Saw Review
by Brendan Cullin (brendan AT empiremovies DOT com)September 20th, 2004
SAW
RATING 8.5/10
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Not that I want to hype this movie too much because that can sometimes result in the "kiss of death" but Saw is quite simply the best psychological thriller that I can think of off the top of my head since Se7en. And the reason I compare it to Se7en is that since 1995, most psychological thrillers that have been released have been compared to Se7en but nothing has really lived up to the hype. Well, I suppose either Se7en or The Silence of the Lambs. But any movie that tries to "mind-fuck" you will inevitably be compared to Se7en and all have failed. Saw is not a failure. It excels pretty much from beginning to end. Sure there are some scenes of overacting and some scenes of underacting (perhaps it was just some cheap dialogue?) and a few questions that are left unanswered but the movie does a great job of keeping the audience on the edge of their seat and wondering what the hell is going on in the movie or at least what is going to happen next and why.
Saw is basically about a couple of confused dudes, Dr. Larry Gordon (Cary Elwes) and Adam (Leigh Whannell) who wake up to find themselves chained up in a shit-stained bathroom that is seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, and there is some guy lying in the middle of the bathroom that has his brains blown out all over the floor. Anyways, the dudes start to remember clues from the past and clues sprinkled around the shitty room that make them realize that a psychotic killer known as Jigsaw has chained the boys up and is going to fuck with their minds until they kill themselves or kill each other. You see, Jigsaw has been terrorizing the city (not quite sure which city, maybe New York?) by trapping people who he feels need his "help" to appreciate life and he gives them a choice of either killing themselves or performing some unthinkable act upon themselves or on someone else to escape and earn that appreciation. His crimes are well thought out and precisely planned and he has eluded the police for quite some time. Danny Glover (Detective David Tapp) and Ken Leung (Detective Steven Sing) play the two coppers who believe they are hot on the killer's trail. Monica Potter plays the wife of Dr. Larry.
Anyways, I'm not going to get too deep into the details of this movie because the less you know, the better off you will be when you walk into the theatre. I don't know if I would consider Saw an all-out horror but it certainly is suspenseful, thrilling and slightly gorey. There isn't too much gore. A couple of scenes that are a bit disgusting and a few more that will make you cringe, but nothing really over the top, although a few things I wouldn't suggest trying at home, if you know what I mean. But the two things that stood out for me were firstly, the killer was smart, I would say the smartest since John Doe (from Se7en). Not that that's a good thing because the prick was smart in a fucked up psychotic way but he still managed to outsmart everyone from here to Timbucktwo and I always like being made to feel stupid. Secondly, I loved not being able to figure out this movie. You really never are 100% sure who is on first and who is on second and so on and so forth. There's twist after turn, suspect after suspect and although this can sometimes be that "kiss of death" it works here and it works well. I suppose another complaint I might have is that the movie could have benefitted from having about 15 or 20 minutes cut out (it seemed to drag ever so slightly near the end) but that does not stop me from highly recommending Saw whenever it finally hits the theatres.
Review Date: September 16, 2004
Author: Brendan Cullin
Official Site: http://www.sawmovie.com/
Director: James Wan
Distributed by: Lions Gate Films
Theatrical Release Date: October 29, 2004
Cast: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Tobin Bell, Ken Leung, Makenzie Vega, Shawnee Smith, Benito Martinez, Dina Meyer, Leigh Whannell
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