Saw II

Although this follow-up to the marvellous 2004 thriller 'Saw' is nowhere near as great as the original, it is still a good film worth watching.

The "Jigsaw" killer plays another sick game with another unlucky group of people. They are placed in a booby-trapped house that is slowly filling up with a lethal nerve gas. They are doomed to die, unless they can find out what they have in common, complete various tasks in the house and find the antidote.

Where the original film's gore could be forgiven on the account of its high logic, this lazy sequel is just gore for its own sake. The pace has been slowed down to a snail's and there are fewer scares and twists to keep the viewer as interested. Nevertheless, few viewers will have worked out the final, nasty twist, which makes it all worthwhile.

When detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is called to a crime scene of a victim of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), he finds a lead to the place where he is hidden. Once there, he realizes that Jigsaw trapped his son Daniel Matthews (Erik Knudsen) with three women and four men in a shelter, and they are inhaling a lethal nerve gas. If they do not use an antidote within two hours, they will die. Eric follows with increasing desperation the death of each member of the group in monitors, while trying to convince Jigsaw to release his son.

"Saw II" is a scary, gore and disturbing movie certainly not recommended for audiences with problem with psychological and visual violence. The story is excellent, and the expected twists in the end are unpredictable and well tied up. This movie recalled me the atmosphere of "The Silence of the Lambs" and Tobin Bell performs a stunning sadistic and cold blood killer. His explanations how the knowledge of death changes everything is very logical, therefore frightening. The camera, the cinematography and the soundtrack contribute with the morbid atmosphere of this film. My vote is seven.

Title (brazil): "Jogos Mortais II" ("Mortal Games II")

This movie has just mad a quantum leap in horror films. after watching this movie i had the chills walking to my car, and lets say that i more than enjoy a scary movie. this movie kept me up for at least and hour after watching it. it was one of those movies were you cant let it out of your mind.

The movie had one of the best openings that i have seen in a long time. after a few minutes into the movie i had to put down my popcorn. i don't have a weak stomach and this movie got me to put down my popcorn, that is huge.

With a great blend of suspense, acting, and oh yes there was a lot of blood. this movie great deserves another watch, i would pay to see this movie a couple of times. not to mention one of the best twists i have seen in a movie. i would say 2nd best ending i have seen in a movie.(#1 was Fight Club). you definitely have to see this movie.

Sequels rarely live up to the originals. And in the horror genre that's even rarer. I reckon that 'Saw' (part I) will always be better, due to its originality and shock value, but its (first) successor does its best to expand on the mythology and give the audience something more. In short... it's definitely worth a watch if you enjoyed the original.

The first outing could be summed up best by 'two men wake up in a serial killer's lair and try to figure out how to escape.' However, there was far more to the story than just that and the amount of different twists and turns really struck a chord with audiences (that and the amount of 'body horror' that was involved.

'Part II' ups the ante in every sense. There are more victims in the killer's latest 'lair,' more gore, more traps, more police officers trying to figure out where these hapless people are, perhaps most importantly, more of the killer himself (who was surprisingly not in the first installment very much). In fact... out of all the characters in the film, it's the killer 'Jigsaw' (Tobin Bell) who steals every scene.

As with the first film, there's more to the story than just a bunch of people trying to escape from some fiendishly fatal death-traps. 'Saw II' does its best to keep the surprises coming and, like the first, you'll only have one chance to watch it without knowing all the plot twists that will be heading your way.



So, if you liked the original then you should enjoy this one, too. In fact it's almost like these two films could have been written together and filmed back to back. After this one I only stayed with the franchise for a couple more films as the quality really does go downhill after this one. For me the 'Saw' franchise was a two-picture deal.

The original Saw was probably my most favorite recent "horror" movie, so naturally I was excited when the second one came out. I saw it its opening weekend in theaters, and **THIS WAS IN PREVIEWS, SO I Don't CONSIDER IT A SPOILER** I see a man strapped to a chair, with this "Man in the Iron Mask"-like thing on with all sorts of pretty nails poking toward his face. If you've seen the first one, you can expect what it does. A TV turns on, and there's the puppet thing, and that creepy voice. I'm like "Hell yes!" and it seemed like a great beginning, and it truly does have a great idea going for it, but unfortunately it seems like they got lost in the success of the original and the new bigger budget and lost something. It became the traditional horror movie, with your typical predictable characters, and the innovation and claustrophobic feel of the original was gone. It wasn't scary, but then again I didn't think the first one was to be honest, I think they're more of a mental experience than anything. The weird acid-trip like camera shake still occurs, though thankfully less frequently, and it is like a bigger budget Saw. Think Land of the Dead. Still a Romero movie, but it didn't feel like one as much. Same thing applies here. The ending is cool for most people, but I honestly saw it coming. It gets a bit muddled, and by the end of it you really don't remember much except the very beginning and end. It's fun, and it's an interesting piece of this new Saw series, but it just doesn't seem to live up to the original for me. You watch it yourself and give it a chance. I give it a 6 1/2.