Saw II

Saw was an amazing film, but in many ways it left us with a blank slate. The film wrapped up all of its major storylines, while leaving Jigsaw alive, and a few minor tidbits that could later be written into a greater continuity. Saw II is where the franchise as it’s commonly remembered began. Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) is given a prominent role, the traps are much more elaborate and gory, the number of characters is vastly increased, and the story is clearly written with more intention of serialization.

The film once again follows two parallel narratives, but this time the two feel far more independent. The Police, led by Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Walberg), capture Jigsaw (aka John Kramer). In the other narrative, a group of characters wake up in a strange house. This group includes Amanda (Shawnee Smith), a returning character presented briefly in the last film as a heroin addict who became the only Jigsaw survivor, and Daniel (Erik Knudsen), detective Matthews son.

Matthews, discovering that Jigsaw has taken his son, is told by the killer that he can see his son safely again if he agrees to sit and talk. Meanwhile (or so it seems), the people in the house are told by one of Jigsaw’s tape recorders that a the house will unlock in three hours, but they’ll all die from poisonous gas before then unless they navigate a series of traps to find syringes containing the antidote. The police can see this happening on monitors, but don’t know where it’s taking place.

Talking about every character in this film would take way too long, but suffice it to say that, like the original Saw, this is a story carried by the performances. The trap victims are mostly stereotypes (the prostitute, the reformed gang member, the thug, the petty criminal kid whose being scared straight by the real criminals…), but the actors are good enough that you don’t really care.

The traps vary in quality. The Venus Flytrap mask at the beginning just came across as downright silly. Other traps make more effective use of simple fire and blades. The best trap of the film by far required Amanda to crawl through used syringes to find a key (a trap intended for another victim).

The real star here, though, is Tobin. This is the movie that made Jigsaw an icon. Somehow the man manages to remain intimidating through nothing but dialogue while hooked up to an IV, and surrounded by a SWAT Team. Matthews tries every possible form of intimidation, but John is completely unphased. Meanwhile, he plays with Matthews’ head, accusing him of being a hothead guilty of police brutality.

The film does eventually try to connect the narratives, but it’s much weaker here than in the previous film: Matthews planted evidence on each of the victims, and Jigsaw planted a clue that Daniel was his son. I find this plot twist to be wholly unnecessary. Only one of the victims, Xavier (Franky G), ever actually attempts to harm Daniel, and Xavier was already a murderous thug with a motivation to try to kill everyone. After they’d failed at all the other traps, he could unlock a safe with the final syringe using numbers tattooed on the backs of each person’s neck. Did the writers think he needed a justification to try extra-hard to kill Daniel, specifically? “Your son is in a trap with people you planted evidence on” already seems Jigsaw-esque enough without the added complication.

The final twist of this film is now almost as well known as the previous film’s twist: The events in the house were prerecorded, Daniel was in the same building as Jigsaw locked in a safe, and Amanda had secretly become Jigsaw’s apprentice. Matthews fails his “test” by brutalizing Jigsaw for information, and is captured by Amanda to be dispatched in a later film, and Amanda escapes with Jigsaw.

Is this film as good as the first? Hell no, not even close. However, as a way of setting up a franchise, it worked far better. It's definitely worth a watch.