Near as good as the first film

Rating: 6/10 (21 October 2017)

Building off of the brief appearance in the past film, Jigsaw takes a very large role in this film. This time, the primary focus is a group of people trapped in a house that features a variety of traps for them to overcome. Meanwhile, audiences watch as Detective Matthews has a battle of wits with Jigsaw himself in an effort to get his son back. When on screen together, these two characters have some very good scenes together. I found Jigsaw to be a very interesting and engaging villain who, instead of just being a depraved serial killer, takes the approach of trying to help people in his own disturbing, convoluted way. It was also interesting to see the series' lore expand, integrating some of the characters in new and unexpected ways. I did still find the traps to be very cringe-worthy and some of the deaths to be downright traumatic and disturbing to watch. If it wasn't for the plot being as engaging as it was, I probably would have stopped watching. The sets in this film are also much like those of the first film. This time they have a broader scope since they take place in a house versus a single room. The producers again did an excellent job of creating the practical and special effects, making the gore seem very real on screen. On the whole they did a pretty good job creating this film and managed to avoid delivering a bad sequel like so many horror franchises succumb to. I put it as slightly just under the first film in terms of quality. While Jigsaw is an improvement, the emotional stress just doesn't have the same weight behind it as Cary Elwes's character did in the first film.
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