Mystery – Page 9 – Another Millennial Reviewer

‘The Ring’ is a supernatural horror film serving as a western retelling of the J Horror masterpiece Ringu. The film stars Naomi Watts as Rachel Keller, a journalist who investigates a killer videotape that supposedly kills you in seven days; the more she dives into the mystery surrounding this tape the more she learns of the ungodly activities that made it in the first place.

Before we get started, I just want to say that I didn’t find this film scary. No, it isn’t because I think the horror elements are weak rather that when I was young, I use to watch the hell out of the ‘Scary Movie’ films and, the third film serves as a parody of this film and, I can’t unassociate the two in my head; I can’t think of one without thinking of the other, so it isn’t scary for me.

There will be a group of people who won’t like this film, not because of its quality, but because they see this after yet another remake of a foreign language horror film and, that we don’t need this film when we have the fantastic Japanese original that we can all watch. To that, I would say both are good, the original the better but, this film still has great moments.

The horror elements are strong, I especially love the inescapable capture of the curse itself; even at the end of the film when Rachel thinks she’s beaten it, she hasn’t. Thus the futility of the characters’ struggles makes this film far more interesting to me.
Moreover, the mystery aspects of the film are also surprisingly strong, you come for the creepy ghost girl scares, you stay for the gripping mystery behind the tape that leaves you with more questions than answers.

The actors all do a serviceable job but, their characters are left weak and, underdeveloped; they fall prey to what is extensively the crux of the horror genre, the decision to either focus on the characters who are being scared or, the scares themselves. A lot of horror films this one included decide to focus more on the monster, to establish them, this can lead to some incredibly memorable villains: but the heroes are usually left flat. ‘Sinister’ a film that is quite similar to this is a great example of what I’m talking about: the film spends a lot of time telling you about Bughull and, his mythology but, then tells us very little about Ethan Hawke’s protagonist aside from a few details about his family and, that he is a true-crime writer.

Overall this is a very good western adaption of a Japanese classic, the scares and, mythology are fantastic and, add many extra layers of detail to the film. The one fault is that the protagonists who you’re supposed to root for are as blank as a piece of paper.

Pros.
Good Scares
Good Mythology
Well Adapted

Cons.
Focusing on the scares and the monster to the detriment of the hero.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Knives Out is a murder mystery film, which positions itself as a fresh take on the WhoDunit genre. The plot follows a family gathering that goes off the rails when the Grandfather is found dead; was it foul play? That is what we need to find out.

Rian Johnson, of The Last Jedi and Lopper fame, writes and directs this film and, he does both well. Johnson’s signature subversion of expectation is in full effect here, however unlike in the Last Jedi where it feels out of place and almost deliberately antagonistic, in Knives Out Johnson uses this technique to enrich and enhance the mystery to great effect.

Nothing is straight forward in this film, which makes it a good mystery film, the trailers paint a very different film to the one you get. Furthermore, throughout the film, you will think the story is going one way only to have it veer off drastically in another direction. Most of the times this works really well, keeping you guessing, bringing more and more tension; however, some of these twists seem a little far fetched and seem like just an effort pad out the plot, which doesn’t help pacing.

The wider cast is not as involved as the trailer suggests them to be, with Knives Out instead really focusing on Ana de Armas’ Martha, Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc and to an extent Chris Evan’s as the Grandson Ransom. The rest of the cast each get their moment to shine, but other than that all have very little screen time. Knives Out is extensively a film about Martha, a character who is forced to go through a lot and do a lot, the film explores whether a change in financial standing can change a person, or if they will still be the same good person.

The master detective Blanc is Craig’s finest performance to date, he fully loses himself in the role, elevating it to an unforeseeable level. Craig goes fully manic towards the end of the film and, it is one of the best scenes I’ve seen all year; when you see it you will know which scene I mean.

Evans’ doesn’t have the biggest part, and the only reason I bring him up is that this is his first performance outside of the MCU in recent years and, it does very little for me; this does not make me think that Evans’ has any real acting talent, as his role could be played by anyone.

My only strong negative of the film is that there is a scene where all the characters gather together and discuss politics, this scene serves to show where on the political spectrum each character falls. To me there was no need for this scene as it felt preachy, it took me out of the film and felt like I was having headlines read to me; plus as someone who is not from the USA, I have very little interest or, care in American Political matters and, this scene left a sour taste in my mouth.

Overall 90% of this film is good if it wasn’t for some poorly written weak characters and, some needlessly forced politics, then I would give it full marks, but alas I can’t change what it is.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke