SAW is the first major picture from director James Wan. It's a small isolated movie set mainly in a derelict basement where two men with seemingly no connection to one another must work together to survive a psychopath's deadly escape room.
While SAW borrows heavily from David Fincher's excellent crime thriller Seven there are a lot of things to like about this movie, the traps are interesting and unique and it created a new horror icon in Jigsaw and can definitely be accredited as ushering in an entire wave of horror helmed by James Wan. Who may not be a director I hold in the highest regard, but his influence and place in mainstream American horror is unquestionable.
The plot is simple but engaging and it has only two real flaws,
the first is that Cary Elwes, who plays one of the victims is not a very good actor, he's not awful but at times his reactions are somewhat amateurish and hammy. The other issue it has is that it is very much of it's time, shown by the nu-metal music played during pivotal scenes and fast cuts during action sequences that does make it come across as very dated.
All that said, the ending is fantastic as is the concept,
and considering how many times I've seen it, it's never boring. It's a good first entry in the series and sets up the makings of what would become an icon of horror cinema in Jigsaw.
SAW II improves on the original movie in every single way. It does everything that a sequel is supposed to do, It retains the same overall vibe as the first film and expands upon the ideas set up in its predecessor. One thing I have noticed about the franchises created by James Wan is that his initial ideas are often better realised by other directors.
This time around there is a group of people trapped inside a house who must discover their reasons for being kidnapped and the connection they share with one another. This works better for a number of reasons, it's faster paced, there are more opportunities for grisly torture and death sequences and we get to see the dynamic of a group stuck in an impossible situation. The film focuses primarily on a detective trying to find his son who is among the would be victims before the clock runs out.
The acting from everyone involved is also a huge upgrade.
But by far the best thing about this movie is the dynamic between Tobin Bell's Jigsaw and Donnie Walhberg as Detective Matthews, which is extremely reminiscent of Silence Of The Lambs.
Jigsaw is compellingly presented as a morally complex character rather than a straight forward serial killer. His motivations are very unique and he has in his own mind a just moral reason for his actions. He wants to confront people with the choice to either change and find a new appreciation for life or to allow themselves to rot because they are unable to.
I don't actually have any negatives to say about this movie.
For the style of film it is , it's a very solid movie.
SAW III, this time the games are rigged. the third film in the SAW is completely over the top and more gory and suspenseful than the previous two films. The student-teacher dynamic between Jigsaw and his unpredictable student Amanda played by Shawnee Smith also adds a unique twist to the story.
The film follows two plot points simultaneously, a brain surgeon is kidnapped by the two killers and held hostage to perform an operation on a dying Jigsaw. The catch being that if he dies, she dies along with him. The sub-plot involves a grieving parent put through a series of tests to see if he is able to move on from his thirst for revenge and ultimately find forgiveness and absolution for the ones who did him harm. Both plots are interwoven really well and come together to create what's possibly the best climax of the whole series.
SAW IV opens with the autopsy of John Kramer, the main villain of the first three films...so, how does a franchise continue when you kill the main antagonist in the last movie?, the answer is not very well. not very well at all.
The majority of the film is dedicated to providing a full in depth backstory for John Kramer and his motivation towards becoming Jigsaw. It's a needless addition that takes away the mystery and menace of the character, in the first three it is hinted that he was an antisocial man broken by his cancer diagnosis, in the fourth instalment that's regretfully only part of the story.
Apparently John Kramer was a pretty normal guy until his wife lost their unborn child in a horrific turn of events ..the problem with this is that Tobin Bell can't play an everyman, he is too convincing as a psychopath to be able to slip into the skin of an ordinary person. You don't go from being Joe average to Jigsaw overnight.
Couple the ridiculousness of that writing decision with the fact that his wife in this is unreasonably attractive for a woman married to Jigsaw and the entire backstory is somewhat laughable. Some villains should never be made to be sympathetic.
His motivations are explained in the previous films, we understand why he is doing what he's doing and that he thinks he is morally just but we are supposed to whole heartedly disagree with him because he is a monster.
The rest of the plot is meandering and tedious, it has one good idea and that's about it. In one scene Jigsaw forces a policeman to take part in his game by making him make the choice to either shackle a criminal up to a trap or let an innocent police officer die. That should have been the premise of the entire film, Jigsaw beyond the grave forces a police officer to reluctantly carry on his legacy. That would have been a perfectly interesting film. The only other thing I can credit this film for is its editing, the transitions between certain scenes are creative, seamless and interesting.
Like the previous films it has a twist ending but unlike the previous films this one was telegraphed from a mile away and makes absolutely zero sense. It's god awful and however came up with it should be embarrassed.
There is a reason I forgot that I've seen this film years ago,
hopefully after I write this I won't have to remember it any time soon.
SAW V really isn't all that bad, while I strongly dislike a lot of the story decisions made in the fourth film the fifth entry does a good job of tying together the previous four films.
At this point the main draw of the franchise isn't its plot, it's the traps and the situations the victims are left in and although those are somewhat predictable here they're pretty enjoyable. In fact that's my overall view of the film, it's an enjoyable albeit forgettable entry that somewhat redeems the issues present in the fourth film.
SAW VI does something very rarely seen in a franchise, it actually made me appreciate the lesser entries a little bit more. The strongest aspect of the first six saw films is its continuity, like Jigsaw pieces they form together to create a complete whole. Although where John Kramer's story goes isn't one I would have chosen for the character I think you have to admire its ambition to create a long horror epic with each film having small moments from the third film on that are then expanded upon and answered in this film.
