A very gritty, violent, disgusting, brutal........ masterpiece?

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2005)

Plot: The Jigsaw killer returns, this time even more bad ass and sick than before. He decides to set up a few people inside a house, each room with a specific trap for a specific person. The people inside must find a way out, or the poisonous gas being put inside the room will kill them. Along the way, they must also find the antidotes to the poison in their lungs. Meanwhile, Detective Matthews must deal with the finally "caught" Jigsaw killer, is he wants his son to stay alive. Problem is, his son is in the house with all the traps, and Detective Matthews is losing his cool.
Review: Pretty damn good. The plot itself is decent, but if done the right way can be really really good. And, it is. The plot develops nicely, giving twists and turns along the way, and watching both sides of the situation became fascinating, quickly. I found myself listening intently almost the whole time, and the other times, I found myself squirming uncomfortably as the gorgeous gore brought itself out on screen. Which, of course, I loved.
The Characters, sadly, are under-developed, and really don't go anywhere, aside from being shot, stabbed, gassed, burned, cut, and smashed. They're also very cliché' characters we've all seen before, and, sadly, they seem rather flat. The character Xavien is way too quick to go crazy-psycho-killer, and it almost made me roll my eyes. The writer's seemed too quick to get on with the horror/gore, and decided not to let us know nor care about the characters, but rather watch them die in grisly ways. This, of course, is entirely different than in the original Saw, where we got to know the characters incredibly well. If it gave us a bit more time to get to know the characters, it would be better. Besides, we got some good ol' horror right from the beginning, that let me tell you, made me smirk evilly, at the same time squirm uncomfortably. I loved it.
Anywho, the editing directing and all that good stuff was done rather nicely. The director did a great job at giving a grimy sadistic feel to the film ,and I just love that. The editing was well done during the horrific situation sequences, but some times seemed a bit slow, or a bit too fast at other times. The cinematography was very stylized, like the original Saw, which I just love. It, also, gives a very different feel to the movie than you get with most others.
As for what we see in the movie, be prepared to close your eyes, clench your fists, and not feel in the mood to make-out (which, for me especially, is very hard to do :P ) and to squirm uncomfortably through-out 3/4 of the movie. Also, look forward to, not only one, but TWO twists through-out the movie. It's a pretty good shocker!
Overall I guess, to be fair, I must give it a 8/10 (the original got a big fat 9.5) because of the few issues it had, such as the sometimes poor editing, the rushed feeling of the beginning, and the cliché' unexplored characters. It also, as per usual, does not live up to the original, but is still pretty damn sweet.
Things to Beware: 1. Not everyone can act :\ 2. Cliché' characters 3. Some poor editing 4. Squirmy uncomfortable feeling No making out :P
Things to Look Forward to: 1. Squirmy uncomfortable feeling (if you like that) 2. Gruesome deaths 3. Nice twist at the end 4. A really really really really awesome, best scene of the movie opening sequence 5. Pretty damn good directing
OVERALL: 8.6/10