Well, I Finally Saw SAW III...

Well I actually accomplished my goal of seeing all three of the original Saw films before the release of Saw IV today. Some general observations I have made are clearly the escalation of violence in each film, the more intricate roles of each character that appear, and the more messed up the connections between the films become. This film does not stand alone though which does definitely subtract its value from the other two.

I'm warning you right away, this movie is a whole cliffhanger from end to start. I know most people genuinely dislike cliffhangers such as the endings of Lord of the Rings trilogy or Pirates of the Caribbean. Although the cliffhanger is a very cheap way to gain interest in the next film, I do love the cliffhanger here and how you can make great assumption, predictions, and expectations of what the plot and story will bring in the next sequel. Unfortunately, having no direct conclusion is what definitely separates this film from the first too. Yes the same basic plot and storyline are there. The same characters appear as in the first two and reveal more shocking pieces to this huge "puzzle" within the films. Yet, why do we watch movies without endings? This probably didn't aggravate me like most moviegoers at the time because I do have the opportunity and privilege to see the ending of Saw III. I could go right this minute as a matter of fact to catch a viewing of Saw IV, but that is the whole problem. Why do conclusions of one piece of film lay within its sequel? I guess this just upsets me because Saw and Saw II can clearly be viewed alone and leaves you feeling complete.

Without giving away to much plot, I hope I can discuss some of the positive and negatives. Amanda carries on John's(Jigsaw) work and captures a doctor named Lynn, who's "game" is to keep John alive or she will die with him. Meanwhile a man named Jeff is sent wandering through a maze with the chance to gain vengeance on the indirect killers of his son. The struggles of the four all intertwine in a supposedly shocking way, but it's relatively predictable what is occurring up to the last scene. The plot of this film without the connections to the first two(and presumably the fourth with sequels to come) is pretty weak. Yet the writers managed to do a relatively good job piecing their own puzzle together by turning seamlessly useless events from the first films, into the heart of this movie.

Some other topic we should discuss here is the gore. It is rare a graphic scene makes me, a victim of desensitization due to modern film, flinch at all. Congratulations Saw III, you found one of my three weaknesses, brain surgery... The sound effects in this scene are rather unnecessary, and in general, I believe the whole scene is unnecessary after viewing the end result of the film. I dare you to sit with your eyes and ears glued to the screen and not squirm an inch. I tried, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who failed and can only imagine what a theatre full of average people looked like. If that scene stood for more than shock value I would be praising it, but I feel that degraded from the other torture scenes shown throughout the series. Another topic is the characters, they did a better job with giving more screen time to each of them; however, once again I feel no sympathy for them when they die. Oh, and Jeff wins award for most annoying character in series thus far.

My overall impression of this trilogy is highly positive. I would recommend this film to anyone who has seen the first two films. Do not however watch this film first, you'll not only ruin the first two films, but you'll probably despise the series as a whole. Although fans and critics always disagree, I enjoyed all three of these films and am now completely entranced with the Saw universe. It was a lot of fun watching these and I'll hopefully run down to the theatre in the next few days and catch the fourth installment.

Well I Finally saw Saw 2...

Keeping up with my promise of viewing the first three Saw films before the release of Saw IV, I sat myself down and watched this film a few hours after seeing the first. Now, we all know what's coming, "the first movie was great and original and the second was just kind of there." Well to be honest, the first was original and stuff, but I liked this second one more surprisingly. My favorite element of movies is always plot twists and surprises, and this movie is full of them and has excellent connection to the first film making it a true sequel with returning characters, themes, and settings. The connections between the first and the sequel here definitely saved this movie.

So let's see what we got here, we got a bunch of new torture scenes, about twice as many new characters as in the first film, and we already have captured the mastermind of the first film within the first 15 minutes of the film. We also have some recycled creepy scenes like the little puppet on the tricycle. I don't know if that puppet is suppose to be scary or mocking horror films of the past, but I find it hilarious. I feel the director knew these movies could include a little more fun like the boy's cell phone answering message being changed to the raspy voice was funny. I definitely did laugh at some of the over the edge deaths and dialogue, and only really found the foot cutting and eye gouge scenes in these two movie somewhat disturbing.

