Review of Saw II (2005) by Grady S — 18 Sep 2013

When a group of strangers awake in a ruined house, they have to fight their way through a set of deadly traps to gain their freedom.

The second movie in the hugely popular horror franchise. The story takes place at some identified time close after the events of the first movie, and starts the trend for multiple ingenious traps and obscured time frames which sets the tone for all the other entries in the series. The plot is a bit of a let down compared to it's predecessor even though it does have one hell of an ending, as the majority of it is populated with a group of generic, unlikeable characters that the viewer will really not care about, as opposed the more character driven plot of the first.. The cast all play their characters incredibly well, and it is good to see returning cast members Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith reprising their roles with glee. The gore is plentiful and incredibly well portrayed for the most part, even though a few of the deaths do feel a little bit of a second thought. The production values are as a high as the first movie, and it is still shot in such a way that the red colours really stand out. All in all this is still a good film, but it does fall into the trap like most direct sequels, where it tries to be better than it's predecessor, but just doesn't quite make it.