I saw . Get it? I saw "Saw.
" Um, let’s move on to the review.
Most people might find themselves ready to write James Wan's "Saw" off as yet another run of the mill psychological thriller, in the vein of say, or even Though in some form or fashion this movie does appear to be the bastard hybrid of these two movies, along with every hack thriller which has come before it, the film still makes for an entertaining, and sometimes suspenseful movie going experience.
With the image of a key chain being sucked away beneath the murky depths of a bathtub, the story begins with what will coalesce into a downward spiral of horror.
When the movie starts, we are introduced to two shackled individuals, who seem to be trapped at opposite ends of an in what appears to be the lavatory from hell. Separating the two individuals in the middle of the room is the body of a man, who is holding a tape recorder and a gun, and who also seems to have lost a large portion of his cranium. Shackles, a dead body, and two individuals finding themselves unconscious on the restroom floor?
That must’ve been one hell of a bachelor party.
After making their introductions, and taking stock of the apparently "bad" situation, the trapped individuals, Dr. Lawrence Gordon ( ), and Adam ( ) try to find what connection they might have with each other and the dead guy in the middle of the floor.
It isn’t until they both find tape recorded messages from their captor in their pockets that the true test of their sanity begins.
Don’t go into this movie expecting all-star, or stellar performances. The acting in this movie is so hack, and formulaic that if I smeared fake blood on my shirt and started to speak in an overly concerned and shrill voice, I would’ve more than likely received a starring role.
Danny Glover’s performance as the mentally unstable police officer who has made it his lot in life to catch this killer is laughable at best, and had me smirking at more points in the movie than I can count.
The plot, though interesting at times, could’ve easily have been reproduced in a movie of the week production, so there was nothing too innovative in the way of a great narrative going on. But, whose to say that USA movie’s of the week all necessarily have to be bad?
What this plot does a good turn in doing is keeping the audience entertained with a variety of jumps, and sickening and perverse set ups which don’t seem too gratuitous, in the least. The various demented going on’s of the killer leaves you wondering, what’s coming up next, instead of just leaving you ready to have yet another one of the main characters bumped off (say in , where I was ready for someone to nuke all of the main characters out of existence).
As suggested before, there’s some pretty twisted stuff in this movie, which further does a decent job of showing the depravity of the killer’s actions.
The only nitpicking that I’ll probably do in this regard is that through fast motion editing, and blaring , the filmmaker's felt the need to use to emphasize the heinous nature of the crimes themselves. I for one get kind of tired of this technique and wish that some filmmakers would realize that less can be more, which should've been the case when showing the terror, and suffering which these individuals had been subjected to during their final moments. But hey, I guess the latest cut combined with -esque editing makes for scary times.
So if you’re in the mood for a good scare or two, I’d say go and check this movie out. If for anything, sit back and enjoy one of the best twist endings that has come around for a while. Go "Saw.
" See "Saw." Get it? I said see….
Awwh, nevermind.
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