Saw III (2006) October 29, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Darren Lynn Bousman
“If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw”. That’s the proud declaration that sits on trailers for the currently on release Saw IV, and never more have I agreed with the sentiment. But maybe not in the positive way that the tag line hopes is implicit, but in a rather more jaded, here-we-go-again statement of obvious dismay: “Oh, Halloween is it? I guess that means another one of those Saw movies then?” Of course, in my typical style of being almost exactly one year behind, I recently caught up with the third instalment in the trilogy: the rather aptly titled, Saw III.
Before we get started, I’d like to make it known that I’m not completely down on the series. I thought that the original movie had a lot of inventiveness amongst its liberal smattering of pain and gore induced horror. That inventiveness has since been turned into formula by the yearly sequels since 2004, but it hasn’t stopped the creators giving their low budget tension-flick a whole universe and mythology for fans to follow and unravel. Saw II [review] was a notable step down, adding a misjudged group dynamic reminiscent of bad teen-slashers and dropping the gritty traps for more explicit nastiness. It also pulled a similar twist-laden third act, although not all the twists played well for the story, leaving me to question what the point of it all had really been.
Which brings us to Saw III; a film that picks up exactly where Saw II left off, with detective Eric Matthews chained in his confinement cell. The film is not about him though, quickly turning its attentions to Jeff, a father who lost his son in a road accident and has dreamt of revenge ever since. He’s about to play a game – one that involves a series of nasty traps and challenges that are supposed to allow him to forgive the man who killed his son. All of this has been engineered by the Jigsaw killer, who is now nearly dead but being sheltered by his apprentice Amanda. They kidnap Dr. Lynn Denlon in order to play a slightly simpler game – if Jigsaw dies, she dies too. Both players face their personal challenges as each tries to get out alive.
By far the most interesting thing about this movie is the way that it immerses itself so wholeheartedly in its own mythology. I love any attempts to use sequels to reinvestigate the events of previous films and show them in a new light (hence my love of the Back to the Future movies) and that’s exactly what happens here. In fact, this is so true that Saw III will completely alienate anyone new to the series right from the get-go, as little is explained about who the old characters are and what their previous involvement was. Only Amanda (played by Shawnee Smith) gets analysed in any detail since half the story is about her in one way or another, but even she is left slightly under-explained.
The story continues a trend that was established in the second film of spending more time with the villain than almost anything else. It’s a split narrative, just like last time, with half the movie dedicated to following the sequence of traps and games that Jeff is experiencing, while the other half shows us John (the infamous Jigsaw killer), on his death bed. It almost feels a little odd giving us so much of the villain when there are no ‘good’ characters tracking him down - although for side-stepping the ‘elusive bad-guy’ cliché I guess the film could be applauded. However, in the original Saw, if you remember, he was that elusive cliché and it worked very well. Acceptance that he’s going to feature heavily in this movie comes mainly from the fact that we saw so much of him in the second film that he has lost any chance of being mysterious again.
Also slightly bizarre is the choice to include previously central characters such as Dina Meyer as Kerry (a feature of both previous films) and Donnie Wahlberg as Eric Matthews (Saw II’s good-guy lead), in roles which mean that they barely appear. Their side-note appearances come off as acknowledging their existence without letting them get involved in any meaningful way. Meanwhile, writer / director Darren Lynn Bousman (who has allowed himself to become the ‘Saw guy’ despite having no involvement in the original), directs in a style that was dictated by the first film, with lots of exposure-play and fast-cutting shots to heighten the confusion of the situation. His script, co-written by Saw trilogy-scripter Leigh Whannell, is merely functional, which is all that it needs to be.
Luckily, the tortuous traps (the real focus for most viewers) have reinstated a much-needed level of grittiness while still giving the audience their required gory payoffs. Once again we are treated to a finale that reveals a late hand and is supposed to turn the whole thing on its head, but not since the first Saw has this final wind-up been a complete success. The ‘reveal’ moments at the end of Saw III are maybe the most predictable and the least exciting yet – the real twist this time coming from what actually happens as opposed to what has already happened.
Of course, you can’t argue with the numbers: the last three opening weekends have been $18m, $31m & $33m, from budgets of $1.2m, $4m & $10m, respectively. If fans continue to come out for more, even if only in the first week, the studio is going to keep funding these flicks. The release of Saw IV this year is a slight disappointment, as this third instalment rounds out the story nicely and works much better than I had expected after such a lacklustre second part. Nothing is sacred when there’s money to be made though, so the Saw train rumbles on with its hit-and-run yearly production strategy. I only wonder how long it’ll be before Saw becomes such a staple of the season that Halloween can start advertising itself around being on at the same time: “Halloween 2008: coming Saw V”?
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