Forgot their own rules

Rating: 6/10 (30 October 2005)

While Saw made audiences cringe and rethink how they interacted with the world, Saw II flounders.
In an attempt to capitalize on the first's success, a new version was quickly scrounged from an existing screenplay (NOT by the original writers). It shows.
In the original SAW the whole point of each victim's predicament was a result of their own actions, ie they deserved what they were getting. Saw II has forgotten this moral lesson. Rather Jigsaw is bent on punishing the bad cop played by Donnie Wahlberg. The problem is that all of the victims in the house are getting punished for his actions, including his own son.
While the trap in the opening, obligatory scene is rather interesting, it is played out in such a high speed that the audience is unable to fully savor the squirm factor inherit with it.
Also missing from this version is the flashbacks that the victims experienced to explain why they are where they are. We never fully appreciate if the people in the house are there for a good reason, or not. Their very bland and painful expository dialog is just painful to get through, where as in the original the flashbacks would have SHOWN the audience what really was going on.
All in all, this is one sequel that should have been slower in rushing to the theater and spent more time on the crucial element: the script.