An excuse for unimaginative violence?

Rating: 4/10 (10 November 2005)

Whereas the first Saw movie left a lot of people impressed by the ingenuity of the deaths carried out on the victims, the sequel will leave many people questioning why they even bothered rolling the cameras. There is little effort made to create even vaguely credible characters, the scenarios are poorly conceived and the camera work often ill-judged. Whoever persuaded the director it was a good idea to speed up the film as vehicles drive around corners needs their head examined - it looks like a scene from the Keystone Cops! There are no deaths with the imagination of the first movie and often there is violence merely for the sake of it to push the film to its end. Despite the dire circumstances the characters find themselves in and the options offered to them I find it hard to believe that they would react by beating each other to death and hacking body parts off left, right and centre. This said, the final ten minutes are worth watching and you'll find it difficult not to watch it with a sly grin on your face. You should have seen it coming and yes, there will be blood.