The characters are usually what makes or break films in my eyes, usually in horror everyone has the intelligence of a rhinoceros on narcotics, especially the steroid abusing man who decides it would be easier forget logic and reason to not write the combination of the safe, start killing everyone, and even slice off part of his own skin. Come on, no one is that stupid. I felt that the characters stuck in the house did not play the desperate to live thing well at all; they all seemed dumbfounded by nothing. The house was a great idea, but I would have loved to see more character interaction and maybe some of the more dry death scenes would have had more passion to the audience. When a movie features likable characters you care about it, you feel destroyed like someone you really know died, you feel like the director has created some injustice or crime by killing off the innocent person. I didn't feel happy or sad when these people died, they just kind of.... well died, I knew they would eventually, but at least make me feel some pride in the overly rich drug dealer or the serial rapist getting burned, shocked, stabbed, or sliced.

Well I enjoyed the beginning and end of this film. There were a few plot holes here and there, but making a few personal assumptions never hurt anyone and was probably intended. Generally seems like most people wish this movie was nonexistent, but it's definitely a watchable sequel. If you loved Saw and need a little more check it out.

Well... I Finally Saw Saw....

I'm sure we all have seen the nonstop advertisements on television and online for the upcoming film Saw IV in theatres October 26th. I knew relatively little about Saw except from what I have heard from friends, reviews, and funny parodies on Mad TV. Well I have started my own little game and are forcing myself and some friends of mine(whether or not they've seen any of the films) to sit and watch each of the three Saw films before the release of Saw IV. This newer torture genre of horror movies gave me the feeling that Saw would be merely random tortures, mindless gore, and may even a saw... Boy was I wrong, I absolutely fell right into this movie and found the tortures to be clever, the mindless gore to be necessary, and hell there even was a saw.

This was a smart movie that included my favorite element to any movie, plot twists. There seemed to be twists coming at you every minute as the characters background develop. The movie pulls you in and makes you feel completely entranced and locked in the room with the two main characters. The movie starts off with two strangers in the room they attempt to work together in order to escape a room while chained to a pipe. The way the characters introduce each other and speak revealing little about themselves at a time grants you a feeling of trying to piece together their life while they are speaking. Even more incredible is while the movie progresses you constantly make your own predictions and try to solve puzzles left by the jigsaw killer. It's like watching the Zodiac killer meets Al Capone. The murders are left with intricate puzzles and clues like the 1970s Californian killer Zodiac, but the one behind the murder isn't actually responsible for executing it just like mobster Al Capone.

From film analysis point of view the acting wasn't terrible and completely believable. A scene where one of the trapped prisoners fakes his own death after ingesting poison is memorable in comparison to the real deaths throughout the film, because you know his acting job is not believable enough to pass the test. In most cases you can actually feel the insanity that the major characters deliver in the film. Notable are Cary Elwes playing one of the prisoners who's self actualization in how he has missed the importance of his wife and children show you what insanity can lead a man to do. Also the former investigator played by Danny Glover gives you a feeling of how obsessive one may become when it comes to solving a murder. That and I have a feeling I haven't seen much of Glover in popular theatrical releases since Lethal Weapon 4. hmmm Saw caught up in sequels and now even with the Lethal Weapon series, and about a fifth of the time too. Perhaps Glover's character can return from the dead with Mel Gibson in some terrible crossover movie like Lethal Saw.

Well I really enjoyed this movie and hope that the next three offer the same sense of originality and hopefully more development of the jigsaw killer. I realize that a majority of sequels fall apart and I hope to avoid redundancy with my review of Saw II. I hope you all have the opportunity to view this film and the other two before Saw IV is released in theatres. It's worth it!