 |
| A version of the poster with two cut-off fingers that the MPAA banned, for Darren Lynn Bousman's Saw II |
A temperamental police officer searches out Jigsaw, the sadistic mastermind of the horrors of Saw (2004), but he then finds that the hooded psychopath has his own disobedient teenage son locked in in a gaseous hell with a group of ex-cons...
Saw II is written by Leigh Whannell (Saw) and co-writer/director Darren Lynn Bousman (Identity Lost (2001)).
The scenario of Saw II feels like the crazy life-or-death reality show that cannot be produced in real life. The new death traps draw inventively on claustrophobia, fear of needles, the inherent reluctance against cutting in one's own eyes, the fear of burning alive and more. The film achieves a high level of suspense due in part to the committed performances of Donnie Wahlberg (Dead Silence (2007)), who is good as the officer in question, and Tobin Bell (Buried Alive (2007)) as the diabolical lunatic Jigsaw.
But the script has some weaknesses: It seems incredible that Wahlberg smuggles mass-murderer Jigsaw out from confinement past all of his colleagues to locate his trapped son's whereabouts. The film's ending is too reminiscent of the first film's; it lacks closure and is unsatisfying. The smart thing about it from a franchise point of view is that it leaves the viewer in the condition of wanting more.
The mania of editing violently is intensified from Saw and annoys to some degree. Still, Saw II is a fair sequel.
Related posts:
Darren Lynn Bousman: Saw III (2006) - Good performances in Bousman's grisly third trappings
Saw franchise: Saw (2004) - Wan and Whannell's landmark horror beast
Tobin Bell gives an interview about the movie here
Cost: 4 mil. $
Box office: 147.7 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 36.92 times the cost)
[Saw II was released 28 October (North America and 4 other markets) and runs 93 minutes. Wishing to fast-track production after the first film's major success to have a first sequel by next Halloween, the producers bought Bousman's unrelated The Desperate horror script and developed it into Saw II. With a budget 4 times the size of the first film's, shooting took 25 days from May - June in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The film opened #1 to a 31.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#3) and grossed 87 mil. $ (58.9 % of the total gross). The MPAA banned the film's 'severed fingers' poster but only after it was already released. More than 10k pints of blood were donated at the film's annual Red Cross-partnered 'Give Til It Hurts' blood drive. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 13.7 mil. $ (9.3 %) and Germany with 7.5 mil. $ (5.1 %). It is the highest-grossing Saw film in North America and the 2nd highest-grossing worldwide so far, after Saw III (2006). The film debuted #1 on the home video market, selling 3.9 mil. units in its first week in North America, accruing extra tens of millions of dollars. The franchise returned with Saw III (2006), also Bousman's and Bell's next gig. Saw II is rotten at 37 % with a 4.63/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Saw II?
No comments:
Post a Comment