SAW VII 3D.

WARNING: Here be potential spoilers for all previous films in the series.

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October 29, 2004. Roughly 9 PM. I sit down on opening night to watch a low-budget horror film called Saw. I have no expectations except that I think it has a fun concept. It's entertaining, but totally predictable. It's now 5 minutes before the movie ends. Jigsaw stands up. My jaw drops. I sit and stare at the credits rolling, dumbfounded.

October 29, 2010. Roughly 4:30 PM. I sit down on opening day to watch a comparatively low-budget horror film called Saw 3D. It's the seventh in the series--and the last. I have seen every other one on opening day, and I wasn't going to stop that trend on the final film (of, at least, this particular chronology). It's entertaining, but totally predictable. It's now 5 minutes before the movie ends. We get our "Hello Zepp." The twist happens. The movie ends. I leave with a huge smile on my face. Why?

This is the Saw movie the loyal fans have been waiting for.

The story picks up where the--believe it or not--first movie left off. If you don't know already what happens next, you probably aren't a fan of the series. Let's just say it involves Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes). Then we get our first-ever outside, live-audience trap. It's mostly irrelevant to the overall movie. Finally, we continue where Saw VI left off, which shows Jill (Betsy Russell) putting Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) in the Reverse Beartrap and him escaping it. Jill hides and runs to the police, specifically Officer Gibson (Chad Donella), who has a past with Hoffman. Hoffman sets up a semi-game to have Gibson hand over Jill to him in order to stop the main game that is going on. The main game revolves around Bobby (Sean Patrick Flanery), who has gained fame by coming out as a Jigsaw Survivor and leading self-help groups for other survivors. However, as you can probably figure out from the first scene you see him in, he's lying... and he's put in his very own game of survival. Similar to Saws III and VI, he's given the option of saving somebody he knows, but at his own personal pain and loss. What's his goal? To save his wife (Gina Holden), who is chained up at the end of his journey.

There are kinda two and a half story lines going on in this movie. The main one is Bobby's game, but then there's Jill trying to stay protected from Hoffman. Somewhat connected to this is Gibson trying to hunt down Hoffman, as well as figure out a mystery behind the latest "trap" disaster. The story is easily the film's weakest point. Especially in its first 20 or so minutes, it's very jumbled and unfocused. It's trying to do way too much. It wants to stand alone as its own entity, but it can't, because it has a bunch of things to tie up (being the final installment). Bobby's story is good, albeit highly predictable with a hint of "I've seen this before." And you have. As I already said, a guy having to go through a building and save/kill people depending on his own personal strength and/or willpower has already been done twice, both (interestingly) at the end of their respective trilogies. Jill's mini-story and Gibson's story could have been better had it not been for their respective actors' over-acting.

Betsy Russell just screams and freaks out most of the time, while Chad Donella tries as hard as he can to taste that scenery. Besides them, though, everybody else is pretty average (for this series). Really, that's all I've got on the acting. If you've made it this far into the Saw series, it's most likely you're not looking for Oscar Gold.

What you really want to hear about are the traps. Oh man, there are some good ones. The "outside" trap at the beginning is cool (and actually darkly comic by the end of the scene). Unfortunately, this scene bares almost no purpose for the rest of the movie. It's referenced one other time (possibly two, if you can infer something later, but there's no proof). Other highlights are the "car" trap and the "throat" trap (which actually made me cringe). The others are really good, too, but I don't wanna spoil it by getting into them all. I don't really think I was disappointed by any of the traps in the movie. They were all relatively bloody and creative, which is all any Saw fan can ask for. They also tied nicely in with the sins of those in them (and had nothing to do with Jigsaw's personal history), something the last few films have been lacking.

Speaking of anything a Saw fan can ask for, the one thing that keeps bringing fans back is the continuity. Say what you will about the bloodiness of the films, but the continuity of this series is freakin' genius. All the backstory and inter-connectedness is so good. However, I can't talk about the rest without getting into spoiler territory, so I'm gonna put up some tags now.

