Garbage Filmmaking. Crap story, acting, dialogue, cinematography, editing, music, etc

Rating: 1/10 (12 November 2017)

I've seen the first Saw a few times, last time in 2016. First viewing I thought good. Last viewing in 2016, there were no surprises left, so the impression was a C rating for a B movie, maybe 5 stars. At least the story was decent and the acting was well done.
Now Saw 2. This movie is garbage all the way around. Very little to recommend. First the story sucks. Very cliché. Our main character is a divorced, estranged father, cigarette smoking, possible alcoholic, corrupt cop that will plant evidence. Not a nice guy. The actor? Donnie Wahlberg. Now I've seen this guy do some decent acting before. But not here. The character is crap, and his actions and dialogue is trash. I can't blame him completely, but he took the job so he's not innocent. He is garbage here. His son, Erik Knudsen adds nothing to the mix. Nothing! His x partner, Dina Meyer, adds nothing, just garbage. The black cop with the bandanna on his head, crap. What's with the bandanna? Tobin Bell as Jigman, crap. He's got maybe 10 seconds of decent dialogue if that. Most of the crap that comes out of his mouth is boring, nonsense. I guess the filmmakers were trying to be a twisted gore fest here. It did not work.
This opens with a killing. So, that was one thing the filmmakers did right. No brainer. Then we are introduced to the Donnie having a problem with his son. Let's all get excited for the introduction of these boring/cliché characters. Then the scene of the opening killing with more boring cliché characters, the cops. And then the scene with the SWAT team breaking in on the Jig Guy and finding out via videotape that Donnie's son and 7 other people are trapped and a gas has been released that will kill them in a few hours. Interesting idea. And the clock is ticking idea. All good. However, the execution sucks. The characters are garbage, and the dialogue is garbage. Help me. We are then introduced to the 8 people stuck in Jig's hell. Hispanic/Tough Guy/Drug Dealer, Black Gangster (where's the hip hop music?), Female Prostitute, Female Drug Addict (ended up conspiring with Jig Man, and then becoming the new Jig Woman), Businessman (no clue), Businesswoman (no clue), Donnie's son, Thief (we find out he helped Jig kidnap these people).
The garbage that comes out of these kidnapped characters is unbearable. The acting sucked. The only one that seemed to show any type of terror was the businesswoman.
We find out that all the kidnapped characters were framed by Donnie. They are disposed of one by one. And for no apparent reason the Drug Dealer starts killing people because he wants to find the number tattooed on the back of the neck. Why not just ask the person to turn around? The camera-work is garbage. Lots of quick edits, like we are going on a roller-coaster ride. The colors are garbage, some kind of green, brown lighting. Just garbage. I don't remember the music, so it wasn't good, but better yet I guess it wasn't horrible either. I did not buy the idea for why Jig decided to trap people into these death games. That he's sick and dying of cancer and people don't know what it is to live, and to deserve to live. And the idea that now, the drug addict is taking over for the same reason. The story is completely convoluted. I hate the dialogue. Lot's of F words, wise cracks, just plain garbage. When Donnie started tearing apart Jigs files, I was thinking maybe now we are going into comedy territory. What the hell was that? Then our screenwriter throws everything into the mix. Donnie starts beating the crap out of Jig. I mean, just add the loonie tunes soundtrack, at least it would be entertainment.
This movie is a freaking mess. You can tell the filmmakers have some ideas and some skills, but don't know how to put it together. But dialogue like "Shut the F Up!" – that's the best you could come up with? The twist end with the drug addict now taking over for Jig – nonsense. Remember the saying "A mind is a terrible thing to waste?" well this movie illustrates that a mind is a terrible thing. The filmmakers come up with a cliché/non original story plot dialogue with garbage actors and cinematography and editing to show us the payload. The payload? Disturbing gore.
I hate this movie. I got it in a set of 7 Saw movies. I will rewatch Saw in fast forward so I can properly review it. And watch the other Saw movies, and god I hope they are better. Even if the stories are crap, if the cinematography/lighting/sets/editing/music is decent I can find some entertainment in it.
Saw 2 – F, 1. Full on garbage. Quick summery – convoluted, cliché characters and dialogue, garbage kills/gore. Nothing of value.