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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Saw 2 (2005)

“Saw 2” came out to the theaters the year after the original premiered and builds nicely upon the established storyline. James Wan had moved on to other projects by this time and Leigh Whannell came back to rewrite a script that the current director, Darren Lynn Bousman, had written previously. The end result is another clever work that seems larger and feels like a step in the right direction.

The film is the Jigsaw Killer, aka John Kramer, who is apprehended by the police during a raid. John is cocky and self-assured and reveals that he wants to play one of his “games” with Detective Eric Matthews. All Detective Matthews needs to do is to listen to John talk for two hours and if he does so, he’ll be able to see his son again. At this point it is revealed that Detective Matthews son Daniel is playing a “game” of his own; Daniel is trapped in an inescapable house with seven other victims, one of which is Amanda Young, the only survivor of a Jigsaw “game”. The eight victims in the house have two hours to work together to find a way out before a deadly toxin in the air kills them. The eight victims are all connected by being convicts who were falsely arrested by Detective Matthews after he planted evidence on each of them, and none of them realize that Daniel is his son.


The first victim, Michael, is a police informant, a useful contact for Detective Matthews. His "game" is that he needs to dig out a key that has been surgically placed behind his eye. He had one minute to dig into his head with a scalpel, get the key, and unlock a iron maiden-like spring trap on his head.

The first "game" in the house wasn't intended for any particular person. The rule was simple, don't use the key in the locked door. One unnamed guy did and he was shot in the eye by a booby trapped gun.

The second house "game" is for Obi. He is a con artist who helped kidnapped the other housemates. His "game" is to climb into an oven and retrieve two vials of an antidote. He goes in and gets the first one without a problem. The second needle triggers the door to close and the oven to turn on. Obi has the chance to turn a valve that will stop the flames but he would be seriously burned by doing so. By not, he'll burn up and die anyway....which he does.

The third house "game" was for Xavier. The group finds a room that has a pit full of syringes with a key somewhere inside. Xavier throws Amanda into the pit and she finds the key but Xavier doesn't use the key on time to free them.

The final "game" is a trap that traps a person's hands (and cuts them up). The player of course puts both hands into the slots so they can't free one without the other. Who knows who this trap was meant for.

One house guest dies from the toxin before getting to play a game while Daniel and Amanda never find their own "game" to play.

Detective Matthews fails his game after he beats John up badly and John finally agrees to take the Detective to the house. But Detective Daniels failed his "game" and is now gone when the safe in John lab opens automatically and reveals his son safe inside.
The big twist at the end of this film is the reveal that Amanda is actually Jigsaw's apprentice and helper. It explains how he was able to kidnap and set up the "games" in the first movie! 

The best part of this film is when Daniel and Amanda escape into the industrial bathroom where Dr. Gordon and Adam were chained up! Seeing the aftermath and the decayed bodies is incredible and a great way to tie both films together.


The informant and his "game"

John Kramer, the Jigsaw Killer

Hand trap!

Amanda playing Xavier's "game"

The housemates

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