Not terrible but not needed either.

Rating: 6/10 (16 September 2009)

If I have to make one statement about the nature of the on-going horror (and specifically) the slasher trend it would be this; No good formula works twice.
This is the simplest reason why Saw II is an inferior sequel as so many films are. James Wan had a clever idea for his debut picture, it was well thought out, nicely paced, and offers a really scary twist ending which was totally unpredictable. Saw II presents a different string of characters and bloody chapters, but at its centre, this is pretty much the same thing, only less effective. The story is far more shallow, and moves too quickly. The acting is weak, the plot twists are predicable, not to mention the the ending which is totally plagerized from the Saw script. What is frustrating is that it offers a cliff hanger for what is probably an even worse sequel. The Saw franchise is the latest domino effect with each film's ending giving way to a new beginning. They are now up to #6. By the time they decide to stop the franchise there will be so many Saws that the public is liable to forget the brilliance of where the idea began.
Jigsaw plays a more ambitious game this time. He has locked a bunch of people in a house. The instructional cassette informs them thay they have (without knowing) inhaled a lethal gas which will take affect in two hours. In the room is a safe, and inside is the antidote. They have two hours to find the numbers to the code which are located somewhere within his booby trapped house. The youngest of these captives is Daniel Matthews, and his father Eric is a locally renowned police detective. He and his team have miraculously arrested jigsaw, but can detective Matthews get him to reveal the whereabout of his son before time runs out?
I like the way Saw II is photographed. Each location uses a different filter to change the color scheme. The house is tinted golden making it look kind of retro or antique. Jigsaw's headquarters are tinted green, which is a very sickly color, and one of the last scene takes us back to the cellar bathroom from Saw. The colour is tinted Blue/and white, which are very cold colours.
I guess the only reason I am not appalled by Saw II is the fact that I was expecting it to be less impressive than Saw (which it is). Saw truly is a story fit for one film, not 2 (let alone 6 or more)