Parents' Guide to

Saw II

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Gruesome and explicit -- not for kids.

Movie R 2005 93 minutes
Saw II Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 16+

Based on 21 parent reviews

tvgirl
tvgirl Adult
July 1, 2009
age 16+

Let-Down of a Sequel to a Great Psychological Thriller

Okay, how could this happen? After a wonderful psychological thriller in 2004, "SAW" has a sequel in 2005 that is, well, less than what is expected. This film is about a handful of Jigsaw's new victims finding their way through a test-rigged house. Things to look out for are: References to adultery and affairs, an offensive and hurtful sexual remark toward a woman to her face, gratutious vicious brooding violence throughout including on-screen torture and brutality toward defenseless victims, profanity throughout with the most frequent cuss being the "F" word, and references to the use of illegal narcotics. Bottom line: This movie is rated R. Ages 16+. 4/5 stars. Enjoy.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
2 people found this helpful.
ContentFlag
ContentFlag Adult
July 19, 2022
age 18+

Rated 18 (strong horror, injury detail, violence).

MAIN CONTENT ISSUES - There are prolonged sequences of strong horror and threat throughout, which have a sadistic edge. These mainly involve scenes of people in various "traps", who are forced to face and suffer grisly ends, such as a man who has a spiked mask ready to close on his head unless he retrieves the key to unlock it from his eye, a scene where an alive man burns to death in a furnace, a scene where a woman is forced into a pit filled with used syringes to look for a key, and a scene where a woman puts her hands into a box but unbeknownst to her, the arm holes are made of razor blades and cut deep into her wrists causing massive bloodshed. Many of these traps also result in graphic sight of bloody injury detail, such as when needles are pulled from a woman's skin, a scene where a man cuts his own skin from the back of his neck, and a shocking moment where a man is shot through the head with a gun rigged to the peephole of a door, resulting in his brain being exposed and sight of blood pouring from the wound. There are a few scenes of strong violence, such as a man being struck on the back of the head with a spiked baseball bat, a man beating another man up as well as breaking his finger and kicking him on the ground, and a scene where a man has his throat cut by another man with a saw blade causing blood to pour from the wound. | OTHER ISSUES - There is frequent use of strong language ("f*ck") and frequent use of milder language. One brief but bloody scene shows a woman self-harming as she cuts her wrist with a razor blade. One moderate verbal sex reference. References to drug addiction and drug dealing. | RATED "18" - Suitable only for persons aged 18 years and over. Contains content recommended for viewing by adults only.
1 person found this helpful.
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What's the Story?

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.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (21):
Kids say (61):

Even as this film's focus on sadistic pleasures raises questions about audiences' desire to "watch," it's all retread. 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). But none of the players in this game is particularly appealing.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Saw II's rudimentary efforts to set up the killer's "moralistic" framework. How does Jigsaw judge his victims in order to rationalize his cruelty?

  • How might the father and son have worked out their conflict in a less sensational way? What does the son want from his father? And where is the mother in all this?

  • How do the gory images and the violence in movies like this impact viewers, especially young ones? Why do you think there's been a trend toward these "torture porn" movies?

Movie Details

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