Jigsaw has got more than severed fingers in mind

SAW II (2005)

Reviewed By Jerry Saravia

Though bloodier and nastier, "Saw II" is a fairly tightly-coiled, suspenseful if somewhat overwrought sequel to the surprise sleeper of 2004. Though it has less black humor and has more hysterically violent theatrics, it can still stand as a chilling movie in its own right.

We barely saw the killer in the original "Saw" - now he is seen in full-closeup as the Jigsaw Killer (Tobin Bell) who wears a black and red hood and speaks in a deep voice. He lives in some abandoned warehouse and keeps a house somewhere with its own Rube Goldberg contraptions (apparently, he doesn't clean up the bloody mess left over from previous victims). Donnie Wahlberg is Eric, a cop who plants evidence on his criminal suspects. He has his own headaches to deal with, including a son who is in and out of jail. Nothing can compare to the latest scenario - Eric's son has been kidnapped and held in a room with other victims of the Jigsaw Killer. They have to find the clues to get out, though there are traps one must be wary of including a gun trap behind a locked door, a Syringe Pit, an incinerator, and several other grisly contraptions that might give the characters in "Pit and the Pendulum" nightmares. Some of these rooms contain syringes that can save the group from a deadly, noxious gas. Of course, time is a factor, and there are those mini-tape players with instructions. If you have seen the original "Saw," you know what you are in for.

The group locked in the room are not the most entertaining bunch to be around. There is a muscular, selfish, unsympathetic idiot (Freddy G) who spends a lot of yelling - you want to see him dead before the final reel. There is also Eric's son (Erik Knudsen); a young, frightened girl (Beverley Mitchell); and returnee Amanda (played once again by Shawnee Smith). Excepting Amanda, the rest of the characters are anonymous and one only hopes they can get out alive, except for that hulking idiot.

"Saw II" does have a little more character exposition, notably with the Jigsaw Killer. He explains why he does what he does - he is trying to make his victims appreciate life more with what they have. Amanda, for example, was a heroin addict who survived a bear trap, and now she has thoughts of suicide which is why she is back in his lair. Most pressing question: how does the Jigsaw Killer choose and keep track of all of his victims? Email? MySpace profiles? Or does he have access to police files? Maybe we will find out in "Saw III."

"Saw II" has those frantic cuts from every camera angle that sometimes work (particularly in the death scenes), other times they are distracting (the numerous flashbacks). The movie, though, is unnerving, gory, and makes your bones chill. Tobin Bell is an impressive actor who makes the Jigsaw Killer a sympathetic monster by making us think he might have just cause for what he does, no matter how demented. You may forget the supporting characters but you won't forget the Jigsaw Man.