Not as good as the original

Rating: 6/10 (1 June 2013)

Saw 2 lacks a lot of the tension of the first one, the jump moments aren't as effective and the pacing is a little slow. Tobin Bell, who plays Jigsaw is really good. They gave the character a lot more depth and he is really convincing and even relatable. Sadly this cannot be said for the other characters, who are all rather shallow and uninteresting. The key to good horror is to make the protagonists relatable so that the audience cares about what happens to them. Now perhaps I'm just a sick, twisted person, but the only character I really found myself caring about is the killer.
This brings me to my next point. While the original Saw was definitely a psychological piece, the sequel already started going more for the gore. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and with the same twisted editing and cinematographic techniques they used in the first one it works quite well.
Saw 2 had a much higher budget than the first one, a larger cast and better production value, but they sacrificed a lot of the tight direction and tension that made the original great. Also this film is more graphic than it's predecessor, so consider yourself warned. However it is worth watching just to learn more about the Jigsaw character.