The game continues, and just as disturbing if not as puzzling

Rating: 6/10 (25 November 2017)

Finally saw all the 'Saw' films prior to seeing 'Jigsaw' (as part of my wanting to see as many 2017 films as possible this year, during a quieter and less intensive period). Heard a lot about the films, good and bad, but wanted to see them for myself to know what to expect.
The films as an overall series are a very mixed bag. The original 'Saw' had a great premise and while it was problematic it was still pretty good and one of the best in the series. Its first sequel is one of its few follow-ups to be just as good and contain what made its predecessor click as well as it did and, while it is full of its own problems, it is one of the better sequels by quite some way. It is very easy to see why people will dislike it, and the 'Saw' films in general, and no it is not because of the full throttle horror-like elements that are not for the faint hearted.
'Saw II's' story is just as weak in the dialogue, here quite cheesy, half-baked and repetitive as well as at times rambling and sometimes irrelevant. Actually it's worse, at least the dialogue in the first 'Saw' had some tightness and intrigue, even if they didn't come consistently. The credibility lapses here are just as numerous and just as big, although the character behaviour here doesn't frustrate as much, nothing as bad as that for Danny Glover's character.
Its twists are not as bold and are uneven in execution. Some of them are very clever and devilish, like the apprehending of Jigsaw, didn't see that one coming. Others are plain stupid and pretty predictable. The ending is a let-down, instead of the shocking one of the original this one was hideously contrived. The characters, other than Jigsaw and Eric, are basically cliché-ridden filler and are either bland, irritating or both.
However, really liked that 'Saw II' was visually more elaborate and slicker than the production values of the first with much tighter, more audacious and more professional-looking editing. Even if one does miss somewhat the effectively claustrophobic feel. The music is eerily unsettling.
Despite its ridiculousness, the story is also edge-of-your-seat and highly atmospheric. A lot of it delights and disturbs, with some truly imaginative traps and uncompromisingly brutal demises. The novelty has not worn off yet. The direction is serviceable and once again Jigsaw's modus operandi, impulse and justification sets him apart from most characters of his type.
Saying that Donnie Wahlberg is a huge improvement over Cary Elwes is saying a lot, really not that hard to be better and one would have to be bottom of the barrel SyFy/The Asylum-level to be worse. Tobin Bell is terrifying as one of the most iconic villains of the past twenty years or so (or at least to me). Apart from Franky G the actors don't fare shabbily.
In short, very uneven but for a horror sequel not bad at all. 6/10 Bethany Cox