Saw II (2005) October 29, 2006
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Darren Lynn Bousman
The jigsaw killer is back for more of his trademark ‘games’ in a sequel to the smash hit 2005 horror Saw. This time his evil intentions are directed towards a cop, detective Eric Matthews (played by Donnie Wahlberg). After tracking the killer to an abandoned warehouse, the detective discovers that his son is taking part in one of Jigsaw’s dangerous challenges. Meanwhile eight strangers (including Daniel Matthews) are waking up in a strange house, to face their worst nightmares.
The original Saw was quite inventive and interesting, especially for the limited amount of money spent on it. This instalment falls slightly short of the first, although they don’t opt to completely retread the original, which is a wise move. Strangely, the elusiveness of the jigsaw killer is completely nonexistent this time around, given that he’s a main character in the plot. The script was actually adapted from an already existing story, changing some characters in order to fit with the ‘Saw universe’. That has helped differentiate this movie slightly, but I can only speculate on how many changes were made.
The traps, or ‘games’, are actually tamer for the most part, and lacking the horrible grittiness that the first movie had by the bucket load. I mean, they’re still not nice, but I think only the opening scene with the death mask comes close to really stirring up any tension. The fact that there’s a group of people taking part in the game diminishes the horror factor substantially. And they never really play the group thing for scares – they should’ve had them being forced to do all sorts of terrible things to each other.
As the ending draws near, the story twists start to appear – one being quite smart, and others being kind of annoying. I never enjoy it when a story twist causes you to question the whole point of the movie, but unfortunately that’s exactly what happens towards the end of this film, and you’re left wondering ‘what was the point of all that then?’.
I didn’t completely hate it though. There is a simplicity to the Saw movies that make them an entertaining watch. It’s just that I don’t think they made the most of what they had, and some may find the ending slightly unsatisfactory. But what can you do – with Saw III about to be released (the third film in as many years), it’s clearly such as easy franchise to keep running. And as long as we’re still watching, you can guarantee that ‘there will be blood’.
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?