A very ordinary kind of sequel

Rating: 5/10 (10 December 2016)

This is where it all began. Where all what began, you might ask. The film franchise? No, because obviously that began with SAW, the first movie in the franchise. No, SAW II is where the endless sequels to the SAW movies began, each one virtually similar to the last, except that the various traps and torture devices are more extreme and explicit than before. It marked the beginning of the SAW 'Halloween' event, in which cinemas would turn out the latest sequel for 31st October, year after year. Before I sat down to watch this, I was a bit more in the know about it, because I'd already seen 1, 3 and 4, although 2 had slipped me by. It fills in a lot of the gaps and I'd say these movies MUST be watched in the correct order – if not then you have no chance of understanding the intricacies of the plot.
As for the movie itself, it's fairly by-the-by. It's not as original as the first film, but it's fairly well made and with a good pacing. It doesn't seem to be quite as vicious this time around, although that might be because I'd seen some later sequels before this. The eye-watering opening scene is horrific stuff but has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. In essence, this is a film a bit like CUBE; a bunch of people trapped in one location, trying to figure out the clues and work together to escape, although it doesn't hold together as well as that film. The hunt for antidotes just seems a little laughable and not very well thought out and realism is a long way away. Tobin Bell is still creepy, but a returning Shawnee Smith is simply irritating here while others like STARSHIP TROOPERS's Dina Meyer are on the sidelines; she had more to do in her one scene in SAW III! Donnie Wahlberg lends a bit of gravitas as the weary cop investigating the case but, again, he doesn't have much to work with other than a few shouty scenes.
What of the horror content? Well, there are a couple of nasty deaths – wow, like you didn't guess – including one horrible bit in a glass box with razor blades – and a nasty scene in a pit filled with syringes. There are a few twists, notably towards the climax, which kept me watching. Fans of the series will enjoy it, but newcomers might well find it's more of a makeweight film, purely designed to bridge the gap between the first movie and the later sequels.