I think the SAW franchise works best when you watch it as if it is a mini-series as I have over the last few days. It's actually fairly clever how they tried to tie it all together at the end of this chapter, it doesn't entirely work but they get points for the effort. Admittedly it doesn't have the strongest characters other than Jigsaw and Amanda, who I still think should have had more than one film devoted to their relationship but it's an engaging series overall with no truly awful entries.
This time around the traps are better than the previous two films and the plot points set up in the previous two do come to a satisfying conclusion.
I actually quite liked the moments when Jigsaw's backstory was shown this time around but I still think the casting of Betsy Russell as Jigsaw's wife is the biggest mistake the series made, she's not a particularly good actress and her casting is illogical.
The same goes for Jigsaw's replacement since his death, Costas Mandylor is perfectly serviceable in the role but he lacks any of the real menace or depth required to play a psychotic villain.
I enjoyed this film though for what it is.
SAW 3D, once a franchise reaches its seventh instalment it has long since jumped the shark. You can actually pinpoint the moment that happens in this series, it's as soon as the writers became obsessed with having Detective Hoffman as the antagonist. They then begin to retcon plot points to suit that narrative and while it doesn't completely contradict what was shown previous it all becomes completely ridiculous.
Here's the thing, this movie is not all that terrible, it's not good by any stretch of the imagination but there are a few good ideas here but there are many more downright stupid ones for sure.
One of the victims for instance is chosen by Jigsaw because he pretended to be a survivor of his traps for monetary gain, that's a pretty good idea and an obvious reference to real life imposter 911 survivor Tania Head. If that was all the movie was about and had Jigsaw not been killed many films ago, you could have the makings of a solid movie on your hands....but that's not the case.
SAW 3D is plain silly, long gone is the warped morality that Jigsaw used to choose his victims in the first three films. In the opening sequence for example three victims were selected because they were in a love triangle. Now you can put that down to John Kramer not being the killer anymore but even then it's nonsense. What next, is the next incarnation of Jigsaw going to torture people who cut in line too many times.
I imagine semblance of a coherent plot has been decidedly thrown out the window going forward, I think the filmmakers by now have decided that the SAW franchise is all splatter and no substance.
Jigsaw was so close to getting the highest rating of the entire series until literally the last five minutes, which left me feeling frustrated and annoyed that it couldn't make the landing it perfectly set up and carried through the whole film. It nearly corrected all the mistakes of the past movies only to make them all again in its final minutes.
I'll start with the positives, the filmmakers clearly decided to move away from the tiresome Detective Hoffman storyline to do what felt like a true sequel to SAW III ignoring every lacklustre film that followed. The set up is that a series of murders carrying Jigsaw's signature begin to appear, implying that he is still alive.
The film actually returned to the mystery/crime thriller roots of the original and up until the last five minutes It kept me guessing as to the killers identity or if it was indeed John Kramer seemingly back from the dead.
It sets up a side plot of a character who is clearly implied as being Amanda's sister. A mortician who collects the Jigsaw traps used in every murder. She has a museum of these artefacts, an original idea stolen by Scream 6.
Even though it's never plainly stated that there is a relation between the two, her likeness and mannerisms and choice of clothing are all identical to Shawnee Smith in part three.
It even hints at either a possible revenge plot or her following in her sisters blood soaked footsteps and taking the mantle. I would have been fine with either.
There is also a reveal in the third act that made me think they had finally reenergised what had at this point become a dead and tedious franchise. They had two options for a truly satisfying ending and they chose neither. They chartered the course and crashed at the most pivotal moment, falling back into the same boring pattern of having an unnecessary twist ending with a bland and uninteresting character being revealed as the killer.
They literally promise the fans and even deliver on the return of John Kramer as Jigsaw and then take it away. The more I think about it the more it annoys me. It would have got a seven, but now it gets a well deserved 4.5
Spiral is the best film in the series since the original trilogy. The decision to have the antagonist be a Jigsaw copycat targeting crooked cops was an interesting one. You can tell that the filmmakers were going for the same detective thriller vibe of the original over making another torture porn entry. Even though it could be considered unremarkable when compared to the David Fincher film Seven that acted as the basis for this whole franchise as a SAW film it is one of the best of the series.
The worst thing you could say about the film is that it is generic, and that would be a fair criticism, it is sure but once you get to the eighth film in a franchise a film being generic but decent is not a bad thing at all. The traps are used more sparingly than before but the ones on display here are very strong.
The overall message of the film is pretty poignant considering how the public view the police force and the issues within it currently. Chris Rock gives a decent but forgettable performance as the lead and the Jigsaw copycat while not being able to hold a candle to Tobin Bell or Shawnee Smith really isn't bad at all.
SAW X , I was really pleasantly surprised with this one, it did everything a legacy sequel should do. It retained the same look and feel as the first three movies, using the same off green and red filter that is distinctive of the original Saw trilogy, it brought back Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith and did their characters justice. In fact, this is the best performance from Tobin Bell of the entire franchise.
This time around we fully understand Jigsaw's motivations, he is a dying man trying to help people escape their own suffering in the most brutal way possible. He isn't a serial killer, he doesn't hate people, deep down he is someone who truly believes in the goodness of people and he tries in his own disturbed way to fix them. He is a complex character and this film captures the essence of who he is perfectly.
It has its downsides, the acting from some of the antagonists is a bit forced but its still in keeping with the overall tone of those first three films, over the top acting has been a staple since day one. It's never an issue and that style was probably intentional as this is as true a homage and love letter to the series as we will ever get. It's made by people who love the property and want to gives fans a Saw film that reminds them why the series was ever worth watching to begin with.
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