• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

SAW 2 | Your Next Favorite (HyperBitHero)

The Saw franchise was a smash hit that quickly burned out its good will with lackluster sequels. This unfortunately causes people to write off even the second movie, which actually turned out great. I made this video to give Leigh Whannell and Darren Lynn Bousman their flowers for their work on this film and get some people who ignored this film to give it a chance or at least appreciate the effort that went into its development. With Saw X coming out this year and Jigsaw/Amanda apparently returning, I wonder how it's going to turn out. I hope it isn't going to be another excuse for delivering Tobin Bell flashbacks with tangentially related traps like 4/5/6. I'd love if they killed it with one more legitimately good entry like the second ended up being. Let me know your thoughts on the franchise because it can be hilariously fascinating.

 

FunkMiller

Gold Member
I found 2,3,4 to be all of similar, fairly decent quality. Then 5 was terrible, 6 righted the ship a bit, 7 was also terrible, as were 8 and 9.

1 is still fantastic.

Saw X should begin with a brand new Jigsaw putting the two remaining acolytes/copycats of John Kramer to the test. Wipe all that shit out, and have a character that actually wants to do what Kramer set out to do but failed.
 
Last edited:

Dr. Claus

Banned
Another great episode! I really did enjoy SAW II more than I did the first, even enjoyed SAW III for what it was. After that it just became a bit too cartoony for me. Always with implausible set ups for kills and asspulls for villains and motivations. I wouldn't have minded as much if they tried to make the death traps more... "realistic" and story-driven like the earlier films? But they always tried to go that one step beyond.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
I liked saw 1 way more than 2, i remember the finale of the first one at the movie theater like it was yesterday, people clapping their hands in joy and them the absolute silence and dread when the motherfucker got up...

But yeah the saga stopped being good with that movie.

I still enjoy the gore and the traps but the plot got stupid and convoluted.
 
Last edited:
I found 2,3,4 to be all of similar, fairly decent quality. Then 5 was terrible, 6 righted the ship a bit, 7 was also terrible, as were 8 and 9.
You know, I actually agree for the most part that 4 had potential. To me, that movie was one big stalling tactic. Setting at the exact same time as 3, so Jigsaw isn’t even technically dead, going into Jigsaw’s backstory, and not really giving anything definitive about Hoffman’s motivations left the 5th movie open to be pretty strong. That’s where it all went really wrong though, with Hoffman’s motivations going against the main premise of the franchise and him being the main antagonist for more films than Jigsaw lol
 
Series went from creative storytelling to just trying to amp up the shock value. Threw out any regard for plausibility and narrative.

Would work much better if they went a more focused less is more route.

That said, nothing can capture or recreate the magic and surprise that the first one did. Im guessing they knew this and decided to just provide more over the top creative puzzles vs trying to provide intelligent twists.
 
Last edited:

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Saw's always had a soft place in my heart. Seen them all, owned and rewatched the first 4 a LOT when I was younger.

1 is still a legitimately good gritty detective thriller with a splash of gore. Everything else that came afterwards was just a new level of torture porn with more and more convoluted and ridiculous twists - but, that was the charm. You knew what you were getting even if the quality of the movies themselves took a tumble.

That Chris Rock reboot is hilarious, it's absolutely honking with old detective movie tropes and I think Rock uses them completely seriously. It screams "I had a good idea for a final twist in a Saw movie, so I made one".
 
Saw's always had a soft place in my heart. Seen them all, owned and rewatched the first 4 a LOT when I was younger.

1 is still a legitimately good gritty detective thriller with a splash of gore. Everything else that came afterwards was just a new level of torture porn with more and more convoluted and ridiculous twists - but, that was the charm. You knew what you were getting even if the quality of the movies themselves took a tumble.

That Chris Rock reboot is hilarious, it's absolutely honking with old detective movie tropes and I think Rock uses them completely seriously. It screams "I had a good idea for a final twist in a Saw movie, so I made one".
I feel like the sequels wouldn't have even needed to get so convoluted if they hadn't ended Saw 3 the way they did. From that point on, each one had to have its own plot, but also have a big justification for Jigsaw flashbacks and his role in the main story.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
I feel like the sequels wouldn't have even needed to get so convoluted if they hadn't ended Saw 3 the way they did. From that point on, each one had to have its own plot, but also have a big justification for Jigsaw flashbacks and his role in the main story.

I love how many people were "in on it" by the end of the series. Absolutely absurd.

I've promised (threatened) my fiancé with a marathon one of these days...
 
I love how many people were "in on it" by the end of the series. Absolutely absurd.

I've promised (threatened) my fiancé with a marathon one of these days...
Yeah, there's currently 3 Jigsaw successors running around, not to mention Based Hoffman who wasn't definitively killed.
 

Bloobs

Al Pachinko, Konami President
Saw X?

Alan Rickman Dogma GIF
 
Top Bottom