Saw II: finally ties up Part 1, but not the best Saw film! (Saw II (DVD))

Member Name: stephbond89

Product:	Saw II (DVD)
Date:	20/09/09 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good effects, a good storyline on it's own, ties up the ending of the first film.

Disadvantages: It doesn't really tie in the rest of the series.

Film Only review:

Details:
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Release Date: 28th October 2005
Certification: 18 (UK)
Runtime: 103 minutes

This is the second film in the Saw series. If you haven't watched the first in the series, first of all I wouldn't recommend watching this film, as really you need to have seen the first film for the things to make sense. But this film kind of ties up (finally!) the ending of Saw Part 1! So if you haven't watched the first film, there may be spoilers in this review from that film, which can't really be helped been revealed, so beware :)

Plot:
When another Jigsaw victim is found, Detective Eric Matthews gets on the case, but when he gets caught up in the evil games himself, things go from bad to worse for the detective. With 8 people locked in a cell which is contaminated by nerve gas, which they have two hours to get the anecdote for before they die. In amongst the chosen ones, is Daniel, Eric's son.

The group have to work together to get through the gruelling tasks set up by Jigsaw, but will they work together to get the anecdote, or will they put themselves first? But there is one thing they don't know, without every group member, none of them will get out alive!

Opinion:
Saw II is my least favourite of all the Saw films, I must admit. Although it is excellent and the effects as with Saw Part 1 are fabulous, the film doesn't really give much insight into the rest of the storyline of the overall Saw series.

Although Saw Part 1 is finaly tied up (well kind of!) with the body of Adam who was locked in a cell at the end of the first film, been found decomposing, and the story of Amanda progressing. Amanda is the only person ever to escape one of Jigsaws games in the first film...

The film doens't really make anything new come to life, which is good in one way- it means you can watch the film without really needing to watch the rest of the series to know what happened, and in fact this is the one film I have watched the least, seeing as my brother in law took it from our Quadrilogy DVD set and has never given it back, and when my brother and I were watching the set, and we got by fine without the second film. But in itself the film is pretty good.

Something which I found weird was that this film is directed by someone different to the previous film, I would have thought that they would all have been directed by the same person, this could explain why it is different in the way it's done. Although very similar to Saw Part 1 with the storyline, effects and even characters, the film is different in the way it's shot.

But all in all, this film is definitely my least favourite of the Saw series.

Summary: Although a good film on it's own, as part of the Saw series, it's not really needed!