Which I wasn't too impressed about.
Well, here's the thing. I saw The RIng (US) first and liked it. But then I heard all about how the Japanese version was so much better. So I bought the whole set with all movies in it. And I did like it. But personally I thought Verbinsky did a very good job and made it looks very beautiful. I though that added a lot to his movie. And personally I preferred the US version of the girl climbing out of the TV by far. It was way more impressive than the scene in the small Japanese living room.
Ring 2 sucked balls though.
Yet somehow less abstract or impactful.
Its a similar criticism you applied to the Bjork stuff:
Too much trying to be arty when on those motiffs.
"Oooooh lets juxapose the cliched empty chair against the maggots and horses....that'll creep out the 12 year old art school viewers..."
"Oh wait! Now we have to write a pointless side plot about horses and insomnia"
Consequently, the inferior and less sense making story variants he went with just seemed like convoluted tripe rather than the genuinely disturbing, abstract and in the end, sense making original.
It may have looked prettier, (and I liked the elongated mouth death effect rendering) but if anything remains consistant these dark days, its that prettiness is a big win of content for most.
Verbinski totally Bayed that movie. It's sequel was just an extension of the shit spewed forth by the 1st movieski.
He has therefore joined Speilbayski corp.