Saw II

Darren Lynn Bousman
2005

Splat pack member Bousman takes the helm of this sequel as he would for the next two after it. This outing has little of the original's style and cleverness, though benefits greatly from plenty of face time with Tobin Bell's Jigsaw. The dreary and alienating industrial sets of the original are watered down here, with the majority of the action taking place in an abandoned house set that comes off as woefully artificial. The participants of this game suffer from the old horror flick problem of shallow characterizations and unsympathetic personalities. Once again, the cop drama angle is tired and cliched with Donnie Wahlberg as a central casting detective, and a gaggle of lifeless SWAT members along for the ride. Also, the use of Sarin Gas slowly permeating throughout the house, making it's captives vomit blood, is plain ludicrous. In low doses Sarin causes spasms, drooling, and loss of control of bodily functions, which would frankly have been a far more compelling gross-out than the occasional bloody loogie. I was a little disappointed at how few traps there were this outing, with more than a few of the prisoners/players falling at each other's hands. However, the hypodermic needle pit is handled well and the razor box (your hands can get in but won't come out) is pretty neat as well. For all it's numerous faults, the twist ending is solid and the film remains watchable. I'm definitely willing to give round three a chance.