I've been a little too occupied to hit a discussion topic head-on, but I figure I might as well, make some kind of use of this blog.

  I watched Saw II last night.  I'm a little on the fence as whether or not I think it's better or worse than the first one.  The first one was very good.  I'm not saying it was great because there were a lot of parts that just were not that interesting, but I do have great respect for the movie (especially considering it was made in, what did they say, 18 days?  18 or 15; I don't recall).

  Saw II had far fewer boring parts (I didn't really identify any of them as boring, really), but it did leaving me unsatisfied in certain respects.

  First of all, we did not get to see everyone's tests.  To me, that a huge no-no (but I'll get into that a little later).

  Something that ticked me off was about how the first guy died.  He had a key, that he was told not to use on a particular door.  He puts the key into the keyhole, looks through the door's peephole, turns the key while still looking through the hole, and then gets shot through the eye by a rigged gun.

  What is the actual likelihood that a person is going to look through the peephole and keep looking as they are turning the key to unlock the door?  This is not even considering the absolute stupidity of someone in his situation doing.

  So, it's not only that they had it done, but add to that the fact that one of their deaths actually hinged on that being done.  It annoys me when I see stuff like that in a movie.

  Another thing I didn't like was when Amanda was in the needle pit, and nobody thought to give her some kind of object to use to push aside the needles.  It's not like she had only 20 seconds or something.

  One other thing, and maybe this is just me, but why was there so much time spent sitting around doing nothing?  Even- no, especially before the "game" started.  As I said, maybe it's just me, but if I found myself locked in that house ("pre-game", as it were), I wouldn't be just standing around waiting for something to happen.

  This leads me indirectly back to the aforementioned no-no (not showing everyone's tests).  While I definitely do not approve of "jigsaw's" methods, I profoundly respect his goal, or more accurately, an aspect of it. What a person is willing to do to survive.

  I'd like to share a quote with you.  This is from the 7th Chapter of Hagakure, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, translated by William Scott Wilson.

It is said that every time Oki Hyobu's group gathered and after all their affairs were finished he would say, "Young men should discipline themselves rigorously in intention and courage.  This will be accomplished if only courage is fixed in one's heart.  If one's sword is broken, he will strike with his hands.  If his hands are cut off, he will press the enemy down with his shoulders.  If his shoulders are cut away, he will bite through ten or fifteen enemy necks with his teeth.  Courage is such a thing."

  Now, the no-no is such, in this case, mainly because I want to see the people be tested.  For one, I want to see what the test is, and for two, I want to see the people pass, assuming that I, as an audience, do not want to see the person die horribly.

  The movie, to its extent, reflects my own disappointment with people's unwillingness, or in some cases, maybe it's just plane ignorance, to even try to do everything it takes to survive (I uses the word in its general sense).

  I've seen a number of fictional situations fundamentally similar to, let's say, a person locked in the room of a house where they are not being watched, and if a window is barred, then they just give up trying to get out.

  I want to see someone in that situation started tearing a hole in the wall.  I want to see them smash through the ceiling and climb down into a different part of the house.  I want to see floor boards being ripped up.

  I've seen too many situations where a person has decided their trapped, and I'm thinking to myself, no, you most certainly are not.  Forget the steel door, pick up your axe and go through the fucking wooden wall... just as an example.

  I feel a great desire to see a movie or something where at least one "good guy" goes the unconventional mile, without it being an enourmous issue, and doing it more than once.  I want to see shots to the head being made just to be sure, as if the person believed it was just common sense.

  I don't want to see anymore women hitting a bad guy once on the head with something, he drops to his knees, then she runs off, only to be chased down.  No.  Hit him, and then hit him again.  If he's still moaning and barely moving, that means you're not done hitting him.

  I want to see "dead" monsters being dismembered just as a precaution.  Then pour gasoline on the parts and set fire to them.  I want to see people being strong and smart, and I want to see it in them before they get into trouble.

  Of course, this will not happen, because movies try to appeal to the masses.  They need to make sure that a wide variety of people can sufficiently identify with the "heros".  How many people could identify with a character who already knows better?

  More importantly, I want to see this strength and intelligence in real people.

If you like to see more excerpts from Hagakure, you can find some here.