Review of Saw II (2005) by Ethanp. — 29 Oct 2005

I can understand why people would hate this movie, but I'm surprised to see people react to it with indifference. The combination of both movies is a visceral experience superior to any other horror movie/franchise of this decade.

The writing is outstanding--not so much in terms of eloquent one-liners--but in telling a story with incredible intensity, irony, and subtle reflections of American complacency. I mean, if this movie is so bad, why is it a jillion times more riveting than the slasher crap films (which are still fun in their own way) and more shocking than the "thoughtful" mystery ghost stories being imported from Japan that're really no more than stories about the little boy or girl who drowned last week and suddenly turned evil.

Saw II is sadistic, horrific, and more creative than any movie since Saw I, and more enthralling than anything M. Night Shyamalan is brooding over at the moment. And it's all the more rare in that its a sequal that builds upon everything that worked in the first movie as though the writer knows that we know that the exploration of this story line didn't end a year ago.