Davis P
Saw II (2005) is of course the sequel to the famous Saw (2004). This sequel didn't really impress me all that much. I'll start with what I didn't really care for in the movie. One of the negatives about the movie is some of the cast members acting ability. Tobin Bell and Donnie Wahlberg both turn in good performances, but to be honest, the other actors just didn't really sell me on their performances or pull me into it the movie more. Another one of the negatives is that the movie as a whole isn't all that interesting. The first Saw movie is undoubtedly the best in the series, and it surpasses this second installment. To be completely honest, if you watch Saw for the traps, then you probably won't like this one, the jigsaw traps aren't that interesting or creative at all. The characters, except for Detective Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) and his teenage son, don't have much depth at all, which made me not really care about them very much. The writing is slightly below average. So all in all, Saw II gets a 4/10, just not a very entertaining film. I don't even think fans of the Saw films would enjoy it very much.
Kyle Swanson
Saw II, the first of the several sequels in the Saw's franchise. Is it any good as the original, well that would unfortunately be false, but does lives up to it's hope, well let find out.Basically after the events of the previous film, the actual Jigsaw Killer have been revealed to the Authorities as former Factory Worker and dying patient John Kramer, and they track him down to his factory/home, but right before they even Apprehend him, Kramer reveals he have already kidnaps 8 more people, all of which are trapped inside of an unknown building, that seems to be an abandon apartment, and Kramer refuses to reveals the Address. One of the newly victims, is just so happened to be the lead Detective's Juvenile Delinquent of a Son, which soon worries him, and making this be more of a bigger business to him. Meanwhile, the 8 victims who are all different from each other based on their Criminal Records, have no choice but to make it out alive together or else the Nerve Agent that Jigsaw puts inside the Building will kills them, and the goal for them is to find the Antidotes they need for their Survival, and while on the way, they comes upon deadly traps based on the Occupations of these Criminally-behaved Victims.This film is in-fact a good flick, but is different compared to it's predecessor. The use of Characters I will considered Mediocre, some of them such as the lead detective is a-bit of a Jerk but that the meaning of the character much like the doctor from the first film (Now by-a-way, if I sound like I'm bringing-up an Spoiler, well I'm not going to as I'm not trying to either, what you just read wouldn't be anymore as I say something bad to this character, but I'll not mentioned how, that you have to see for yourself), but some of the other characters like some of the victims now I kinda understand they should act like this because they're Bad people and all, but they kinda took the roles too far into making them another group of unlikable characters, with the exception however with the Lead Detective's son, Amanda Young (Who returns in this film from the previous one), the African-American Gangster, and Xavier, the Hispanic Drug Dealer. The son of the Lead Detective was I would say an Emotional character, somewhat related to some, and Amanda was nice to see in this, especially as a main character now. The gangster was a-bit emotional to see too, I loved the scene between him and Xavier, just a very powerful speech, and speaking of which, Xavier was great to see as an secondary Antagonist, he was quite menacing to watch by the end of the film so. One last of the Victims, I want to bring-up so is an Pyromaniac named Obi. He didn't do that much in this movie so, only have one scene, and than boom, he finished, but he was a-bit of a cool character to see, quite quiet which builds him up here, and I wished he was shown a-bit more, like I wished they gives a-bit more of a Personality. The one last character I bring up in general, is no other than Jigsaw himself. It was neat to see him as a main character this time too, and Tobin Bell who did a fantastic job like always, just playing a sick, dying old man. The traps are well-done in this one, my favorite when one of the main victims in this movie, opens a door that he not supposed to open because there's a gun that shoots him through the eye, just brutal. There is one complaint I do have however beside some of the characters, which is pretty much the unrealistic use of Nerve Agent, now Nerve Agent was also what Jigsaw gives to one of his victims in the first movie too, which I didn't brought up in my review of that one because I didn't think it was unnecessary, but I'm bringing it up now because it's a big part of this film, just how come through-out the film, it feels these people are in their for 2-3 hours, they should've dies already because of the poisoning. But oh-well, this did sorta overshadowed by what we seen in this film.So over-all Saw II is in my opinion is a fine sequel, just not the best in the series, but it is worth to watched.
ajourneywithjake
Building off of the brief appearance in the past film, Jigsaw takes a very large role in this film. This time, the primary focus is a group of people trapped in a house that features a variety of traps for them to overcome. Meanwhile, audiences watch as Detective Matthews has a battle of wits with Jigsaw himself in an effort to get his son back. When on screen together, these two characters have some very good scenes together. I found Jigsaw to be a very interesting and engaging villain who, instead of just being a depraved serial killer, takes the approach of trying to help people in his own disturbing, convoluted way. It was also interesting to see the series' lore expand, integrating some of the characters in new and unexpected ways. I did still find the traps to be very cringe-worthy and some of the deaths to be downright traumatic and disturbing to watch. If it wasn't for the plot being as engaging as it was, I probably would have stopped watching. The sets in this film are also much like those of the first film. This time they have a broader scope since they take place in a house versus a single room. The producers again did an excellent job of creating the practical and special effects, making the gore seem very real on screen. On the whole they did a pretty good job creating this film and managed to avoid delivering a bad sequel like so many horror franchises succumb to. I put it as slightly just under the first film in terms of quality. While Jigsaw is an improvement, the emotional stress just doesn't have the same weight behind it as Cary Elwes's character did in the first film.You can read this and other reviews on my blog at https://ajourneywithjake.wordpress.com
GL84
Attempting to track down the Jigsaw killer, a detective and his team's raid on a hideout reveals his son's involvement in a deadly game with other victims inside a house filled with traps and must rescue him before succumbing to the traps.This here ended up being quite the overall bland effort here. As with the rest of the franchise, the biggest problem here is with the feeling of his own brand of punishment being too far self-centered that there's little to gleam from the ethics and morality found here which tends to come away rather wholeheartedly. This one spends so much time trying to pontificate over doling out a sense of righteousness to his actions that there's just nothing that can be taken from who he's specifically targeting with this one seemingly bent on trying to bring about the fact that what's happening is of a great good to the individual. The gathered group is all supposedly tied together with the detective yet nothing here is really all that positive about why they're being targeted. Once it's discovered what the connection is, that makes his attempt at teaching them lessons seem even more foolhardy and suspect here with a simply lame reasoning to suspect that he's truly in trouble. Not only that, it's dropped way too late into the film anyway which makes this seem all the more confusing and pointless which renders this one irritatingly non-essential about that twist. Coupled with a series of utterly baffling character decisions that render this one rather non-descript and a bland first half that tends to leave all the kills here in the second half, there's a lot of flaws and problems here. While these here all hold this one down, there's very little here that's worthwhile. All of that positive force here comes from the traps on display, which are quite brutal in their execution if completely lacking in their connection to the types of traps usually featured in the series. There's some rather cruel and brutal traps here, from the crawl through the incinerator or the trap-door pit full of needles that's quite squirm-inducing. The other fine action in the last-half here as everyone turns on each other to get out of the house which gets interesting with some decent brawling and stalking that results in some enjoyable gore, but otherwise the flaws here are more impactful overall.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and children-in- jeopardy.