SPOILER ALERT (FOR THE ENDING)



Dr. Gordon's return has been pretty much the biggest fan request since the first two films. What really sparked the Gordon theorists (myself included) was the limping figure who surgically implanted a key behind that one guy's eye at the beginning of Saw II. And it just escalated from there. I always said that the only way this series could end--and a lot of fans agree--was with Dr. Gordon coming back, showing himself as having helped John Kramer, giving us flashbacks to all the other films of how he did so, and ending back at the bathroom. And you know what? That's exactly what we got. If you're a major Saw fan like me, this ending wasn't a twist. It was fan service. And I loved it. It made the rest of the film even better simply for having that ending. Also, we finally get to see the Reverse Beartrap in action. How awesome is that?



SPOILERS DONE


The only other thing I wanna talk about is the story theme. Every one of the films after the first has had a main theme. The second was (arguably) patience. The third was forgiveness. The fourth was trust. The fifth was truth... or teamwork... or something. The sixth was choices. So what was the seventh? I think it's humility. But like the sixth, there was a strong message to go along with it. The sixth's played on the healthcare system. This one played on the recent rise in popularity in fake celebrities. For instance, the dude who wrote the fake memoir and had Oprah pimp it on her show as truth... or balloon boy... or anybody who has used tragedy as a stage for fame and popularity. And then, to take it even further, the American fascination with granting them that popularity (which is really all that "outside" trap was about).

Overall, it was an adequate film. Was it the best in the series? No. That'll always be the first one. But was it the worst? No... I don't think it even came close. It's somewhere in the middle. However, that being said, while the overall film might not be totally strong, the ending is definitely one of the best. So in summation... iffy story, strong traps, great ending... to both the movie and the series as a whole.


A Keanu 'Whoa'

(P.S. I refuse to call it purely Saw 3D, hence the VII in the title. It won't be 3D on DVD, and Saw 2D is just stupid... so they'll have to change it to Saw VII.)

SAW VI.

Warning: While there are no major spoilers for this installation, there are some mild spoilers for the previous 5 films in this review.

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Anybody who keeps up with this blog knows I'm a fan of the Saw films. I'm one of the few dedicated fans who has yet to give up on the series (and also one of the fans still waiting for the return of Dr. Gordon). I've seen every Saw film on opening night, so I couldn't break the tradition now. I'm honestly not going to bother with a plot description or actor/actress notification, because 1) you should know the general formula of a Saw film by now, 2) if you've been keeping up with the previous films, you'll know where the story currently stands, and 3) the only recognizable actor (outside of the returners) is Family Matters' Darius McCrary, who really only has about less than 5 minutes of screen time anyway.

The last movie got slammed for being too slow. There weren't enough traps. It was too much backstory and too few thrills. So I guess that makes this one the yin to Saw V's yang. If anything, this movie didn't have enough downtime. For the most part, it was trap after trap after trap and very little breathing time. Is that a bad thing? Yes and no. One of the things I love about these movies is the continuing character development and brilliant continuity. Are there flashbacks that continue to show Jigsaw's past and how all the movies are connected? Of course. And actually, you get a better sense of why things happened the way they did through this film. I know you were curious what was in that letter to Amanda in Saw 3... or the box in Saw 5. Well, you find out both in this movie. And so much more. As an end to a second trilogy, this movie could have ended the series. It's not going to, but it could have. It did tie up a lot of loose ends, which was nice to finally have done. Though I'm sorry Gordon fans, he's not back yet. However, they are keeping him in the story by bringing him back up, which continues to make me think they're just keeping his memory fresh for the next film.

Anyway, on to the next subject: the traps. I have to be honest, these were some really inventive traps. The opening one is brutal. Two people separated by a cage with a scale in between them must offer up a certain amount of flesh or else the devices on their heads will drill into their skulls. There's also (my names for the traps) the "Hold Your Breath" trap, the "Hangman" trap, the "Steam Maze" trap, and the "Carousel" trap. And the big mystery trap, the "Acid Cage" trap. I don't think I missed any (besides a special one at the end), but still... they're pretty inventive and suspenseful.

Along with the traps, we gotta talk about gore. Yes, there is blood and guts. The heaviest bits are at the beginning and end, but there is some blood in the middle... just not as full-out as the other two parts. But gore-hounds will love it for sure.

