Saw II (almost four, but not quite)

Written by Guest Hoosier Revue-er: Josh Schiller

The first installment of the Saw series was a fabulous combination of gore, intelligent writing, and unexpected plot twists. Going in to see Saw II felt like going to see The Usual Suspects II if they ever made it – how could it work? I was skeptical, but it worked. (Not that Saw measures up to Suspects, but you get the idea.)

Here’s what you need to know from Saw: a serial killer (and terminal cancer patient) nicknamed Jigsaw gives his victims a choice: give up something nice (like your leg) or die in a horrible way. Think Fear Factor gone horrifically wrong. His victims wake up from having been drugged and learn of their precarious situations through a creepy voice on a mini-cassette tape or a video of some jacked-up dummy. Jigsaw claims that he’s doing a public service because all these people were flawed and didn’t appreciate life. Now they do. Unfortunately, all but one of them dies (normally by their own hand) learning the lesson. Bummer.

Saw II starts in the same vein. Some guy wakes up with a contraption on his head that will snap shut impaling his face with a hundred spikes once the timer runs out. The only way to get it off is to cut out his eye to get the key that has been surgically placed behind it. Nice.

From there, the movie focuses on Donnie Wahlberg playing Detective Eric Matthews, a down and out cop who used to be good, but now he inexplicably just sucks. The former New Kid is divorced, has a strained relationship with his son, and is generally unmotivated to do any police work.

Jigsaw’s calling card is found at a crime scene and Donnie, using his superhuman photographic memory skills, leads the SWAT team to raid his hideout. They discover that Donnie’s son has been kidnapped and is trapped in a house with seven former convicts. They are getting slowly gassed with a deadly nerve agent and have two hours to live. Since not breathing isn’t an option, they need to find antidotes which are blocked by elaborate contraptions that could cause unimaginable pain or bleeding. Of course, the police are powerless to do anything except sit at Jigsaw’s lair and watch the video feeds from the house.

Since Donnie doesn’t really want his son to die, he talks with Jigsaw to find out where this is all happening. At times reminiscent of Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey in Se7en, this is one of the stronger parts of the film.

At the house where everyone is trapped, the eight (oops, make that seven) people are sitting around coughing and arguing about what to do. Each character is either scared, pissed off, or a peacemaker and none of them seems capable of complex thought. One of them is Amanda from the first movie who survived a jaw-wrenching contraption. She’d be a guide except no one listens to her – they’d rather all split up. Did I mention they’re all coughing? Rather than building the suspense, the painful dialogue and dizzying cuts make you hope for someone to die – the more gruesome, the better.

Meanwhile the police are the most ineffective crime-fighting squad this side of Iraq. This almost ruined the movie for me. I’m sorry, but if you used the SWAT team to raid the lair of a maniacal serial killer, your backup should arrive in under two hours. The dialogue here is laughable and repetitive – it’s like they did a bunch of takes of the same scene and inserted them throughout the movie.

While the first 80 minutes of this movie felt like a stall tactic, there were several cool death scenes that rivaled Saw. Unfortunately, the cassette tapes, which I loved in the first one, were used less. Also, Jigsaw has departed a bit from his “I don’t kill them, they end up killing themselves or each other” mantra. The acting sucked, but it also did in Saw. The dialogue was worse – they couldn’t get beyond their one-dimensional characters.

However, and most importantly, the ending was intelligent and once again was a complete surprise. It completely redeemed the movie. The dialogue and acting almost got in the way, but in the end the gore, the originality, and the ending carried the film. There are very few films like the Saw franchise. If you’re on the fence, I’d suggest renting Saw. If you liked Saw, definitely go see Saw II. And if you liked Se7en and haven’t seen either Saw movie, watch them.