.