Saw II = entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (13 November 2005)

Man, I love the two Saw films. It's because I'm a sucker for twist endings, basically. Twist endings are my favorite. I like to be blown away by something that was right in front of me the whole time, but I still managed to overlook it. It's a little bit like magic. The magician misdirects your attention while performing a secret move that you don't notice. The only difference is that with a twist ending, they're like "Look at this secret move I did while you weren't looking, earlier. Awesome, huh?" and then I'm like "Wow, that was awesome." Anyway, in addition to having a twist ending, the first Saw was quite original. Taking place almost entirely in a bathroom, with the two main characters chained to the walls and still managing to be engaging was impressive and not something that had been done too many times before. Phone Booth, a movie which takes place almost entirely in a phone booth, is reminiscent of the first Saw.
The second Saw, the one I'm supposed to be reviewing, is more mainstream horror/thriller. It takes place in a house, where eight people have been placed and are breathing in a terrible virus. Jigsaw (the killer, played by Tobin Bell) has placed antidotes in various places in the house. Also, there are a bunch of traps everywhere and they kill people, sometimes. Plus, there's a twist ending! The acting is pretty OK, nothing too fancy and that's goes for the entire film, I'd say. It's not an amazing example of exquisite film-making. It is, however, terribly entertaining. If you liked the first Saw, it's likely that you will like this one. If, however, you cannot stand gore, you probably won't like this film. If you dislike horror movies, rejoice, because the two Saw films would fit into the genre "very bloody action/adventure".