And what's a Saw movie without the twist(s)? The first movie almost literally floored me with its ending. The second one started the multi-twist trend, where one or two twists are obvious, but they're mostly distractions for the "real" twist. The third one was the same as the second (one I figured out, one I didn't). The fourth just confused the heck out of me. And the fifth had a lame ending... because there was no twist. But this sixth one totally comes back in action. I'm not gonna spoil it, but let's just say one is so obvious you can't believe it's a twist, but I think it was really just a distraction for the other one... because that one actually caught me off guard. And I love it when that happens.

The overall movie is pretty good. The acting is average at best, mediocre at worst (with the exception of Tobin Bell, who continues to be outstandingly brilliant). The movie could have used with a bit of slowing down bits, too, to let us breath for a couple minutes. The whole thing had a very chaotic feel to it. One minute, we're seeing this, the next we're seeing something else, and it all zips and zooms around each other that, especially if you're not overly familiar with the previous films, you'll be utterly lost (at least in my opinion). But to me, none of that mattered come the ending. The ending completely made sense of everything, made me realize "oh, so that's what that was about." It's not just chaos for the sake of chaos. There's reason to the madness, which I guess is the theme of the movie. You learn a lot about why Jigsaw is doing what he's doing and why he chose certain people for certain things. Oh, and not to mention there's a really cool ending to it that breaks away from the norm just slightly (and also sets it up for the next movie). I'd say of the second trilogy, it's easily the best of the films (I actually might go as far as to say it's in the top 3 of all 6 films thus far). So my verdict? If the fifth one turned you away from the series, I'd say give the sixth a chance and see if it can pull you back in... at least a little.

A Keanu 'Whoa'

Five Days Of Saw: SAW V.

I'm getting it in with about 10 minutes to spare! But anyway, here it is. Again, if you haven't seen the previous movies, this one is spoilery.

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So you know how the plot synopsis for this movie was so bare-bones and everybody thought it was because they didn’t want to spoil anything? Well, the truth is that that’s about as basic as you can actually put the plot, as it’s freakin complicated otherwise. Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) has ‘survived’ and moved on from the end of Saw IV (the trap portion of the movie, not the autopsy portion, which is actually never even referenced in this film), and has set himself up to be the Jigsaw case’s savior and be a big hero, even though he’s the new bad guy. The only snag is that Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) has survived and is on to much more than Hoffman likes. So meanwhile, while Hoffman is chasing after Strahm, who is tracing the steps of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his past victims, another game is going on in which five individuals (including Julie Benz and Meagan Good) have to go through a set of rooms and face a set of traps, one by one.

There’s a new director in town, and it does show a bit. There are no fancy camera tricks, transitions, or editing techniques, which is really sad (well, maybe one or so, but that's about it). In fact, there’s even a bit of CGI, which is totally out of the Saw realm. So the usual Saw feel with the cool camera and editing tricks was gone. However, it wasn’t completely bad. It still worked for what it was.

One big negative aspect, however, belongs to the plot. Everything about the movie was either predictable, obvious, or an overall ‘duh’ moment. Most of the revelations or twists in the Saw series are mind-altering experiences that tend to blow you away. Not this time. The twist isn’t anything massively important or mind blowing. It’s just kind of there. And any of the other revelations were so easy to figure out it’s like they weren’t even trying to hide it like the others did. Hell, the opening game lines for the five people practically spells it out for them (and I knew it right away), yet when they figure it out, it’s like some huge ordeal. I don’t know if it’s the movie that was predictable or that it was just the way the story was unfolded that made it too obvious. Maybe a mix of both. Oh… and the thing with Jill was just weird… but I figure that’s something that’ll be explained in the next one.

On the subject of the traps, some of them were pretty cool. Like the trap that introduces the five people was quite inventive, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Most of the others (for the few there were), were somewhat lame, though. Imaginative, sure, but lame.

Yet again, though, the continuity saves the film. This film pulled what it did with the last couple and has just totally gone back to the first, second, and third films and re-shown stuff that fit in so smoothly it was like things were filmed simultaneously. I just loved how everything was connected and how everything just worked together so that a lot of things made even more sense than they did before.

