Saw II (R, 2005)

SAW II brings back the serial killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), this time as a self-styled family counselor with terminal cancer. It seems that Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is not paying proper attention to his troubled son Daniel (Erik Knudsen), and so Jigsaw takes a moralistic interest. Eric comes with the usual compromised background: he's been riding a desk since his own coppish corruption was exposed five years ago. Empowered by his deadly illness, Jigsaw gathers together an assortment of Eric's rigged-evidence victims, recently released from prison and puts them in a booby-trapped house with young Daniel. He also arranges to have every room monitored by video camera, the feeds available for viewing by the cops, in Jigsaw's lair.

As before, Jigsaw points out to anyone who will listen that he doesn't actually kill anyone, he just sets up his victims and then offers them "choices." Their icky deaths are their own fault. Such reasoning was the premise of Saw, a surprise hit that recycled hoary psycho killer conventions to extra-splattery effect ("There will be blood"). In SAW II, the repetition is only compounded: Jigsaw is suffering from terminal cancer, which he presumes grants him moral authority: "Those who do not appreciate life do not deserve life."

 

And as always, Jigsaw ("Call me John," he tells Eric) is chatty in the extreme, explaining his games far beyond the point of interest. He talks at Eric and by tape, he talks at the victims in the house (including Franky G, Glenn Plummer, and the first film's Shawnee Smith, returned for more abuse). None of the players in this game is particularly appealing. But even as the film's focus on sadistic pleasures raises questions about audiences' desire to "watch," it's all retread.

Studio: Lionsgate
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Cast: Beverley Mitchell, Donnie Wahlberg, Tobin Bell
Genre: Horror
Run time: 93 minutes
Theatrical release: October 28, 2005
DVD release: February 14, 2006
MPAA Rating: R
MPAA explanation: grisly violence and gore, terror, language and drug content