Saw II
Year: 2005
Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman
Starring: Tobin Bell, Dina Meyer, Shawnee Smith & Donnie Wahlberg
Runtime: 93 mins
BBFC: 18
Published: 22/06/21
Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman
Starring: Tobin Bell, Dina Meyer, Shawnee Smith & Donnie Wahlberg
Runtime: 93 mins
BBFC: 18
Published: 22/06/21
If you’ve read my review of the original Saw film, you’ll know that despite having some poor acting performances and leaves something to be desired in some of the dialogue exchanges, I overall love how incredible the film works for something made on a budget so small by two first time filmmakers. The film was so successful that production studio Lionsgate immediately greenlit and started work on a sequel that would release by the following Halloween. That gave everyone involved less than twelve months to create a film from scratch, it’s understandable then when I say that Saw II does not share the same level of adoration, I have for the first film.
Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) becomes the target of Jigsaw when an informant of his is found dead at the site of another one of the killers twisted life or death games. Piecing together the evidence found at the crime scene, Matthews, Detective Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer) and Officer Daniel Rigg (Lyriq Bent) lead a SWAT team to converge on an abandoned warehouse where they find Jigsaw, revealed to be cancer patient John Kramer (Tobin Bell) at the end of the first film.
The squad discovers monitors showing a game in progress, with Matthew’s son Daniel (Erik Knudsen) as one of the victims. Jigsaw tells Matthews that if he wishes to see his son alive all he needs to do is stay and talk to him, and not to interfere with the game in progress. Daniel only has two hours to live however as he, and the rest of the people he is trapped with are all poisoned and tasked with solving puzzles to find antidotes. But some of the prisoners of Jigsaw’s game are less willing to play nicely than others, meaning Daniel must not only survive Jigsaw’s traps, but also outwit the people he is trapped with.
Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) becomes the target of Jigsaw when an informant of his is found dead at the site of another one of the killers twisted life or death games. Piecing together the evidence found at the crime scene, Matthews, Detective Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer) and Officer Daniel Rigg (Lyriq Bent) lead a SWAT team to converge on an abandoned warehouse where they find Jigsaw, revealed to be cancer patient John Kramer (Tobin Bell) at the end of the first film.
The squad discovers monitors showing a game in progress, with Matthew’s son Daniel (Erik Knudsen) as one of the victims. Jigsaw tells Matthews that if he wishes to see his son alive all he needs to do is stay and talk to him, and not to interfere with the game in progress. Daniel only has two hours to live however as he, and the rest of the people he is trapped with are all poisoned and tasked with solving puzzles to find antidotes. But some of the prisoners of Jigsaw’s game are less willing to play nicely than others, meaning Daniel must not only survive Jigsaw’s traps, but also outwit the people he is trapped with.
Saw II has a great premise that takes the core concept of Jigsaw’s games established in the first film and plays it out on a much grander scale than what was ever possible in that first outing. In fact, the template for how Saw II plays out and escalates itself from the previous film is not only great, but it also set the trend for how the subsequent Saw sequels would play out.
What also plays in Saw II’s favour is the amount of time we spend with Jigsaw. Normally in a horror film the key to any monster or antagonist is that less is more, keep them hidden away in the shadows and almost never show them. But Saw II does for the opposite and has Jigsaw on screen almost as much as Detective Matthews, he is a central character to this story, and we spend a whole lot of time getting to know who he is and what motivates him to create these twisted games in the first place.
Saw II wants to build on the fragmented lore established by the first film by placing it front and centre of the story, something that can only be commended and is done reasonably well.
But that’s about where my praise for Saw II ends. The film has so much more dialogue than the first film, but despite this nobody says anything interesting. In fact, for the most part, it feels like everybody’s just making it up on the spot. For how much is said, almost none of it is actually worth listening to, with much of the runtime padded out with characters repeating the same lines over and over, and a whole lot of the word ‘Fuck’ followed by words like this, that, you, them, and more.
Darren Lynn Bousman takes the director’s chair for the first time in the series and his idea about how to make this feel like a Saw film is to just layer in a lot of screaming sounds and scraping metal on the audio, make everything so dark you can hardly see anything, and ensure that during the editing process the film has so many cuts and sped-up effects as possible to completely disorient the viewer.
The film’s a total mess to watch and it always toes the line between boring and aggravating.
I will give credit where it’s due and say that the final few scenes really knock it out the park and make the film somewhat worthwhile as it manages to pull off another wild plot twist similar to the first film. It works brilliantly and it sets up the third film perfectly, leaving you wanting more, whilst also tying almost everything from this film up. It’s just a shame that the way the film is constructed is so sloppy and intentionally difficult to enjoy because underneath all that is a good film.
Saw II is a bad sequel, but it had promise to be a great one. It’s almost like twelve months isn’t enough time to make a film from scratch, especially when you’re still needing to work on a small budget.
What also plays in Saw II’s favour is the amount of time we spend with Jigsaw. Normally in a horror film the key to any monster or antagonist is that less is more, keep them hidden away in the shadows and almost never show them. But Saw II does for the opposite and has Jigsaw on screen almost as much as Detective Matthews, he is a central character to this story, and we spend a whole lot of time getting to know who he is and what motivates him to create these twisted games in the first place.
Saw II wants to build on the fragmented lore established by the first film by placing it front and centre of the story, something that can only be commended and is done reasonably well.
But that’s about where my praise for Saw II ends. The film has so much more dialogue than the first film, but despite this nobody says anything interesting. In fact, for the most part, it feels like everybody’s just making it up on the spot. For how much is said, almost none of it is actually worth listening to, with much of the runtime padded out with characters repeating the same lines over and over, and a whole lot of the word ‘Fuck’ followed by words like this, that, you, them, and more.
Darren Lynn Bousman takes the director’s chair for the first time in the series and his idea about how to make this feel like a Saw film is to just layer in a lot of screaming sounds and scraping metal on the audio, make everything so dark you can hardly see anything, and ensure that during the editing process the film has so many cuts and sped-up effects as possible to completely disorient the viewer.
The film’s a total mess to watch and it always toes the line between boring and aggravating.
I will give credit where it’s due and say that the final few scenes really knock it out the park and make the film somewhat worthwhile as it manages to pull off another wild plot twist similar to the first film. It works brilliantly and it sets up the third film perfectly, leaving you wanting more, whilst also tying almost everything from this film up. It’s just a shame that the way the film is constructed is so sloppy and intentionally difficult to enjoy because underneath all that is a good film.
Saw II is a bad sequel, but it had promise to be a great one. It’s almost like twelve months isn’t enough time to make a film from scratch, especially when you’re still needing to work on a small budget.