Saw
Lions Gate Films
Availability: Now
Starring: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover and Monica Potter
The Verdict: “Saw” stumbles over its own vagueness and unrealistic pace.
Movie: 2 out of 4 stars
Extras: 1 out of 4 stars
At times this gore-laden basket of tantalizing executions may please your need for innovative horror at times, but only to a point. Derivative themes, futile acting, unlikable characters and a ridiculous resolution leave “Saw” with no arms or legs.
Right off the bat, this in-your-face torturethon cuts to the bone. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes), a well-to-do doctor, finds himself chained in a bathroom straight out of a worst-case scenario public rest area; across the room, Adam (co-writer Leigh Whannel), a photographer, sits confounded in similar bondage. And in the middle of their putrid dungeon, a prostrate prisoner, who apparently found a bullet in the cranium the way to go, lies in a thick puddle of his own blood.
Through some deft, puzzle-solving zeal, the two men listen to a tape player provided by their capturer to learn the rules of an awful game. To Adam, the speaker criticizes his voyeuristic nature and says, “So are you going to watch yourself die today, Adam, or do something about it?” Then Gordon hears dire instructions: he must kill Adam within a time limit, or his family will end up as the psycho murderer’s newest lucky victims.
Afterwards, Gordon remembers a man he heard about, a man baffling the cops, the “Jigsaw Killer.” This killer leaves his victims to play fatal contests for salvation. Gordon morbidly claims, “He never killed anyone.”
Thank director/writer James Wan and Whannell for not bogging anything down. This flinch-inducer’s pacing and time-frame grants viewing ease. Seesawing between an ongoing dissonant struggle and varied flashbacks, the filmmakers construct an enjoyable maze of suicidal splendor and decadent anxiety. “Saw” gives us something to anticipate: the moment when the killer’s identity is revealed. Clich, sure, yet rarely ineffective.
Even though a methodical, self-righteous killjoy has appeared in several contemporary thrillers (“Se7en” and “Phone Booth” to name a couple), “Saw” exhibits fairly original bloodletting. To remove a potentially face-ripping mask device, a female drug addict must find a key in the stomach of her doped-up cellmate. Obviously, the viewer may not be the only one who loses some lunch.
Plus, don’t be surprised if you vomit from the over-the-top and sometimes pulseless acting. Elwes never convinces the viewer that he can be consistently worthy or watchable. During the flashbacks, Elwes plays the prude doctor gig fairly well, but he turns into the king of hot-and-cold when the film switches back to the opening story. Sometimes he recites lines almost like a frigid mope, and sometimes he bursts into laughable fits of loud, desperate overacting.
Similarly, Whannell fails to carve up special terror for the viewer. Just close your eyes, and memories of Saturday morning cartoon voices will creep into your mind while the bogus actor recites his equally lacking dialogue. Maybe that’s stretching things a bit, but in retrospect, not really.
Usually, hope comes in the form of a veteran. Well, not this time. Danny Glover drowsily performs as a cop on the track of the maniacal puzzlemaker. Not surprisingly, drowsiness may overtake you if you try caring about Glover’s character. For a clearer image, let’s just say Glover reprises his “Lethal Weapon” role without any of the personality, respectability or comic bits.
Simultaneously disturbing and goofy, “Saw” tangles the most sensitive nerves with the ambitiousness of an opium-eating painter yet misfires with Sesame Street imagery. Yes, this film utilizes pervasive and gruesome imagery to great effect. But one can’t keep from unwanted snickering when the “Jigsaw Killer” uses a video tape of a sinister puppet with a “really evil bad guy” voice to communicate with a terrified prisoner. To think, this brilliant and pensive killer stoops to the level of lame Internet nerd fright techniques.
And the director should learn camera gimmickry only goes so far. As if extreme frame-skipping impresses everyone today, Wan relies on turbo-charged motion tricks for hopefully guaranteed chills. Sorry, messing with the frame rate and flashing random scenery like a motion picture kaleidoscope destroys any sense of gloominess or tragedy. Wan should leave the MTV music video effects off the drawing board next time.
Like any macabre whodunit, “Saw” serves a concluding plot twist with a butcher knife. Most viewers will never predict the left-field blow to the gut. Unfortunately, the dramatic explanation reeks of vagueness and cheap shock value, providing a disappointing plate of wicked screenwriting betrayal.
Boasting quite the ego for a debut film, “Saw” clearly glorifies the pretentious minds of James Wan and Leigh Whannell. As the film’s villain preaches like a seer from hell, Wan slings another slick camera trick around while Whannell chisels a grizzly plot development to make us say, “Artful.” This disgust fest is a stylistic stumble.
This DVD has the most terrible extras I’ve seen in quite some time. The audio commentary track introduces writer/actor Leigh Whannell and director James Wan, and talk about uninvolving. Basically, the two either use the time as a bragging opportunity for their pet film, or they provide worthless info like Elwes’ ability to do a good Marlon Brando impersonation (which may provoke laughter since Elwes is no where near the dead legend’s caliber). Unsurprisingly, they said they wanted a “Keyser Soze” villain for “Saw,” but they didn’t need to share that, for the movie itself proves they copped ideas from “The Usual Suspects.”
Equally pathetic, the menu screen describes “Sawed Off” as a quick look into the film’s making, and this assertion holds up all too well. The feature only lasts a measly couple of minutes, informing the viewer of the movie’s 18-day shoot and that Wan and Whannell are “big fans of stories.” Yeah, I needed to know that. But wait, the most glorious extra awaits: a music video of Fear Factory’s “Bite the Hand That Bleeds You,” that comes in a cut and uncut version. And joy, the disc includes the making of the unedited video. Ironically, the music video doc runs longer than the aforementioned featurette about “Saw.” Inconceivably horrible.