Summary: Psycho named Jigsaw thinks he is teaching people to value life by playing games with them where he puts them in a trap and challenges them to get out. Some of the most stomach churning violence ever filmed ensues.
I resisted seeing Saw for a long time, but was always kind of curious about the first movie at least. You might say that I see-sawed about whether I should see Saw, but recently I finally saw Saw. Ok, those jokes are done now, I just had to get them out of the way. Moving on, I had always heard that the first Saw was actually quite interesting and not nearly as stupid as it looked. And I would have to agree. Admittedly it is not a very high bar to jump as it looks pretty damn stupid, but it surpassed my expectations quite a bit. Lacking any sort of real budget the filmmakers had to really pick and choose where they would spend their money and it made for a movie more focused on the psychology of torture rather than on the gruesomeness itself. While watching Saw 1 I felt as though it really wanted to be Seven. It is not as smart or well made as Seven, but there was still enough meat to it to bring it above the level of torture porn. This cannot be said for the next four movies. The basic idea behind the first movie is that a serial killer, Jigsaw, captures people whom he believes have been wasting their lives and puts them in traps where they can survive if they want it bad enough and are willing to make extreme choices, which usually involve incredible amounts of pain. In the first movie, this is often psychological pain, which while not as gross as some of the physical torture involved, are really much more disturbing. Being forced to slowly kill people to keep yourself alive is really much worse than simply having to cut your foot off.
I said that this was the basic idea behind the first movie because, although Jigsaw is ostensibly doing things for the same reason, the filmmakers have forgotten that throughout the next 4 movies. Once they got a budget the movies became all about “What is the grossest thing we could possibly show the audience?”, and boy do they come up with some doozies. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS APLENTY FROM THIS POINT FORWARD. To me, the worst is the pit of needles in Saw II, but the bone splinterer in Saw III is pretty awful too. By Saws IV and V the traps are actually starting to get kind of boring and the plots are just too ridiculous be scary. In the second movie we learn that Jigsaw has an apprentice, who plays a major role in the third movie. At the end of the third movie everybody dies, including both Jigsaw and his apprentice (and in a definite, no coming back kind of way). So how are there two more movies, we all wondered (I saw these over the course of two marathons with Roz and some friends)? Well, apparently Jigsaw left a whole bunch of tapes around and had ANOTHER apprentice we knew nothing about who is also a cop! And it turns out the third movie starts at the end, so even though you see Jigsaw on an autopsy table with his brains in a pan, the movie can continue as normal. But you don’t learn this until the end of the movie, at which point you are kind of pissed, because that was a cheap, albeit effective, plot twist. And it perfectly sets up the fifth movie, which is the worst of the bunch, and that is saying something. I don’t even really want to talk about it much other than to say it is the most derivative of the bunch. The traps are not even that creative. One is ripped off of The Pit and the Pendulum, and one is ripped off of a Radiohead video. The best part is the special features, where they go on and on about how awesome the traps are and who thought of them, but no mention of Poe anywhere. They also go on about how clever they are for constructing a helmet that fills with water and can be drained quickly for safety. Yeah, you guys are really clever, oh wait, it was done 12 years ago in a Radiohead video. I used to wonder who enjoys these movies enough to pay and see them, but since watching the special features I mostly wonder about the people making them. The director of Saw V talked about designing traps with his 9 year old kid. That’s kind of sick. Whatever. There is not much else to say about these. I’d say the best part about watching them is watching your friends cringe at the traps, the movies themselves don’t offer too much else. That said, I’m sure I’ll rent Saw IV when it comes out – I’ve already wasted this much time with it, I might as well keep going.
I said that this was the basic idea behind the first movie because, although Jigsaw is ostensibly doing things for the same reason, the filmmakers have forgotten that throughout the next 4 movies. Once they got a budget the movies became all about “What is the grossest thing we could possibly show the audience?”, and boy do they come up with some doozies. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS APLENTY FROM THIS POINT FORWARD. To me, the worst is the pit of needles in Saw II, but the bone splinterer in Saw III is pretty awful too. By Saws IV and V the traps are actually starting to get kind of boring and the plots are just too ridiculous be scary. In the second movie we learn that Jigsaw has an apprentice, who plays a major role in the third movie. At the end of the third movie everybody dies, including both Jigsaw and his apprentice (and in a definite, no coming back kind of way). So how are there two more movies, we all wondered (I saw these over the course of two marathons with Roz and some friends)? Well, apparently Jigsaw left a whole bunch of tapes around and had ANOTHER apprentice we knew nothing about who is also a cop! And it turns out the third movie starts at the end, so even though you see Jigsaw on an autopsy table with his brains in a pan, the movie can continue as normal. But you don’t learn this until the end of the movie, at which point you are kind of pissed, because that was a cheap, albeit effective, plot twist. And it perfectly sets up the fifth movie, which is the worst of the bunch, and that is saying something. I don’t even really want to talk about it much other than to say it is the most derivative of the bunch. The traps are not even that creative. One is ripped off of The Pit and the Pendulum, and one is ripped off of a Radiohead video. The best part is the special features, where they go on and on about how awesome the traps are and who thought of them, but no mention of Poe anywhere. They also go on about how clever they are for constructing a helmet that fills with water and can be drained quickly for safety. Yeah, you guys are really clever, oh wait, it was done 12 years ago in a Radiohead video. I used to wonder who enjoys these movies enough to pay and see them, but since watching the special features I mostly wonder about the people making them. The director of Saw V talked about designing traps with his 9 year old kid. That’s kind of sick. Whatever. There is not much else to say about these. I’d say the best part about watching them is watching your friends cringe at the traps, the movies themselves don’t offer too much else. That said, I’m sure I’ll rent Saw IV when it comes out – I’ve already wasted this much time with it, I might as well keep going.
Saw C+, Saw 2 - 5 D
originally posted Mar. 29, 2009
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