Saw I Very Good, Saw II Not so

Rating: 6/10 (5 November 2005)

After watching Saw earlier this year, i was hoping that the movie would not have a sequel. Given the history of bad sequels for great movies, my expectations for Saw II was low. After recently watching the movie, my expectations were met...and the movie actually went above them...but not enough for me to warrant a recommendation to watch it in the theaters.
The first movie, in my opinion, is a classic suspense/thriller that was smart, innovative and knew how to make the most out of little. The theme was clear, well developed and thoroughly connected to all the events in the movie. The second movie simply rode on the coat tails of the success of the first.
The movie contained gratuitous blood and gore. The first movie, believe it or not, really did not (contrary to what people may think given the movie poster). The many, many scenes of the victims vomiting blood and puke, the overdone deaths of the characters and the infamous scene at the end with the knife to the back of the neck...all were not needed (as well as the gratuitous cussing). Additionally, there were far too many useless characters. In Saw I, each character had a role to play in the movie...and their roles made sense. In Saw II, not the case. Who is the girl with the pale face? Why is she with them? Just to scream and cry a lot? A lot of the characters were simply used to add to the gore effect. Saw II took the nuanced elements in Saw I and over blown it. Sort of what Ring II did with Ring I.
Also, the sterile, urbanesque feel of the first movie was diminished markedly in the second. A lot of it had to do with the marked increase in characters...and the annoying and useless SWAT scenes.
Despite these flaws, the movie was an OK suspense thriller. The ending was not obvious and caught most by surprise. The jigsaw theme was still evident. If you didn't see the first Saw, you will likely think the movie OK. If you did see the first (and liked it), you will likely be disappointed with the sequel.