Review: Saw
Before it became a joke, Saw was a clever and inventive thriller, it’s a horror film for the MTV generation who didn’t grow up with Halloween or NOES. And despite how awful that must sound it’s a dam good flick.
The film opens with two men, Dr Lawrence and photographer Adam, both chained to pipes at opposite ends of a filthy bathroom with a dead guy in the middle of the room. Both men have been captured by the Jigsaw Killer, a mastermind that captures his victims, puts them into dangerous situations and allows them to escape if they have a strong enough will power. The two men quickly discover that one of them has to die in order for the other to escape and that both are lying to each other and themselves. It’s a simple premise done well, the mad killer routine has been done before but the way Jigsaw acts is pretty damn clever and it keeps the film small without feeling it. You also have a side plot about Danny Glover’s personal crusade to find Jigsaw, again clichéd but done well, if a little underwhelming.
The characters are small but played well enough. Lawrence is a calm guy, cool despite the pressure but as things build up he gets angrier and angrier and his desperation causes him to resort to desperate measures to save his family. Adam is a sleazy photographer, making his living on spying on others, he’s a lot more frantic to begin with but unlike Lawrence he actually gets more confident the more he understands about what’s going on. Both men played well off each other, playing a good mix of teamwork and apathy towards each other.
Danny Glover is basically the obsessed cop, the one that wants to catch the killer no matter what. It’s a simple role but we do dive into why he’s so obsessed - at least one portion of it - and if you need someone that has natural authority you can’t go wrong with Glover.
Michael Emerson (of Lost fame) plays kidnapper Zep, a sinister man that keeps Lawrence’s family hostage while making sure the good Dr does what he’s told. He starts quite sinister but as the film goes on and he loses his own control he becomes bug-eyed crazy man.
And then there’s Jigsaw, a truly fascination character, he’s a killer that doesn’t kill, always giving his victims a chance to escape, to live if they truly want to, in the hopes they will appreciate the life they are given because his cancer is destroying his.
James Wan - who would later go on to make Insidious - does a great job as director, he does have a few misfires, there are a lot of moments that feel like a music video with fast cutting and frantic pace - which is why I mentioned MTV earlier - and while they do work in some scenes, they don’t in others. Despite this the way the story is told, things getting put together piece by piece keeps us on our toes, we try to figure things out just as much as the characters do, it’s very clever how everything works together, especially with the ending.
Man god do I love the ending, it is a fantastic twist that not only works because the film has been making you think one way but just how it comes about, how you find out it’s so simple but so brilliant, I fuckin loved it, just incredible work.
While I’m still here I’ll make quick mention of the gore as well, the series is synonymous with O.T.T. blood and guts but this film is quite tamed down, still bloody, still gory but nothing awful. You don’t see a lot of it either, like the famous ‘Saw’ scene, you don’t see much of that but you still wince, you don’t see the shotgun trap, only the outlying effects. It’s stuff that’s violent but done in a great way.
Overall, a great film, it’s got a clever story, a brilliant villain and a great director. Check this one out, even if you know most of the others are shit this is still a worthwhile watch.
8/10