Disposable entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2006)

"Saw II" is the perfect epitome of disposable entertainment.
**SPOILERS**
After months of hard work, Detective Eric Mathews (Donnie Wahlberg) tracks down and apprehends the serial killer Jigsaw, (Tobin Bell) who informs him that his son Daniel, (Erik Knudsen) is trapped along with several other people, Amanda, (Shawnee Smith) Xavier, (Frankie G) Jonas, (Glenn Plummer) Addison, (Emmanuelle Vaugier) Laura, (Beverly Mitchell) and Obi, (Tim Burd) inside a booby trapped house and have a certain amount of time to get out before they all die inside. As they start to wander looking for antidotes, they fall into Jigsaw's traps, despite Amanda's warnings. When they secret to their situation is finally revealed, it increases the desperation and the fight to survive.
The Good News: Wow, what do I say about this one? There wasn't a whole lot to it. The traps this time where much bigger, more involved, and therefore, much better. Several of them were quite inventive as well, including the wonderful opening kill that perfectly sets the tone for the others throughout the movie. We get more gore in this one, which is an improvement over the first one. This one is a bit more of an R than the first one in terms of the violence, which is nice to see. It moves at a lot faster pace than the first one, and the time just disappears, which is the hallmark of good writing. It really does get lost in the moment in the story.
The Bad News: Again, not a whole lot. Not a lot wrong with ti, but nothing wrong either. It's just inside and then nothing.
The Final Verdict: I don't quite know how to feel about this one. I wasn't super entertained, but yet wasn't bored either. The perfect kind of film that if you want a harmless hour and a half to go by with nothing too special of a film, this is the perfect choice. Naturally, fans of the first one will eat this one up.
Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence