| Review by: J.R.
McNamara |
| Date:
24/4/06 |
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Director: Darren Lynn
Bousman
Starring: Donnie Wahlberg,
Shawnee Smith, Tobin Bell, Franky G, Glenn Plummer,
Dina Meyer, Emmanuelle Vaugier
Screenplay: Leigh Whannell,
Darren Lynn Bousman
Music: Charlie Clouser
Tagline: Oh Yes, There
Will Be Blood.
Country: USA
Year: 2005 |
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Like many in Hollywood, Darren Lynn Bousman
had a script that he was shopping around to try
and get it filmed. Having already written and
directed a short (Butterfly Dreams)
and a feature (Identity Lost),
Bousman felt he was ready to direct his script
entitled 'The Desperate'. James Wan
and Leigh Whannell's Saw
had been getting brilliant reviews at Sundance,
and one producer was looking for a like-minded
script to capitalize on its success, and so after
a long time of being told his script was excessively
violent, he was now finally getting some interest.
On the eve of a deal being signed, Bousman's
script was deemed a worthy successor to the now
successful Saw and he was asked
to rewrite it as a sequel, with Leigh Whannell
eventually being brought on to tweak it as well.
The result became Saw 2.
Eric Matthews (an almost unrecognizable Donnie
Wahlberg from New Kids on the Block) is a cop
who has lost his edge. After being a police tough
guy for years, his divorce, and wayward son, Daniel
(Eric Knudsen) have reduced him to being a hollow
shell, a wasted life. In comes Jigsaw (Tobin Bell)
who has his son trapped in a building with other
miscreants (amongst who is the returning Shawnee
Smith), where they are slowly being poisoned…unless
they can find a way out. Matthews has to persevere
with Jigsaw's cryptic comments to determine
what he has to do to save his son's life…
Filmed like a heavy metal video, this has plenty
of quick cuts and some abrupt scene changes, although
there are also some clever EdTV
styled monitor to reality segues as well. The
performances are all pretty solid and some of
the traps are so icky (for want of a more mature
word) that your testicles may retreat into your
body and may not be seen for several hours.
My only gripe with this film is that the sequels
are being forced onto us. The idea of a sequel
was not obvious with the first film, and it seemed
more like Se7en in its autonomy,
but events in the second film suggest we are going
to see a landslide of these films…especially
considering Saw III is already
in production. |
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| Video |
| The image, obviously on a release as important
as Saw 2, is impeccable…although
I do suspect on occasion that a bit of edge-enhancement
may have been used, although the lighting scheme
for this film has made that not completely definitely
easy to ascertain. |
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| Audio |
| Nothing short of spectacular, the closing doors,
sounds of metal clunking and screams flying around
the room is a dizzying example of audio acrobatics.
This film is definitely one for a dark night when
you are all alone and will make you love your 5.1
system all over again! By the way, the music on
some of this soundtrack is incredibly similar to
some of Goblin's work on various Argento films,
and sounds great. |
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| Extra Features |
One of the Special Features is The Traps of Jigsaw,
which is a design and making of the various traps
and puzzles Jigsaw uses to torment his victims.
The mini documentaries within this feature are:
Jigsaw's Game (2 minutes 57 seconds), The
Head Trap (4 minutes 23 seconds), The Needle Pit
(8 minutes 37 seconds), The Hand Trap (2 minutes
52 seconds), The Furnace (4 minutes 3 seconds) and
Bits and Pieces (4 minutes 34 seconds). As interesting
as all these special and make-up effects pieces
are, I think I would have preferred just one 30
minute documentary covering them all, rather than
each individual trap getting its own 2 or 3 minutes
worth.
In the special feature titled 'Storyboards'
there are actually four comparisons of storyboards
to filmed footage. These for are Death Mask (3 minutes
40 seconds), Jigsaw's Lair (1 minute 46 seconds),
The Needle Pit (2 minutes 44 seconds) and The Furnace
(3 minutes 23 seconds). This is well presented with
two of Jigsaw's monitors being used to display
the storyboards and the filmed footage concurrently.
Like the first Saw disc there are
four trailers on the DVD, and none of them are for
Saw 2. On this we have the trailers
for Lord of War, The Fog,
Waiting and Cake. |
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| The Verdict |
| Do you want to play a game? I have a thought that
sometimes a sequel can actually diminish the impact
of an original story, and this is no exception.
Taking a little from the first Saw,
a little from the Cube series and
its obvious influence Se7en, Saw
2 doesn't quite add anything to the
'Saw mythos' other than to give it an
opportunity to extend itself into further sequels,
but it is still an entertaining movie nevertheless.
Unfortunately, movies that rely on a twist ending
can sometimes have you waiting in anticipation for
the twist so much, that when it is delivered, it
loses its shock value. |
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| User Comments |
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0 user comments have been posted so far |
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| Regional Coding |
4 |
| Format |
PAL |
| Aspect Ratio |
1.85:1 |
| 16x9 Enhanced? |
Yes |
| Audio Options |
English DD 5.1
English DD 2.0 |
| Subtitles |
None |
| Country |
Australia |
| Distributor |
Sony |
| Running Time |
89 minutes |
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