A bigger puzzle than before.

Rating: 9/10 (3 November 2005)

Disturbing. Gory. Bloody. And full of a whole lot of "that's got to hurt." Still, like in the previous movie, the clues are all there if you try to pick them out.
We already know from all the reviews that this time around, it's no secret to who Jigsaw is -- even though he himself claims he's not a killer (and ironically, he takes offense to the name "jigsaw").
Still, just as before, Jigsaw gives people tasks. Some bloody and permanently scarring -- some so simple you wonder how people can not do what he asks. And those who don't, well...they wind up gone.
Just the same, we learn more about the background of the illusive "educator", the person who cuts jigsaw pieces out of people to symbolize that they are missing a vital part of what should make them a person. As sick as it is, you find yourself rooting for him.
Sure, he's putting people in horrible situations. Sure, he's a few tacos short of a number three. But the simple cold logic he displays is almost irrefutable.
And then, we have the victims. Stupid, stupid victims. Yes, there is blood, but all the same, I took great delight in watching the squeamish leave the theater (and this film is not for those).
The movie does a nice job in making throwbacks to it's predecessor, with little subscenes that give you just enough of the impression to leave a pleasant aftertaste.
However, I found, that this movie showed a much broader puzzle than the previous, and instead of seeing the whole thing, I felt we were only seeing a couple of the pieces. We don't know all the characters, or how they fit, we don't get intimately involved as we did with the characters in the first. It still kept me glued to the screen.
But still, horrifically bloody (sick, twisted) fun.