Review of Saw II (2005) by Austin R — 13 Jun 2015

Saw II follows Detective Eric Matthews as he attempts to play a game of wits with the notorious Jigsaw, or John Kramer, to win back his son, who is in a game of his own with several other people who all have a grudge against Matthews. It's a race against time as Matthews tries to save his son before the rest of them kill him.

I didn't exactly know what to expect going into the second Saw film. I really enjoyed the first film, but a lot of people had said that the second one was either a lot worse or where the series started to go downhill. So, I went into the film with somewhat high expectations, especially after the first film was so enjoyable. And what did I think? Well, let's dive right in.

The acting, just like the first film, was completely on point. Donnie Wahlberg and Tobin Bell were the standouts for me. The two really played off of each other very well, and the scenes they were in together were probably some of the most tense in the entire film. It's amazing when conversations like the ones these two had can be so riveting. That's not to downplay the rest of the cast either. Shawnee Smith does a great job in her returning role as Amanda, and the way her character ends up by the last act is quite great. Erik Knudsen as Eric Matthews's son, Daniel, did a fine job portraying the scared teenager we'd all feel like in that situation. Franky G, Dina Meyer, Lyriq Bent and Glenn Plummer all did great jobs in a supporting role capacity.

The gore is upped slightly in this film, compared to the previous film (but maybe that's because I watched the Unrated version), but it's not overly bad. There were a few parts where I cringed just because of the screaming and the nature of the incident, but it wasn't overtly gory, so props to the filmmakers for that.

Just like the first film, the script and dialogue are on point. Yeah, perhaps there's a bit too much usage of the F-bomb or several other swear words, but they do capture what people from the types of backgrounds that the testers (?) are in, would say. The cinematography is about as dark and gritty as it can get, once again. Of course, like last time, the best thing about the film is the music. Charlie Clouser manages to create a haunting score that really sticks with you. Like last film's Hello Zepp, Hello Eric is sort-of like a reprise of that song, a reprise that is really well done and manages to evoke a sense of reasoning behind what happens at the end.

Here's my issue with this film: It's starting to get a bit old. The traps themselves were actually pretty clever, and I liked the idea of like a booby-trapped house, but it's kind of a wonder about how many times you can do the same thing and use the same places (the Bathroom from Saw is underneath the house in this film. Are you kidding me?), and still be entertaining. Don't get me wrong, this is heaven compared to some of the later installments, but the point still stands.

Overall, Saw II is an enjoyable sequel. While some of the gore did gross me out, and a few of the places and ideas are already starting to overstay their welcome, the script, characters, acting, script and music are still all at their A-game, and at this point, I'm kind of excited to keep going in the series. It's not bad yet, at least, I hope.

Grade: B+.