Saw II (2005)

This year’s monthlong Halloween event, Saw-mhain, continues! Saw was incredibly successful, both in terms of cultural influence as well as profitability, so it makes sense that there’d be a sequel. But the very next year? That’s one hell of a turnaround, but this little franchise that could would continue doing that until the seventh film, confusingly titled Saw 3D. Also, this one is the first to be directed and co-written by Mr. Darren Lynn Bousman, who would return to the franchise several times. Hmmmm, why is that name familiar…?

After opening with a guy failing to cut a key out from behind his eye and dying in what’s effectively an iron maiden designed solely for his face, our mainest of protagonists is Detective Eric Matthews, played by a poor man’s Mark Wahlberg. Wait, that’s actually Donnie Wahlberg? Shit, I legitimately forgot he existed… ANYWAY! His son, Daniel (Erik Knudsen, who I know as Crash from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) is a little shit who doesn’t appreciate his life, which of course means he’s abducted by Jigsaw. But instead of doing individual lessons, this time John Kramer has thrown a bunch of people in a house together–find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real. Anyway, Amanda’s back! Turns out she didn’t do well after surviving Jigsaw’s previous trap and fell on hard times again. Beyond her and Daniel the only ones to really stand out are Jonas (Glenn Plummer) for trying to be the voice of reason, and Xavier (Franky G) for being the buff psycho who takes things way too far. The group has two hours before a nerve gas kills them all. Well, assuming they don’t die via things like a gun rigged to the peephole of a door. So long, Dead Meat #1! I’m sure you had a name.

Meanwhile, Detective Matthews works with fellow officer Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer, who had a small role in Saw and will return in Saw III) and manages to corner Jigsaw. Realizing his son is in danger, Eric tests the limits of his patience trying to calmly listen to Jigsaw prattle on about “survival of the fittest” and “Those who don’t appreciate life do not deserve life.” Back in the house, everyone who comes face-to-face with their custom made puzzle fails, leading to more deaths and Amanda being throw into a pit filled with used syringes. Another infamous trap, but holy shit, even knowing the syringes had fake needles, it’s rough to watch. Eventually the survivors of the group realize that Daniel is Detective Matthews’ son, which sucks for the kid because his dad framed all of the others in the house and they’re not happy about it. ACAB, through and through. Xavier decides to kill anyone who even mildly gets in his way and soon it’s down to him, Daniel, and Amanda. Huh, weird, Amanda and Daniel don’t seem to be suffering the effects of the nerve gas…

Back with Jigsaw, Matthews gives up trying the hard way and just beats the shit out of Kramer, who says he’ll lead the cop to the house. And that’s when we get our series of twists: The live feeds of the house the cops were watching were all actually recordings and the events happened days ago! Amanda was working with Jigsaw the whole time and plans on continuing his work after he’s died of cancer! Daniel was locked away in a safe at Kramer’s lair, meaning if Matthews was patient, he’d see his son alive! And the house is connected to the bathroom from the first movie! We also see Adam’s long dead corpse, so that sucks for co-writer Leigh Whannell’s character. Amanda locks Eric in the bathroom, chained to a pipe, leaving him to a fate reminiscent of the first film. I’m sure he’ll be fine.

This entry in the franchise feels like a Cube movie. Remember that film? Random people trapped in a Rubik’s cube of death, trying to survive, eventually learning they have stuff in common that can help them escape, but stymied by a guy who decides to go all psycho on everyone else? I can’t find any direct connections so it’s probably just a coincidence, but the parallels are there and I’d feel like I wasn’t doing my job if I didn’t point them out.

While the film shines more light on Jigsaw’s reason for doing everything he does, the man’s still absolutely deluded. Learning he was going to die of inoperable cancer, Kramer tried to kill himself and not only survived, but came out of the experience with a new appreciation of life. Then decided to torture and kill people he thought weren’t grateful enough for as long as he had left? And Amanda is just crazy for not only thinking this is all a great idea, but for wanting to continue it. Girl, you’re not the calculating engineer that Kramer is, so I just feel like we’re gonna get sloppy work from you (foreshadowing). I sometimes think of her as similar to Harley Quinn, but right now she’s stuck in the “Joker’s girlfriend” era, loyally following a psycho at her own peril. I just don’t think Kramer cares about her the way she does for him, but we’ll see as these movies continue. Or at least in Saw III and flashbacks after that.

This is also the first film in the series to be directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who even wrote the script for this entry, albeit originally as a movie called The Desperate that only got made after being turned into a Saw film. Hey, I know that guy! He’s directed Movie Night classics like Repo! The Genetic Opera and The Barrens, a movie starring Stephen Moyer that asks the question, “Does he have rabies or is the Jersey Devil real?” It makes sense in context, I swear. But Repo! is one of those movies I thoroughly enjoy but haven’t covered on the blog yet. Hm… I wonder if there’s a way to fix that relatively soon…

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Next: Saw III (2006)