Meh

Rating: Null/10 (19 September 2008)

It's difficult to recommend a movie like "Saw II," or its predecessor for that matter, to a wide variety of people.
For some, seeing a person decide whether or not he should pluck his eyeball out with a scalpel to save his head from being crushed by a bear-trap-like-contraption, complete with thousands of sharp, protruding nails, is just the adrenaline fix those seeking a movie with an incredibly high body count paid eight bucks to see. However, the person sitting next to him may be regretting the fact that he just ate a large meal before going to the theater.
Then there are those viewers who are divided. They may enjoy the film's tense scenarios and unexpected plot twists, but deem the excess violence unnecessary and distracting. Such is the case of Saw II, a movie that manages to, in some ways, improve upon the original (which really isn't saying much), but loses some freshness, creativity, and character development along the way.
"Saw II" continues directly from the events of the first film. The "serial killer" Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), who forces people he feels are not worthy of the life they had been given to participate in his sick "games," is still on the loose. He is again the subject of a police investigation, this time headed by Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), a corrupt cop with many parental and spousal issues. The first twist occurs early on, resulting in a majority of the film's emphasis to be placed on eight strangers trapped by Jigsaw in a house littered with booby traps. Meanwhile, a nerve agent is being pumped throughout the house, forcing the captives to find several scattered antidotes before their bodies succumb to the poison.
Sadly, just like the first installment, the premise of "Saw II" is much better than its execution. Sure, it's miles beyond you're typical horror/slasher film made these days ("House of Wax" and "The Fog," anyone?), but in no way does its creativity live up to its potential. For starters, and you knew this was going to happen, a large chunk of the film simply degenerates into a mindless slasher film in which no audience member will feel any emotion towards the stereotypical and unlikable characters (Beverly Mitchell of 7th Heaven, for instance, may have the most useless character in the history of film).
When Saw II spends its time inside the house (the portion of the movie that should create the most tension and uncertainty) the film degrades itself by developing into a paint-by-numbers thriller in which we can see each and every gruesome kill of a stupid cardboard character coming from miles away. The original's creative and ironic scenarios based on the fallible nature of the characters's pasts are essentially gone, replaced by an overabundance of gruesome violence towards people we care nothing about, trying to make up for the fact that the filmmakers have run out of creative ideas.
With that being said, "Saw II" is still somewhat fun. It corrects many of the things most people felt were wrong with the first film, most notably the unnecessary flashbacks and detours from the main plot which absolutely annihilated its pace and tension. The sequel instead flows very nicely between two main plots, the stronger of which belongs to the ongoing cat-and-mouse games between Det. Matthews and an apprehended Jigsaw. The acting and dialogue are considerably better, especially in the scenes with Wahlberg and Bell, which, finally, add several layers of complexity to the Jigsaw character. These scenes essentially carry the movie, serving as the film's main source of suspense and compliment the kinetic frenzy of action within the house nicely.
They also lay the groundwork successfully for the film's ending, which, yet again, is extremely effective, and wouldn't have worked at all if the script hadn't set it up so nicely. First-time director Darren Lynn Bousman does a nice job of supplying the film with style and great focus, even though his eye for creativity and suspense (save for the excellent opening scene) is inferior to "Saw's" James Wan. Bousman's nods to the first film towards the end will leave any fan of the original with a huge smile on their face.
The tagline of "Saw II" ("Oh yes. There will be blood") tells you everything you need to know. Most fans of the first film, or gruesome violence for that matter, will come away pleased, but it's those searching for an extension and improvement to "Saw's" wasted potential of psychological tension who will be disappointed after squandering yet another good premise. It's dumb fun, but it could have been so much more.
** out of ****