it's a different movie, but....not bad at all

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2006)

i rented this movie (missed it in the theater unfortunately) with high hopes, having really liked the first one. And i wasn't disappointed, although Saw 2 is an entire different movie than the original.
The first major difference is: we now know the killer, which initially is a bit of a let down because the search for the identity of "jigsaw" was what made the first one so great. But from the moment detective Matthews finds Jigsaw and we discover that his Son is in Jigsaw's house of "fun", The movie became really interesting. Jigsaw's proposition to Det.Matthews to just sit there and talk, seemed strange but made you wanna watch the movie a bit more to see where all this was gonna lead to.
The second difference is: except for the (really strong and awfully gory) opening sequence the victims aren't individually trapped, but are all together in a big booby trapped house, from which they have to find a way out. Although it reminded me a bit of the movie "Cube", i found this to be a fresh new perspective of the killers games. it seems like the victims have a choice, while in fact everything that Jigsaw has planned for them, actually happens (ofcourse in the climax of the movie is revealed who of the "victims" we have to thank for that) The third difference is that this time, the movie IS very gory. While the first movie wasn't all that explicit as far as the violence is concerned, the second one shows all the nasty things in all it's glory.
The acting, again, isn't top notch (Although Tobin Bell and Donnie Wallberg do an excellent job) but this time the victims are so annoying that you could't care less what's gonna happen to them. As far as i'm concerned this made the movie a little bit less exciting to watch. But the ending, although not as brilliant as the original, again really amazed me and lifted the movie far above average as far as i'm concerned. If you liked the first one, you really won't be disappointed by Saw 2. If you didn't like the first one, but you are a Horror fan, still give this one a chance, you might like it