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I still don't know how I feel about this one. I think I need to see this twice in order to digest it. On one hand it is an intruiging story with new traps and different ways to kill poor people. On the other hand, it backtracks alot through the entire series in general and re-writes some of the deaths that I loved into making them more sympathetic and actual murders. I hate when a series re-writes itself after a firm mythology has already been set in place.
This is what I call the Nightmare of Elm Street effect. The original creators of Nightmare have had their ideas and creativity so raped and edited that it's barely recognizable from what it used to be. What the shit are dream warriors? And what the fuck is up with the souls of children giving Freddy strength? Sorry, but that shit really bugged me.
Much like how this movie is ultimatley going to bug me. If I spoil the movie for you right now, I'm sorry. But hey, it's the only way I can talk about most of it. I'll try to keep from ruining the actual details of the story, and just highlight the areas that really upset me.
If I had to narrow it down to just a simple idea, it would be the character of Amanda. Played throughout the whole trilogy by Shawnee Smith. I love Shawnee Smith. Ever since I first saw her in Stephen King's: The Stand I fell immediatley in love with her. I even tolerated at least 4 whole episodes of Becker just to see her. She was perfect in the last incarnation of Saw and I actually thought it would be really interesting to have her be the apprentice to a mastermind like Jigsaw. But a whole lot of her character in this one, is a big cry-baby. She weeps and moans and pouts more than anyone in the whole movie. More than the poor people dying by Jigsaw design. But what's worse than that is that it is finally revealed in this movie that Shawnee has been helping Jigsaw since Saw the original. She was the one wearing the pig's mask and kidnapping Dr. Gordan and Adam and bringing them to the bathroom while Jigsaw prepared himself. I may just be really anal about this, or maybe I've fallen into the fanboy trap of feeling like I own the franchise I've fallen in love with, but I really liked the movie better when I thought it was Jigsaw working by himself. In hindsight, it makes a lot of sense. He's a cancer patient after all, and growing weaker and weaker by the day. So technically it was a good idea to have a partner in all this.
Despite all that, the thing that irked me the most. More than the rampant bloodshed and self inflicted brutality, (Which I loved!) it was Shawnee Smith's character yet again that really ruined not just Saw but Saw 2> as well. In a flashback scene we learn that Amanda is controled by her emotions. That she will make a good replacement for Jigsaw if it weren't for her overpowering feelings. She's either really angry, or really sad. Angry enough for wonton killing in part where she creates traps that no one can escape from, and sad enough to end the suffering of a person going through hell. And that person is Adam (Played yet again by the screenwriter, Leigh Whannel) who is still chained to the bathroom wall. Except in the flashback he's still alive. Not exactly lucid, but alive. Amanda in one of her spells of grief, returns the infamous bathroom and puts Adam out of his misery.
What!? Come on people! It may just be me. It may just be that I'm twisted and sick or what have you, but I honestly truly thought that the series played better when Adam starved to death alone in the darkness! That's a lot more compelling than a plastic bag over the head. Starving in the pitch black of the dark is a lot creepier, and makes the audience think a lot harder about the movie than just another suffocation. I've seen suffocation scenes, and they're all filmed the same. So all that cool revelation in Saw 2 hardly means anything to me anymore. Now that I know I was jipped out of a terrific horror scene.
Tobin Bell is back as John Kramer aka Jigsaw. And he's still just as twisted as he was back in the first film. In fact, I dare say, every film he's in he grows smarter and more diabolical. This time he's got a game set up that is so intricate that it almost puts his plan from Saw 2 to shame. Almost though, Saw 2 is still my favorit in the series. This time he captures a poor schmoe named Jeff, but instead of having to inflict terrible pain on himself, he's given the option to either save, or inflict terrible pain on others. Others who have in one form or another destroyed his life. Jigsaw in this film is most deffinitly on his way out the door in terms of his cancer. Which also fits into his devious plan. He's a goner, and he knows it, so this is most deffinitly his end game. Whether or not Lionsgate will let this be Jigsaw's end game is another matter. As of this writing, they've already approved Saw 4 for a Halloween 2007 release. Hopefully this won't fall into further Nightmare on Elm Street traps. Like sucking out loud.
Jeff is played by non-other than Robert the Bruce!! How awsome is it for Jigsaw to kidnap the Prince and future King of Scotland! Angus McFadyen does a good job as the kidnapped Jeff. His life has recently been destroyed by a tragic set of events and much like anyone who loves his family, he's completley shut down from the world around him. So far as to ignore his own daughter in his grief. His job is to go forward and choose to either forgive his trespassers, or sit idly by and let the machinations of Jigsaw come to fruition. By the end, it appears that he has come to learn his lesson, but remember things aren't always as they seem when it comes to the world of Saw
Darren Lynn Bousman returns from his directorial debut from Saw 2 to direct. Making him the first director to helm more than 1 Saw film. Darren deffinitly has a style when it comes to directing and film making. He uses very quick cuts when the action intensifies, and a lot of really brilliant imagery. His command over the cast and story is deffinitly noticable and it is never in question whether or not this film is well directed. It is. Brilliantly directed.
The story and the screenplay is what I question. It would be easier to review this if it weren't for the fact that it was written by the original Saw masters, James Wan and Leigh Whannell. This is the series they created. While I may not like every little nuance and turn that they decide to take I do have to accept it as the story indeed. It's not like this movie was outsourced to another writer and completley ruined. It was taken hostage by the original guys. The script itself isn't bad. The characters are compelling and have a lot of really good dialouge. For some reason they just can't get Amanda to be interesting. And then doing what they did to the series with her in tow just doesn't sit right with me.
FINAL ANALYSIS!
Am I going to recommend this film? Yes I will. It's a great movie that will deffinitly have you thinking on the car ride home. It has the most messed up ending of all the other films. An ending that will make you go, "Damn, that ain't right." In fact, you probably don't even need to see the first two Saw films in order to enjoy this. Because it flashes back to absolutley everything!!
Which also sucks because I totally told someone not to join the group I was with that night because she hadn't seen the first 2. I said she would get lost in the story and it probably wouldn't make sense to her. Now I feel like an ass. Sorry Leslie.
Actually, while the movie was backflashing on itself I couldn't help but make a quick little connection. Michael Emerson who played Zep from Saw ended up on a J.J. Abrams tv show called LOST. Tobin Bell who has played Jigsaw in all three films ended up on another J.J. Abrams show called ALIAS. Along with Angus McFadyen who also guest starred many times on ALIAS. Are J.J. and Darren Lynn Bousman buddies or something? If someone could let me know about that, that would be awsome.
Regardless of all the nit picking and harsh feelings towards the small barely important off shoots of the mythology, this is a really fun movie. It had blood and guts, and all sorts of fun terrible things. It's a gore fanatic's fantasy come true. If you like blood and gore you'll love this movie.
The acting is well done and it's a pretty good addition to the Saw family and when it comes out on DVD I'll be the first to have a Saw-A-Thon.