Wow, now this is how you make a thriller!

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2006)

Jigsaw is back and it seems that he's improved his technique for this sequel.
Saw II is one of those rare Hollywood sequels that capitalize on the success on a small time film festival winner and somehow actually make it even better than the original. The story is primarily about a father and a son, Eric and Daniel Matthews, with the father being the cop who's thrown into Jigsaw's twisted version of Mousetrap.
For those who've seen the original, things get touched on a bit here in the sequel and it expands the story even more from it. Its pretty much beneficial to see the original (which is a good movie) as you can gain more insight on the soon-to-be trilogy, otherwise you'll be kind of left in the dark on some of the key events.
I won't say anything about the story or the nice little twists here, just see the movie for yourself or read other spoiler reviews. I'll just say its entertaining enough to keep your attention the entire way, but I was a little disappointed on how the story strayed away near the end from what's suppost to be its main purpose. But just a little, you'll see what I mean. As for the characters themselves, i'd say its overall solid. The acting was good and almost all of them served their purpose well.
The meat and potatoes, the actual traps, are more intense this time around. While you can tell why there were limitations in the original (it was a small time flick), the bigger budget implemented on Saw II meant they needed to be better this time. Thankfully, they actually went ahead and did that. The new traps actually look more agonizing this time, including the "shock" flashbacks too. Everything I wanted to see was all pretty much here, they delivered the goods.
All in all, I thought it was a great movie. Well worth my time and also the first recent movie in awhile to actually shock and keep me at the edge. I hope Saw III carries on the tradition, especially the way things are chugging.