Ahoy, squirts! Quint here, freshly back from SAW 2. I'm starting to feel like the Grinch. First I didn't like FEAST then I got to spew some venom at BLOODRAYNE and now I'm onto SAW 2, a film I expected to really like, but ended up really disliking. A lot.
SAW 2 is what everybody was trying to tell me SAW was. The ending is telegraphed from very early on (despite the fact that it makes little sense -without going into spoilers- since, if you think about it, it doesn't fit Jigsaw's character at all), the characters are cliches played by bad actors and the editing is all flashy with little to no substance.
I would argue any of those points with the original. Sure, Carey Elwes' American accent acting is sub-par, but he wasn't playing a staple of the horror genre. Danny Glover in the original went through some rough shit. I still think the scene where he gets his throat slashed is fantastic, made even more fantastic by the fact that he lives through it. And I still hold that the end to the original SAW was one of the only "earned" twists or revelations or whatever the hell you want to call a surprise on the end of the movie in the recent memory.
The atmosphere was tense, the creepiness was really creepy, the tension was palpable and the style unique. It's a flawed movie, but it succeeded where it needed to.
Everything I just said above... reverse it and apply it to SAW 2.
This time we have a cop who is drawn in to looking at the case of the Jigsaw killer by a more than friendly female cop. He's got an estranged teenage son who disappears. I wonder if that comes back?
The B story (which should be the A story) focuses on a bunch of people who wake up in a run down booby trapped house. Mr. Police Officer's son is one of the group, which includes the sassy Latina, the buff macho muscle head, Amanda from the first movie, the white chick who only stands around whining and occasionally spitting up blood, the calm and collected black dude with a shady past and a creepy looking dude who probably has more character than any of group. Too bad he's not around long.
The SAW-ish devices set up in the house aren't nearly as cringe worthy as what we see in the original. There is only one scene that comes close to that squirmy fear of the first film in this new one... I won't give it away, but it involves needles.
Tobin Bell as Jigsaw has a lot more screentime in the movie and he is extremely solid and the MVP of the film. Donnie Wahlberg has a good look and I like that they didn't cast some hunky TV star or something in this role, but he's given lots of terrible cliched shit to say, so he never really gets a chance to shine. Shawnee Smith returning as Amanda is okay, I guess, but she was so much better in her tiny part in the original.
In my mind, SAW 2 is exactly what people fear will happen with a sequel. Most of the time the sequels aren't awful, but just lose their way and forget what people liked about the original.
There are a couple of interesting bits and some familiar scenery that might make the fans smile, but I can't recommend paying to see this. It puts THE FOG to shame, but that isn't saying much.
-Quint
