Review #94: Saw 2 (2005)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Darren Bousman (Director): Saw 3, Saw 4, Repo! The Genentic Opera (2008)

Tobin Bell (Jigsaw): Saw

Shawnee Smith (Amanda): Saw

Dina Meyer (Kelly): Saw

Donnie Wahlberg (Eric): Dreamcatcher (2003), The Sixth Sense (1999)

Lyriq Bent (Rigg): Skinwalkers

Beverly Mitchell (Laura): Crow 2 (1996), 7th Heaven T.V. series

Emmanuelle Vaugier (Addison): Wishmaster 3 (2001), House of the Dead 2 (2005) (Pictured Right)
Trailer:

Saw 1 link

Tagline: Oh yes, there will be blood

Plot:

Jigsaw is back with a new game to play. This the police has finally caught up with him. Detective Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), Kerry (Dina Meyer) and members of S.W.A.T. have discovered Jigsaw's location and raided the building capturing the mastermind. Only to learn that Jigsaw is in the late stages of his cancerous health, and there are video monitors of eight people locked inside a room at an unknown location.

One of the captured people happens to be Det. Matthew's teenage son, Eric. Jigsaw informs the police that they have two hours to find an antidote to a deadly toxin that has been released into the room or they will die.

Meanwhile, the eight new members recruited all awake inside the room and learn of the "rules" Jigsaw has given them to play the game. The doors with automatically open in three hours, but within two hours, the deadly toxin will have already killed them. Inside the middle of the room is a safe, the combination to the safe lies in the back of each members head and the order can be found over the rainbow, at least according to Jigsaw's clues.

Inside that safe is the antidote to the toxin. Also given to them is a key, but it does not work to the door room. As one of them, Gus finds out, he accidentally triggers a fatal trap for himself. One of the hot new victims...Emmanuelle Vaugier...pictured below.

Minutes later that door opens and the remaining seven are free to wonder around in a sealed up abandoned house. Scattered around the house are clues, vials of antidote and deadly games marked for each of the individuals. They all soon discover that they were not randomly picked, but all have one thing in common, they all did prison time and they were all arrested by the same detective. That detective happens to be Eric's dad.

While the police detain Jigsaw and monitor the new game over a video link, Jigsaw wants to play a private game with Det. Matthews. It seems that Det. Matthews is the focus of the larger game as Jigsaw wants to teach him a lesson about dirty police work. Using his son, Eric, as a pawn in the game, Jigsaw plays a psychological game with Det. Matthews as the police rush to find the location of the house and save the surviving members of Jigsaw's game.

The bar was set really high with the first Saw movie in my book. The fast-track sequel well...let's just say the bar came down a few notches. Was it a horrible sequel? Not in my book. It still delivered in certain areas, but just like many sequels, it wasn't as good as the original. I was kind of hoping, with a bigger budget from the success of the first, that this movie might be better. But I was wrong. Oh well. Realistically, how could you top the awesome twist ending from the first movie? The twist ending in this one was nice, but it wasn't as crafty as the original.

I was also disappointed in some of the deaths in this one. I was hoping for more trap-choice deaths, and got a couple cop out deaths. For instance, like the death of the cute Beverly Mitchell (pictured right). Sorry if I spoiled her death for you, but if you watch the film for ten minutes, I'm pretty sure you would have figured her out to be a goner. Her character was completely useless. She was one of the "captive eight."

The film never revealed why she was there (what crime), any background story, and gave her an uneventful death. Wow...she died from the poison. Big deal. While the others in the house were looking for clues and ways out, she coward in the corner coughing up blood and was too sick to do anything. What's up with that? They've could had casted grandma into that scene. The film didn't even try to give the audience some type of emotional connection with her character, or any of the others. I just thought it was a waste of good eye candy.

Her death wasn't the only disappointment. * Highlight to read * Jonas dying from the bat was cool, but nothing to do with any Jigsaw trap. Xavier got his throat cut. Yippee! Not as inventive as I was expecting from a Saw movie.

Another disappointment for me was the mentality of the eight. I know they were criminals and all, but they didn't even try to work together. It was every man for himself. I've dealt with "alleged" criminals, and trust me, they'll work together if it benefits them. The movie had to build off there distrust and selfishness to create the "panic" atmosphere of the game. Honestly if the tried to work together, there wouldn't have been so many deaths. The movie probably would have been more boring, but that's why you have writers. Create the atmosphere, not just cross your fingers and throw out common sense.

So far I've bitched about the negatives, but there were some positives to the film (like returning Shawnee Smith to the film pictured left). First of all, the pit sequence was squirmy as hell. One of the characters were thrown into a pit of syringes to find a hidden key to unlock a vault that stored a vial of antidote. Over a hundred thousand syringes were used to make the pit. Apparently the bottom of the pit was layered with jello to give the pit some movement when the character was thrown in. I'm not a big needle person to begin with, and seeing all those needles and the character getting stuck with a few as they searched for the hidden key just really turned my stomach. It was awesome but...well just shivering to think of.

A good death in the film was the opening kill. The film called it, "The Venus-fly Trap". A dude woke up with an open iron mask of spikes (like Iron Maiden!) around his neck. He had to find the key and unlock the device within a minute otherwise the mask would shut, crushing his head. Jigsaw's clue: an x-ray of the dude's skull with a picture of a key located behind his eye. Now that just rocks! That's the sh*t I was hoping for all movie long...too bad it was the opening death.

Another good trap/kill was the gun behind the door. Realistically, what are the chances of the dude looking into the hole at the same time as the key turns? Probably not high, but it made a good statement. The glass hand ceiling box trap was another good idea, but badly executed. Seriously, I could see the mistake of putting your first arm through the hole and getting stuck, but to do the same thing to your left arm and your right got stuck? Come on'! A little bit more of common sense here. I'm sure there could have been a better way to do that trap. Maybe require one of the arms to pull something while having to use the other one to get the vial. Good idea, poor execution.

Overall, I was pleased with the sequel despite some of it's flaws. I was just happy that they were continuing the Saw franchise and laying down the ground work for many to come. Unfortunately the upcoming sequels just get worse and "ruin" the legacy of the first. But I credit that to the studio's fast-tracking them and rush, rush rush to the theatres. Each one comes out within a calendar year of the last. I like the enthusiasm and tradition of releasing the films close to Halloween, but put a little bit more effort and writing into these bad boys. At least they lived up to their tag line, there was plenty of blood.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on October 28, 2005 and made $87 million at the Box Office ($31.7 million opening weekend)
-Film shot in 25 days
-120,000 syringes were used in the Pit sequence; took 4 days to replace all the tips with fiber ones