Saw II (2005)

I think we can all agree that Saw was a brilliant horror. It was tense, suspenseful and had one of the best plot twists ever. They tried to replicate that with Saw II and it worked. Only in part though.

In this one, detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is called to a crime scene of a victim of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and finds a lead that brings him to the serial killer's hiding place. Once there, a horrible reality awaits him: eight people are trapped in a shelter and they are inhaling a lethal nerve gas; one of those people is Matthew's son (Erik Knudsen). As Matthews tries to convince Jigsaw to free his son, the eight victims fight for their lives.

It isn't as complex and well-thought as the original was, and there are plenty of holes, nevertheless, the plot is quite interesting and intriguing, and there still are some good twists. Only this time there are too many of them and they don't always make sense.

However, there's a huge difference between the original movie and this one, that being that Saw II isn't a combination of thriller and horror, but only a thriller. There's very little horror in this one, but it works just fine as a psychological thriller.

Lionsgate Films

Another huge difference is the role Jigsaw plays in the story. I'm not sure having him out and front all the time was the brightest of the ideas. The character was handled very poorly (Tobin Bell did a pretty good job though), his lines are just terrible, pretty much only metaphors that don't have a lot to do with what's happening in the film. Also, I think the filmmakers should have kept hidden his motivations. His background story just didn't work for me. 

That being said, and in spite of the fact that it relies basically only on gore, Saw II still manages to be an engaging and entertaining film with enough tension to keep you watching until the end.