Not aSAWesome as part 1.

Rating: 7/10 (25 August 2011)

Predictable movie and Mark Wahlberg's brother can't act his way out of a paper bag. The Original Saw was ... well it was highly ORIGINAL. All you heard was Jigsaw's Creepy voice and all you SAW was the deranged puppet (along with the deaths). In part one, they didn't show the actual man that much until the very end. In Saw 2, they REMOVE the MYSTERY of who Jigsaw is by showing the actual man way too much! In Saw I, Jigsaw is MORE THAN A MAN (something like what Ra's Al Ghul told Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins).
As soon as Amanda removes the bricks and finds the tape recorder, the viewer knows that she is in cahoots with Jigsaw a.k.a. John Kramer (yes they even gave him a last name completely removing the mystery & horror of the 1st Saw).
I was thrilled with Saw. I was even working at a movie theater when it came out back in 2004. I loved the audiences reaction! Saw was true horror! Now, Saw II is not completely abysmal & it does have some redeeming qualities. Sexy Shawnee Smith reprised her role as Amanda & she was spectacular as Jigsaw's apprentice!! Some of the deaths were decent with the very first one standing out. The ending is a 360 with Eric Matthews inadvertently returning to WHERE IT ALL BEGAN!!! The first Saw has an IMDb rating of 7.7, Saw II 6.7, Saw III 6.2, Saw IV 5.9, Saw V 5.7 ... DO YOU SEE THE PATTERN? The series went on a Downward Spiral until Saw VI 6.1, but alas Saw: The Final Chapter took the series back down again with a 5.5 IMDb rating. THE POINT HERE IS: Nothing beats the Original! But as far as the SAWs go, Part II is the second BEST!!