”He doesn’t want us to saw through these chains; he wants us to saw through our legs.”
Summary: Two strangers (Leigh Whannell and Cary Elwes) find each other chained at opposite ends of a bathroom, with a dead body stuck in the middle. One is a doctor who is familiar with the Jigsaw murders, and realizes that they are the next two victims of a mysterious, twisted game in which their lives are the prize.
Oh yeah, and Danny Glover is the cop hot on the killer’s trail.
My Thoughts:
I was expecting a much more frightening and gory film. That’s not to say it wasn’t an awesome time! I avoided reviews, and tried not to know much about this movie until I saw it, because I didn’t want to be spoiled. I was a little disappointed, but mostly because it wasn't quite what I expected. But it's better than being told too much about it beforehand.
Whannell and Elwes have the majority of screen time, and they do fine with what they’re given, it's the dialogue is that lags behind. Some of the remarks don't hit the right chord. It doesn’t ruin the movie, but it gets pretty damned awkward at some points. Especially near the beginning. And the end, and even some in the middle – and parts in between! But if you look past that and try to enjoy yourself, it shouldn’t ruin the fun. I was hoping that it would be more emotionally gripping.
I also hoped to get a lot of gruesome, gooey blood and guts, but didn’t get much of that, either. There was some, and it made me kinda happy. Unfortunately, the scenarios that the Jigsaw Killer’s victims fall into are only passed over in flashback form, instead of being the main focus of the picture like I was expecting.
There was one key moment that pissed me the hell off, and I wished didn’t happen. It has to do someone not shooting the killer when they have the chance. I don’t wanna spoil it for you, but don’t you just HATE it when the killer isn’t killed just to be able to move the story into a direction that the storyteller wants the story to go? I sure do! Unfortunately it’s only all too common in a horror, thriller, or action movie. It’s not as bad in Saw as 90% of the other movies out there, though, so I’ll give them some slack on that one.
Saw is far from perfect, but there are definite moments of pure genius hidden in the flaws, and there’s a heck of a lot of comedy, with the laughs coming easily. I love the moment with Elwes in the parking lot and the camera flash coming out of nowhere. FUNNY!!
It’s definetely worth seeing, and it’s got some good thrills and spectacular concepts, but doesn’t follow through in most categories. What works best is the imaginative plot, an interesting unfolding of the the main characters’ backgrounds, creative use of lighting (especially the camera flashes!), a mind-blowing conclusion and some half-way decent scares along the way.
And the ending... never saw it coming!
If you’re up and down on your decision to see Saw, stop that child’s play, and have a great time! *chuckle chuckle*
Grade: B
Worthless Trivia:
Leigh Whannell, who plays Adam (one of the two main characters) is also the writer of the screenplay. His friend James Wan directed. They were both students of the film school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Wan always wanted to be a director, and Whannell an actor. So he wrote a script that got a lot of producers' attention, but no one was willing to follow through on a closed deal. They were going to do it Indie style, and make the movie with their own money on 16mm, until they took the script to America and Evolution Management picked up the script and agreed to let Whannell star and Wan direct.
So they got a bigger budget ($10 million vice their proposed $30,000), and were able to snatch Cary Elwes and Danny Glover in the process.
Leigh Whannell played Axel in Matrix Reloaded. He is Australian, so how about that American accent, eh?
Reviewed: 10/29/04