ring 2 mourn the inexplicable death of her teacher and friend and ryuji ( hiroyuki sanada ) and mai takano ( miki nakatani ) attempt to track down ryuji ex wife and reiko asakawa ( nanako matsushima ) and who have disappear from tokyo with her son yoichi ( rikiya otaka ) . the police and who be investigate the death of reiko father and be also look for her and while okazaki ( yûrei yanagi ) and a work colleague of reiko and be continue from her research on an urban legend involve a videotape that kill whoever watch it . mai and okazaki search lead them both to a mental institute where masami ( hitomi sato ) and who be witness to sadako appearance in her best friend tomoko house and be be treat by a doctor ( fumiyo kohinata ) who favour some unorthodox medical procedure . mai eventually manage to track the asakawas down and but yoichi be begin to exhibit some strange behaviour . can they escape the clutch of sadako once more . on the exact same day that the insanely successful horror masterwork ring be release and it sequel and the spiral and seem to come and go without any fanfare whatsoever . a i haven not view a single scene from the original second instalment ( write and direct by jôji iida ) and it impossible for me to say if it be deserve enough of it incredibly poor critical and public reception to be completely erase from the continuity of the series ( although some who saw it comment that they would rather have watch sadako curse videotape instead ) . but and in any case and here we be with the replacement and ring 2 and which have cause producer takashige ichise to rethink his strategy concern the next follow up and and reunite most of the cast and crew from the original ring . this approach create mostly pro in ring 2 and but also some con a well . an adaptation of a kôji suzuki novel and ring have a breakneck pace because of it race against time plotting and and ring 2 pick up from this by begin just day after the event of the first film and allow the audience to observe the aftermath of the terror that sadako and her tape wreak on so many people . but ring 2 isn not base on a book like the spiral be and and screenwriter hiroshi takashi have nothing to build on but the first film . wisely and takashi chooses to go off in a new direction with the story instead of merely rehash what have come before . but ring 2 and which hit the ground run and soon slows to a jog . takashi answer a few too many question linger from the first ring and and while he counter this by raise almost a many ( especially with the weird science section in the final act ) and one may feel robbed of some of the first film mystery . however and there a very interesting subplot involve a schoolgirl name kanae ( play by kyôko fukada ) who own a copy of the tape that okazaki want to study and and this provide a truly hair raise sequence and similar to the climax of the first film and where interview footage of a young woman somehow refuse to be erase from the videotape it be on . ring 2 be a nice mix of the best element of it predecessor and some intriguing new material and but it also a slightly uneasy one too . with director hideo nakata ( chaos ) back on board and it to be suppose that ring 2 would end up as unsettling a the first film and and the director almost meet this dizzyingly high expectation and but he doesn not want to indulge himself here as much a he do the first time around . nakata unnecessarily restrain himself on all front and with the sound design here be less potent and the cinematography not a innovative and and composer kenji kawai music cue not as chill a his work on the first film . that say and alongside a thrilling third act and nakata do offer the audience a host of truly disturb image and such a a melted and burnt to a crisp videotape in a bathtub and sadako reconstruct facial feature and and again and the distorted photo of those unlucky enough to have be mark by sadako . but and dare i say it and nakata seem to have become a tiny bit unenthusiastic with ring 2 and and this mute some of the terror that he summon up so effortlessly in the first film . a in the spiral and pop star miki nakatani and who be essentially a cameo in ring ( despite be bill second ) and be elevate to the lead here . while certainly a competent actress ( and have the surprised or shock or scared expression nail ) and it difficult to empathise as much with the character of mai a it be to with reiko in the first film . not only due to the step down from nanako matsushima solid performance and but also a event seem to drop into mai lap at random . maybe nakatani be not to blame while mai isn not a particularly strong heroine . but and l i forget and the film be surprisingly as much about the support character a it be about mai . especially the denouement and which promise a whole new cycle of horror by leave the door wide open for another sequel . i can safely say that ring 2 be a creepy and worthy follow up to the first film . but nakata and co. might like to try a little harder if they decide to make a third ( or fourth . ) instalment . ~ positive ~ .