SAW II

Ratings : * Avoidable ** Average *** Good **** Must Watch

After an argument with his rebellious teenage son Daniel, Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is called to the scene of yet another death perpetrated by the Jigsaw Killer (Tobin Bell). Following clues from the scene, he is able to trace Jigsaw's lair to an abandoned steel factory. In a control room therein a set of computer monitors shows several people trapped in a mysterious house, among them Daniel and Amanda Y oung (Shawnee Smith), Jigsaw's only known survivor. Jigsaw himself is present in the factory, though considerably weakened by cancer. He promises that Matthews will see his son in a "safe, secure state" if he will converse with him patiently.

In the house, the eight learn from a microcassette that, though the doors to the house will open in three hours, a toxic nerve gas which will kill them in two hours is leaking into the house and that they must find antidotes, one of which is in a nearby safe. Gus is soon killed by a shotgun when he and Xavier test the rules that Jigsaw has presented.

The story now intercuts between Jigsaw's lair as Matthews talks with him in an attempt to buy time while the video signal is traced, and the captives in the house trying to secure antidotes. Obi (Tim Burd), an accessory to the other victims' kidnappings, is burned alive while attempting to retrieve two antidotes in a furnace. The group later finds a pit filled with thousands of hypodermic syringes, with a key to an antidote hidden within. Xavier, the intended victim, throws Amanda into the pit rather than search for the key himself. Amanda retrieves the key, but Xavier fumbles with it and fails to unlock the door to the antidote before its timer runs out.

Meanwhile, Jigsaw explains his evolution into a criminal to Matthews and reveals to him that the victims trapped in the house are criminals that Matthews has framed, and that his son is in danger should his identity be discovered. Matthews, growing impatient with Jigsaw's philosophical ramblings, trashes the models and plans but fails to move Jigsaw.

Xavier, having abandoned the others, realizes that one number of the combination to the safe has been written on the back each of the victims' necks. After killing Jonas, he begins stalking the remaining four, who have been made aware that Daniel is the son of their arresting officer. Laura soon dies from gas exposure, and Addison's arms become trapped in a glass box containing razors.

Matthews, meanwhile, loses control and violently assaults Jigsaw, eventually forcing him to take him to the house at gunpoint. As they depart, the tech team discovers the signal and follows it. In the house, Xavier pursues Amanda and Daniel through a hidden basement, which leads to the bathroom of the first film, where Daniel then collapses. Amanda remarks that Xavier has no way of learning his own number, and he slices off a piece of skin from the back of his neck to read it. After he threatens Amanda, Daniel, who is revealed to have been playing possum, cuts Xavier's throat open with a hacksaw.The SWAT team arrives at the location of the video signal, but it is not the same house that has been shown on the monitors in Jigsaw's lair; the events in the house took place on a previous occasion, and were broadcast from tape. Matthews then enters the bathroom, now empty, and is injected in the leg by an unknown assailant and quickly loses consciousness. At the abandoned lair, a timer expires and a safe opens, revealing a hyperventilating Daniel inside wearing an oxygen mask. Matthews awakens to find himself chained to a pipe. An audio tape lying next to him reveals that Amanda has put him there. In a series of flashbacks, we learn that Amanda has become Jigsaw's protégé. Amanda appears in the door and says "Game over," before closing the bathroom door, Matthews screaming threats and abuse; though different characters, the scene is otherwise identical to the ending of the first film. Outside the house, a badly beaten Jigsaw slowly forms a smile.

My Rating : **

Genre : Horror/Thriller

Director : Darren Lynn Bousman

Cast : Donnie Whalberg, Tobin Bell, Shwanee Smith, Erik Knudsen, Franky G, Glenn Plummer, Timothy Burd