Same material, Different approach

Rating: 7/10 (1 November 2005)

This movie was similar to the first Saw in that it had the same style of plot (the killer is the same person, victims must save themselves, the internal conflicts of the film deal with familial problems), but this time instead of two main victims (Dr. Gordon & Adam), there are many- eight or nine victims I believe. This increase in the number of victims warrants a different approach to the material; there are more victims to kill off, so naturally there will be a higher body count, less character depth, and more of a focus on the ways in which people are killed rather than why the lives of these characters are worth saving. Although the first film heavily emphasized its desire to get creative with blood and guts, it functioned as more of a character sketch than this film does. I feel like I know a lot about Dr. Gordon and Adam, but I can't even remember the names of the characters in this movie, give or take a few. This movie is much more of an exercise in bloody visual effects- it doesn't care about its characters like the original Saw does. Its primary function is to gross the audience out- and that's just fine for a 'halloween' movie. I would say that I appreciated the first film more, just because I liked getting to know the characters better (although it is nice that we get to know John a bit better in this film). There are some creative gory sequences in this film, but they are no more creative than the kills in the first film. Therefore, I would say that while this film is not as good as the original Saw, it is still worth seeing if you're looking for some blood and guts in your movies.