It's a Doooooooom House.

Rating: Null/10 (22 February 2006)

This movie was truly a disappointment. I had expectations. Only because the premise seemed to be a step up from the first one. Alas, this film didn't deliver anything I was looking for.
The concept of Saw and its sequel is a really good concept, but neither film managed to fully realize its potential. The first one had a great creepy design and look, but suffered from hideous overacting and a hard to swallow 'surprise' ending. The sequel didn't improve upon these flaws, but instead found completely new ways to screw up. It didn't have overacting, it went with NO acting. Some people say that the Jigsaw character was an impressive performance the likes of Hannibal Lector, etc. What are they talking about? Talking in a gravely voice and looking hung over doesn't make you a great actor. This guy should have stayed in the shadows and remained a mostly unknown figure of terror and torture. Perhaps that would have added at least a speck of suspense to the film.
My biggest issue with the film is that the eight people trapped in the house are some of the stupidest individuals I've seen on film. The idea of a house filled with deranged booby traps and mechanized torture devices that the 'players' have to work though in order to survive is a cool and fascinating idea. The concept of the Saw movies was to put humans in these puzzling situations where they have to work with the elements around them, and of course each other, to live. I like that. That would make a great movie. And it's also okay if the tension and terror of the games crack a few of the weaker 'players' and gets them killed. It's not a horror film if most characters live through it. But holy cow ... I wasn't ready for how crappy the Jigsaw's games would be, and how dumb the players would play.
The eight people are slowly dying from a nerve gas they're breathing, and Jigsaw has set up a few elaborate puzzles for them to work out (together) in order to acquire antidotes. But the whole film turns into people yelling their stupid heads off and falling for the dumbest traps on earth. And it's not scary in the least. It can't be when it's that predictable. There's an antidote in an incinerator oven in the basement. What will happen if they go get the antidote? Gosh, I wonder. I'm supposed to feel surprised or terrified when the guy who crawls into the psycho's incinerator gets incinerated? The most hilarious thing was when the woman walks into a room and finds the glass box hanging from the ceiling with two holes underneath to reach through and grab the antidote. Simple as pie. You'd think that being someone in her situation, she'd hesitate or even avoid going after something so obviously a trap. But no, Sally No-brains is gonna stick her hand in the box and realize it wont be coming back with an antidote. The best part is that once she got one hand stuck, she put her other hand in the other hole. What on earth!!? I half expected her to find a third hole and jam her head in there.
With people this stupid it's a shame the Jigsaw killer bothered to put any effort into his traps. He could have simply put a sign that read 'Free Escapes' under a huge hammer and watch them get crushed one by one.
All the people in the house had a mysterious connection that, once discovered, would make the games all the more difficult. However, by the time they realized what it was, they were all either dead or insane, making this revelation utterly pointless. As for the ending, I admit it was surprising, but it's so far-fetched it's cancels out it's coolness. The Jigsaw killer is able rely on human weakness and emotion to kill the people in his 'games', but no amount of human unpredictability or the thousands of variables in his game seem to send his plan askew. Everything falls perfectly into place and everyone working against him is killed, tricked, or doomed. Not only is the ending ridiculously absurd and lame, but it also ensures that this franchise will not go away and another sloppy sequel will be right around the corner.
The movie ultimately flushed all it's opportunities for intrigue or terror right down the can. Even the opening scene with the guy in the head-crushing device avoided being suspenseful through hyper-editing with annoying music and sound (which continued throughout the film, I'm sorry to say). Anyone going to this film should be disappointed. If you're looking for the gritty unsettling scenario of the first film, it's not here. If you're looking for gore and shocking deaths, it's also not here. Instead what could have been a huge psychological game of survival was nothing more than a bunch of knobs running around, yelling, and dying much deserved deaths.