Writer: Leigh Whannell, Darren Lynn Bousman (Screenplay)
Starring: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Donnie Wahlberg, Erik Enudsen, Franky G, Glenn Plummer, Emmanuelle Vaugier
Plot: A detective and his team must rescue 8 people trapped in a factory by the twisted serial killer known as Jigsaw.
Tagline – We Dare You Again.
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Good Sequel
Story: Saw II starts as we meet Detective Eric Matthews (Wahlberg), the lead investigator into Jigsaw now, he has been struggling with his parental duties with his son Daniel (Knudsen) but when he gets called out by Jigsaw, the team get their first lead. Closing in on Jigsaw or as we know now John Kramer (Bell) he finds himself watching over his son inside the latest game.
We follow Daniel with the other victims including drug dealer Xavier (G), returning victim Amanda (Smith) and Jonas (Plummer) as they must navigate their way through this game as Daniel watching on hopelessly learning the motivation behind all of John’s ideas.
Thoughts on Saw II
Characters – John Kramer is the man we know as Jigsaw now, he hosts the games and this time he brings the detective to him, knowing he hasn’t got long left to live, he mocks them as he explains his actions and choices. Detective Eric Matthews has been tracking Jigsaw for a while now taking over from the previous case, he finds his son in the latest game and must listen to the motives behind the games. Daniel is Eric’s son that is in the game, his true identity could be his undoing as he is put in the game with the criminals. The criminals in the game all have been involved in Eric’s cases and all have their own problems.
Performances – Tobin Bell fast became the face of this franchise and you can see why in his calm performance throughout. Donnie Wahlberg is good as the detective but you feel he doesn’t get to the same level as Glover did in the previous film. Erik Knudsen is good as is Shawnee Smith, we have good performance from the whole cast.
Story – The story continues in the hunt for Jigsaw, we know who he is now but the police still don’t know his identity. We follow how one detective gets put to the test to learn who the selection of new victims are that are with his son while we also get the first steps into the backstory for Jigsaw and what his goals with the games are. This does build a bigger world picture by the time we are done and just leaves you wanting more.
Horror/Mystery – The horror once more from the games being played by our victims, we get more graphic games here but that is because of the style of battle to survive, the mystery isn’t on the same level but we do have one as we wonder why these people have been selected.
Settings – The settings keep us in dark warehouse rooms which show how low the people need to go to make it out alive and how easy the traps could be to create.
Special Effects – The effects are used well to create the kills and games which look practical for the most part too.
Scene of the Movie – Final reveal.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Some of the cut editing is too flashy.
Final Thoughts – This is a good sequel to the original, it continues to build the world and most importantly brings us a twist that is even bigger than before.
Overall: Good sequel, keep watching.