Saw II (2005) Reviews

• A taught thriller

  vmwrites2005-10-28

  Saw II follows on the heels of Saw, as another taught, tense thriller. The mark of a great thriller/shocker/horror movie is the number of twists and turns, and this is what identifies Saw II as one of the better members of its genre. This is NOT a movie where people walk backwards into dark rooms. This is NOT a movie where people pull sheets off bodies. That's all too predictable for Saw II. In fact, there's virtually nowhere in this film, where you can say that you've got it figured out. Few movies keep me on the edge of my seat. This was one of them. There was no one dozing off during this flick. And the number of folks who walked out to take/make cell phone calls was the lowest I've ever seen. Like Saw, this sequel is more than a little bloody in some places, but that's to be understood. It was never promoted as a walk in the park. If you're in the mood for a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, this is worth a try. And this movie left more than a few folks in the audience waiting for another sequel.

• Wretched, but not in a good way

  analogeist832006-02-22

  Shame, shame, shame. I actually enjoyed the first Saw quite a bit, and had hopes that this installment would meet or surpass its predecessor in quality. Poor guess on my part. I am a huge fan of horror movies...I have been watching them since I was a child. This was no horror movie. It was a poorly put-together "psychological" thriller with some violence in it. Part of what made the first movie good was the anonymous evil-doer. Having Jigsaw out and front all the time just didn't do it for me. The movie tries to justify his motivations, but his diatribes into the human condition fall short of convincing me. Fear of the unknown is one of the strongest types of fear there is, and having the killer spell out all his intentions is really kind of a let down. Also, the twist just left me snoring. And another thing (whine whine whine) was that I just could not suspend my disbelief. So there is this terminal cancer patient who can barely walk, yet is able to put many large sturdy devices together. Sure, he has help, but look at all the gear setup, and you'll see what I'm getting at. Also, Jigsaw must be psychic. His big ransom is the son of the detective. So he sets up all these traps in order to reach a desired outcome. What if people dropped dead from the nerve gas early? What if one of the criminals flipped out and killed the boy early? Sure, he might have profiled them, but I had some of these same issues with Mindhunters. The kicker is that I just don't care about any of the characters in this movie. They're all jerks, and it doesn't pain me to see them die. The end. Don't see this movie, it is a waste of time.

• Less original, but still worth a look.

  Ledout2006-06-15

  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.

• overrated on IMDb

  ruomujiang2006-02-25

  This is my first post on IMDb. The reason I am devoting my first post to such a crappy movie is the 7/10 rating here fooled me into renting this DVD and now I want my money and time back. The biggest issue of this film is its lackluster plot. It's just painfully dumb comparing to similar film like "Cube" , which was shot ~ 10 yrs ago (are films getting better today ?). In "Cube", you also got people waking up inside some closed cell and they need to solve some puzzle to find their way out. But in SAW II, there isn't really any puzzle to solve. For the most part of the movie, you just watch the characters running around and getting killed. There is no intelligence involved in this movie. BTW, the characters are poisoned, this greatly compromises their mobility and thus makes it a lot harder for them to move from A to B, which in turn lengthens the film a lot. Also the traps are pretty lame. Another issue is that the characters are so stereotypical (loud and rowdy). The moment they are first introduced, I know they will start killing each other before long. Overall the movie deserves 1/10 and I wish I could give it -10^10 just to counter balance all the positive ratings this film doesn't deserve. Seriously, if you think this movie is good, you should watch "Cube" and think about the improvement filmmakers have achieved over 10 yrs. Also you should watch "Cabin Fever" coz it's an equally crappy movie and crappy movies have a lot in common.

• horrible

  pirateonweekends2005-11-05

  OK, if you've already seen the first one, you will be absolutely disappointed. it in no way lives up to the first one at all. first of all, saw was great because it was two kids on a low budget writing a script. they had to make up for the lack of money with the plot and script. secondly, the plot was really good and thick and everyone was connected in some odd way. the ending had so many twists, it was just brilliant. OK, now for saw 2. they had more money, so they definitely used it. instead of the people being in one room, it was one huge house. having more money took away from the effect, and most definitely the script, the plot and the acting. the plot had an unbelievable amount of holes in it. the people were connected by one stupid little line and the ending was absolutely ridiculous. one of the characters is just a complete idiot and decides to just get mad about everything. so, when he finds out there are numbers on the back of people's necks, instead of just kindly asking them to turn around, he kills them! finally, someone points out that he has a number on the back of his head that he's going to need, so he can't kill everyone. first of all, he tries seeing it with his little knife, then he decides to just cut it off, as any logical person would do. then, the murderer, john some how came up with a lot of money between dr gordon and now. before hand, his technique was simple. the tools he used to murder people could be found at a yardsale. in this one, somehow he got surgical equipment, the brains to do surgery and about five places with 20 computers. at some point in time, the writers seemed to have decided that it didn't matter that he had cancer, he can still do all this stuff. however, when you see him, he's in pretty bad shape. OK, now for the ending. remember the changed druggy, amanda? well, apparently, after she was almost killed, she decided the entire idea was a good one. so, she comes to john as an apprentice and decides to take his place as jigsaw. john becomes her yoda and teaches her the way of murder. at the end of saw 1, john had the memorable line of "GAME OVER". it was so great because of his voice, his appearance, everything. at the end of saw 2, amanda comes in, looking like she just went shopping and got her hair done and put on make up, and in a very little girl voice says "game over". absolutely horrible.