Movie Review: Saw 2
I saw this movie without having seen Saw 1, and with a desire to see a different movie: Wolf Creek, which was sold out. I wasn't expecting much, I thought it would be another dumbass teen horror movie, that I would have to sit through an hour and a half of unrealistically good looking young people getting ripped apart by some maniac with a wood saw.
The first scene of the movie was not only gory, but also psychologically disturbing. I couldn't help asking myself what I would have done in that situation, with a death mask on and 60 seconds to cut out my right eyeball in order to get hold of a key which would unlock the mask and save me from having it crush my face in. This would be a recurring feature of the psycho's killings - he always gave his victims a means for survival, a way out, although that way out is often more painful and debilitating than death itself.
We then come across a bunch of people who wake up in a locked house, with a taped message from the psycho who gives them instructions on how to get out. How nice of him. One of the people, who have been hand-picked by the psycho, is the detective's son. What detective? The detective whose name was written in the blood on the wall where our first victim was found. The detective who was responsible for framing all nine of the people locked up in the house. The detective who had a bad relationship with his wayward teenage son. The detective who reluctantly agreed to accept this case.
The movie is based around this "game", and switches intermittently from the events in the house to the events in the psycho's house, which a SWAT team has raided to find the man himself sitting cooly by as the cops try desperately to subvert a situation which they are apparently watching live on a set of security cameras in the house. The situation involves nine people locked in a house, one of whom is the detective's son. The psycho, who wants to be referred to as "John", informs the detective, who he seems to have a preoccupation with (ultimately he is the primary target and victim of this whole operation), that his son will die in two hours, as a lethal gas is seeping into the house. A two-hour timer is set next to the security cameras, and the cops assume (as I did) that it is timing how long before the gas kills off everyone in the house.
The stage is set, then, for a pretty cool movie. I must admit, this is a good storyline to base a movie on. I think the viewer is meant to relate to detective Eric Mason, the main character, in that we just want to pound the shit out of John as he sits by and calmly watches chaos unfolds. It should be relieving, then, when Eric does pound the shit out of him, almost to death. Somehow, however, it's not - John never loses his cool, nor his upper hand. In fact, being beaten to a pulp was seemingly a crucial part of his plan, a plan which at every step unfolds exactly how he wanted it to. There's even a twist in the plot at the end. Normally I hate twists, they're cheesy and usually ruin everything you just saw, but this one worked. I think it was because at the end of "the game", there were still a lot of unanswered questions, and the twist serves to answer those questions as well as fuck up (in a good way) all the preceding events.
Was this movie too psychologically fucked up to be called a horror movie? Personally, I'd say yes, and call it a thriller. Maybe it's a horror-thriller. I give it 4 stars.
The first scene of the movie was not only gory, but also psychologically disturbing. I couldn't help asking myself what I would have done in that situation, with a death mask on and 60 seconds to cut out my right eyeball in order to get hold of a key which would unlock the mask and save me from having it crush my face in. This would be a recurring feature of the psycho's killings - he always gave his victims a means for survival, a way out, although that way out is often more painful and debilitating than death itself.
We then come across a bunch of people who wake up in a locked house, with a taped message from the psycho who gives them instructions on how to get out. How nice of him. One of the people, who have been hand-picked by the psycho, is the detective's son. What detective? The detective whose name was written in the blood on the wall where our first victim was found. The detective who was responsible for framing all nine of the people locked up in the house. The detective who had a bad relationship with his wayward teenage son. The detective who reluctantly agreed to accept this case.
The movie is based around this "game", and switches intermittently from the events in the house to the events in the psycho's house, which a SWAT team has raided to find the man himself sitting cooly by as the cops try desperately to subvert a situation which they are apparently watching live on a set of security cameras in the house. The situation involves nine people locked in a house, one of whom is the detective's son. The psycho, who wants to be referred to as "John", informs the detective, who he seems to have a preoccupation with (ultimately he is the primary target and victim of this whole operation), that his son will die in two hours, as a lethal gas is seeping into the house. A two-hour timer is set next to the security cameras, and the cops assume (as I did) that it is timing how long before the gas kills off everyone in the house.
The stage is set, then, for a pretty cool movie. I must admit, this is a good storyline to base a movie on. I think the viewer is meant to relate to detective Eric Mason, the main character, in that we just want to pound the shit out of John as he sits by and calmly watches chaos unfolds. It should be relieving, then, when Eric does pound the shit out of him, almost to death. Somehow, however, it's not - John never loses his cool, nor his upper hand. In fact, being beaten to a pulp was seemingly a crucial part of his plan, a plan which at every step unfolds exactly how he wanted it to. There's even a twist in the plot at the end. Normally I hate twists, they're cheesy and usually ruin everything you just saw, but this one worked. I think it was because at the end of "the game", there were still a lot of unanswered questions, and the twist serves to answer those questions as well as fuck up (in a good way) all the preceding events.
Was this movie too psychologically fucked up to be called a horror movie? Personally, I'd say yes, and call it a thriller. Maybe it's a horror-thriller. I give it 4 stars.
posted by Banana Mango at 12/02/2005 11:46:00 am
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