Now this is Much more like it!

Rating: Null/10 (16 February 2006)

**1/2 out of ****
SAW 2, I am VERY happy to saw, is a lot better than the first go around. In a way this is really disappointing though because this was pretty much the film I was hoping the first one would be when i saw it in theaters after i read so many good reviews for it. I was very disappointed by the first film and when i saw this in theaters, i didn't read any reviews of it because i felt this film would be a long, scary, confusing, gross, and loud mess like the first one is. Well, it is long, scary, confusing, gross, and loud, like the first, but it is anything but a mess.
The plot of this film is much like the first. Seven or eight people are trapped in a room inside of a big decaying house filled with very disturbing deathtraps. The people must work together to escape, but unfortunately, there is a time limit. The house is filled with a weird poison that will kill them very soon.
There is much more to the story than just this simple plot line. There are flashbacks throughout the film which was really distracting in the first film but much more fleshed out and organized.
The "Jigsaw" killer's identity is explored much more and adds solidly to the plot. His character is developed very well and he doesn't feel like a plot device like he did in the first film.
The characters are much more likable compared to the everlasting crybabies in the first film, but not likable enough to have you crying when one of them is killed, which many of them will be.
The gore is extremely repugnant and revolting, but, again, it is added to be integral and flesh out the nature of the film more. There is at least one scene to me that, while i successfully sat through it, was very hard to swallow and made me want to look away. It worked though.
The film's ending is, again, a twist. But it isn't the kind of twist that will give you nightmares, like the first one did, instead its the kind of ending that gives you a really good accomplished feeling. You feel good when it happens.
This film, despite being a sequel, manages to be better, stronger, gorier, scarier, and even funnier than the original. This gives me great hope in this growing series. Looks like it might just have a chance at being a pretty solid horror film trilogy like SCREAM and not like Friday THE 13th. I have great faith in the SAW series and i look forward to seeing the next in this series.
Rated R for grisly violence and gore, terror, language and drug content.