Really not that bad.....

Rating: 8/10 (31 October 2005)

Saw II was sooooooo much better than the original Saw. I don't know what happened to Danny Glover and Cary Elwes on the original--their acting was just terrible. The one thing that movie had going for it was the final shock moment. The sequel on the other hand, is a fully-developed movie, with characterization and some good acting, from the likes of Donnie Wahlberg, Shawnee Smith, and Glenn Plummer. Even Franky G, the loathsome drug dealer Xavier, turns in a pretty good performance. It is a gruesome movie, but I don't think it's a sick film, the way some critics have gone overboard in describing this as something fit only for borderline psychopaths. It's got a neat puzzle of a plot and it is all very logical and holds together quite well (that's another criticism I've read that has me scratching my head, that the film makes all sort of logical leaps, etc.). There's a reason for everything that happens and several neat twists and turns to the plot that we don't foresee. As in the first film, just when we think we know where things are going, we're suddenly clued into the fact that we have no idea where it's all going. If we could all just slow down and listen carefully to each other, and work together for the good of everyone, maybe these bad things could be avoided! On a side note, I was pleasantly surprised to see the theater ushers come in and make a group of 10 or 12 young kids leave the movie--it definitely isn't appropriate for them.