SAW II (2005)
© Lions Gate Films

Mania Grade: B-
Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release
Rated: R
Stars: Donnie Wahlberg, Shawnee Smith, Tobin Bell, Franky G., Glenn Plummer, Dina Meyer, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Beverly Mitchell, Erik Knudsen
Writers: Darren Lynn Bousman & Leigh Whannell, based on characters created by James Wan & Leigh Whannel
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Distributor: Lions Gate Films

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SAW II

After a suitably grisly prologue, the police manage to close in on Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), a serial killer (though he disputes that designation, insisting that he's never directly killed anyone) who kidnaps victims who he feels aren't appreciating their lives enough. He then gives them a series of riddles and puzzles that theoretically will allow them to escape the extremely complicated and deadly traps where he's placed them. Even though Detectives Ernie Mathews (Donnie Wahlberg) and Kerry (Dina Meyer) and their people are confronting Jigsaw in his lair, he is reluctant to cooperate with their efforts to find the eight people Jigsaw currently has confined in a house somewhere. Time is running out and it's personal for Mathews ...

Although Darren Lynn Bousman has taken over directing and co-writing reins from James Wan original writer Leigh Whannel is still aboard in a scripting capacity SAW II upholds its predecessor's bloody, grungy, freaked-out ethos. Some of the puzzles here never do get solved, and of course a number of them don't work the way anybody expects. There are shocks, there are twists and there is that sense of real creepiness, a la THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, that comes from the filth and decay everywhere.

The movie does put us in the curious position of empathizing to some extent with Jigsaw not that we pass judgment as he does, but that we do wind up genuinely wondering exactly how far his captives will go to try to beat the odds and survive. SAW II never quite makes this as emotionally difficult as its predecessor, as the choices here are a little more straightforward, but the challenges are nevertheless grueling to contemplate and observe. However, we seldom empathize much with the victims in the house they are a largely quarrelsome bunch and despite their pitiable plight, we wind up feeling a little impatient at times. The overall effect is intriguing and repulsive, but not often actually frightening.

Bell has a serenity that makes him a credible evil genius (and the actor does his best to play sympathetically against the self-righteousness inherent in the role) and Shawnee Smith, another returnee from SAW I, is potent as one of the captives. Glenn Plummer is appealing as the voice of sanity among the group, while Wahlberg puts across credible anguish and distress as the short-tempered investigator on the case.

SAW II is inventive, gruesome and mildly disturbing, but because we are invited to watch with clinical detachment, it never gets quite gets under our skin.