Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
Written by Leigh Whannel
Starring Bahar Soomekh, Angus McFayden, Dina Meyer, Shawnee Smith and Tobin BellJigsaw's legacy continues...but he's running out of gas as John Kramer alias Jigsaw is on his deathbed. His new apprentice captures a brain surgeon and the woman is held hostage under the ultimatum that if Jigsaw dies, so does she. With the surgeon frantically trying to prevent the death of her tormentor, another poor soul is trapped in a demented obstacle course in a "game" that may or may not be related to the brain surgeon's plight. Let the games begin!!
Saw III has potential to be the greatest horror film of the year. Saw II was arguably a great film and this final entry in the franchise is backed by a returning director, writer and actors. Why then, does it remain the weakest of the series? It's not the violence. This film might just be the most brutal and sadistic mainstream film in a long long while. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Slither and even Hostel are all put to shame with the amount of gruesome gore exhibited here. So the gore satisfies but unfortunately the writing is not up to snuff from the previous films and this is the first time that the franchise has begun to feel stale. True signs of the end of a great franchise.
This film really does begin to feel repetitive and despite a respectable running time of 1 hour, 47 minutes, it feels very padded out. The semi-monotony begins within the first twenty minutes of the film which follows a disappointingly formulaic flow. Character is introduced > Character is captured by Amanda in the Pig outfit > Character is held at Jigsaw's mercy in an elaborate trap > carnage ensues. This repeats for about three or four sequences of random characters and more known characters being subjected to Jigsaw's game. It almost begins to feel like a "Best of..." highlight reel About 30 minutes into the film we get into the real plot concerning Lynn, the brain surgeon and the intersecting storyline of Jeff, the man subjected to the series of "tests". Simply put, this plot line just isn't all appealing. As opposed to the maniacal fun of having 8 people trapped in what basically came down to a demented funhouse, we have a woman exchanging verbal barbs with Jigs and a guy running a gauntlet obstacle course.
One more downside to the film is insane amount of flashback scenes. I'll estimate about 20 minutes of the films total running time is dedicated to flashbacks of, not only scenes from the previous films but even scenes that occured just two minutes ago! This film seems to be much more character driven and it focuses on the lives and hereto unexplored pasts of the four main characters (Jigsaw, Amanda, Lynn and Jeff). Although it is interesting seeing glimpses of Jigsaw's past, it just takes way too much time. A few extra minor twists are thrown into the plot lines of the past two films but it doesn't really justify all this time spent on flashbacks. And the ending...some may love it but it really does just drag on and on and ends up a tad unsatisfying and cruel for the sake of cruelty. No real substance behind it and not the great cap off this series deserved, but I suppose they did what they could with such a complicated timeline to work with. One more gripe...Bousman has soem very talented ideas in terms of direction but the flash cut (now a Saw staple) is widely over used here. The excessiveness of the flashcut borders on frusturating.
Luckily there are plenty of high spots to keep this film in good standings. In fact, when you consider that the weak link in this chain of films scored a 7, that's not bad at all and speaks well for the whole series! Bousman really does do a good job here with an exception to his love of flash cutting. Most of the film is comprised of near flawless and very fluid transitions. No jumpcuts or dissolves to be found here, instead he utilizes aspects of the environment to converge into the next scene which creates a great flow. Also the acting is quite solid. Dina Meyer and Donnie Wahlberg have brief returns but don't add much. However Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith are spot on and manage to bring more life to these characters. Our two new leads, Soomehk and Mcfayden are nothing special but they do their job adequately well. The main highlight here is the gore and the traps. Oh the gore, this is NOT for the squeamish. I had a difficult time watching this and that's saying something! Not so much the visuals (as vile and sadistic as they are) but rather the sound effects. Those who fear drills and power saws stay far far away! But the gore in this movie is absolutely intense and insane.
SPOILER below...
The traps are clever and creative and utilize objects and elements like chains, buzzsaws, acid, ice, a giant torture rack (!) and rancid liquefied animal flesh (!!). And lets not forget the long and drawwwnnnn out brain surgery scene which spares absolutely no cut aways with the full graphic images displayed! The head is cut open, the skull dilled into and pulled off and the brain membrane peeled back. Talk about fearless moviemaking and I have no clue how the MPAA let the film get away with so much insane bloodshed and brutality.So Saw III turned out to be a little disappointing. The story is hit-or-miss, much of it seems stale or padded out and the ending doesn't know when to quit. However most Saw fans just go into these films looking for clever new traps and lots of grotesque carnage. And this film delivers tenfold. It may not be the triumph I had hoped for, but Saw III delivers some of the most visceral and downright grotesque visuals in a long long while and for that, it must be highly praised. A worthy film that maintains much of the Saw tradition.
Tobin Bell as John "Jigsaw" Kramer and Shawnee Smith as Amanda circa Saw II
An early scene from "Jigsaw vs. Pinhead". HA!
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