A seemingly well-thought out sequel to one of the sleeper hits of 2004.

Rating: 8/10 (29 October 2005)

I just got out of a screening of Saw II. Well, I didn't just get out of it, but you know what I mean. It's the 28th, meaning opening night. Considering the level of enjoyment I had when I first saw the original, I went into this movie with rather high expectations. I feel confident when I saw that they were met.
The basic plot revolves around Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), a cop who tediously walks the line between light and dark. He has done whatever it takes to bring down the criminals he's gone after, even resorting to planting evidence and physically assaulting them for information to get the job done. When one of the informants he deals with is found dead by way of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), he's convinced by Kerry (Dina Meyer, reprising her role from the original) to take on the case. They track Jigsaw down to an abandoned building where his latest 'test' is revealed: eight individuals are locked inside a house. The door is set to open in three hours, but due to a nerve toxin they're breathing in, they only have two hours to find one of the multiple syringes of antidote hidden throughout the house or they die. Among the test subjects are Detective Matthews' son Daniel (Erik Knudsen) and the familiar face of Amanda (Shawnee Smith, reprising her role from the original).
The acting, in my opinion, was of a higher caliber than that of the original. Tobin Bell's voice sounded so perfect every time it was heard, and had that creepy Master of Ceremonies quality in it. He played the part of John/Jigsaw with the same enthusiasm that he seemed to have in the original. His philosophical rants, while not for everyone, do expand upon what we were told in the original, and explains his motives for putting on his tests.
Donnie Wahlberg did a good job with what he was given. Though he wasn't quite able to portray him as a three dimensional character, he was able to show more than one side to him. He was more than just a cardboard cutout of a character, which is what this archetype of character tends to come off as. He's come a long way since his first role of note in "The Sixth Sense".
Shawnee Smith did a fine job as well, considering most of her dialogue was exposition. She brought just the right level of fright and understanding of the situation to make it believable for me. The character turn she takes at the end makes sense, and didn't throw the character development from both movies out the window.
And now, for the most important part of an analysis of this type of movie: the scare factor. Now I have been watching horror movies for as long as I can remember, and I am fully confident when I say that I have never been truly scared by one. While that still hasn't changed after watching Saw II, there were a few cringe-worthy moments. One at the very beginning (the first scene, in fact), and two at almost the very end (one of them being the second last scene). The various traps and devices used were creative. The death mask 'venus fly-trap' device in particular caught my eye.
The false (twist) ending has been a cornerstone of both the original and the sequel. Unless you're paying attention, you may not completely understand the reasoning and explanation behind it, so keep your eyes peeled. The sequel also does a nice job of tying together with the original, and the final scene is a bit of a callback.
All in all, a well executed movie. Although there are still some things that could be improved (I challenge anyone to name a movie that can't be, short of the classics) it certainly met my expectations, especially for a sequel.
My rating: 8 out of 10.