The acting was another notable positive, especially from Tobin Bell (as always). The entire scene/first flashback between him and John/Jigsaw was so amazingly well done… I don’t think there’s any way it could have been done any better. Tobin Bell really is a saving grace of this series. If it weren’t for him and what he and his character brings, these movies would be flat-out terrible.

So after a year of waiting, all I’m doing now it waiting for the final chapter of the series. This one was alright, mostly due to the flashback stuff/continuity that it holds. I was a bit upset that it never referenced the whole autopsy scene (even though that’s what the last movie ended with). But who knows, maybe that scene happens after the events of Saw V, as well (I doubt it, but it’s possible). They referenced Dr. Gordon so much and hinted so many things that I could have sworn it was coming this time around, but alas… maybe they’ll end it with him to go out on a bang. Unfortunately, in order to get there, we had to do this one. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the best of the series, either. I bet like one of the previous movies, it’ll grow on me after numerous viewing… but until then... yeah. The tagline of the movie was “You’ll never believe how it ends.” Yeah, and I really couldn’t believe it ended like that. It could have done better.


I Am McLovin!


The following segments involve spoilers:

Questions Raised Thus Far:

- Who the heck was the guy in the drill-to-the-neck trap and what did he do (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon's wife and daughter (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon (Saw)?

- As such, now that we know he turns survivors into apprentices, will he do the same with Dr. Gordon (after all, the -surgeon- in the video at the beginning was -limping-); Also, now that we know survivors can also be re-gamed, will Dr. Gordon just be used for another game (Saw II and Saw IV)?

- What the heck happened to Danny Matthews (Saw II)?

- How is Obi connected to Jigsaw, as he helped him gather all the people into the house, and as he's seen running in a flashback near John and a woman (Saw II and Saw III)?

- What is that key to that was around Amanda's neck (Saw III)?

- What the heck was in that box given to Jill (Saw V)?

Questions Answered Thus Far:
- Does Jigsaw just let Amanda go live her life now that she survived?
(He turns her into his apprentice)
- Does Adam just die of starvation, dehydration, and/or blood loss?
(Amanda kills him via suffocation).
- What's with all the pig stuff?
(John was obsessed with Chinese New Year and made his first victim during the Year of the Pig).
- What the heck happens to Detective Matthews now and/or is he still alive?
(He escaped capture, was re-captured, and kept alive to be used in one final game, wherein he died).
- Who is that woman in the flashback?
(John's ex-wife, though then-wife, Jill)
- What was in that envelope that Amanda reads?
(No specifics, but we know that Hoffman wrote it... according to the director, that's all we need to know).
- What happened to Jeff after the end if Saw III?
(He was shot by Agent Strahm immediately afterwards).
- What was with that wax-coated tape?
(John swallowed it so that it could be found during his autopsy in order to begin a new game with Hoffman).
- What happened to Jeff's daughter?
(Hoffman brings her out to safety).
- Is Agent Perez still alive?
(No).
- Was Rigg being set up as a new apprentice and/or is he still alive?
(No... because he's dead).
- What was with that box of glass in one of the flashbacks?
(It was for a 'trap' and/or safety case for Strahm)
- What happened to Agent Strahm since he was locked in the room with Jigsaw's body, though we know Jigsaw is eventually found due to the autopsy?
(He found a door, got put in a trap, saved himself, and was found by the police, along with Jigsaw's body).

Five Days Of Saw: Saw III.

Again, spoilers ahoy if you haven't seen the previous films.

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I always felt Saw III was one of the more simplistic to explain in the series, but after seeing it yet again, this time with a review in mind, I’ve realized how complicated it actually gets. This movie picks up right where the previous left off (like… exactly), where Detective Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) is trapped in the bathroom. Then it switches over to show a few other detectives, including Detective Kerry (Dina Meyer), Detective Rigg (Lyriq Bent), and Forensic Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) are investigating a new supposed Jigsaw victim, thinking it could be the missing Detective Matthews. But then they aren’t even sure it’s Jigsaw, but instead maybe a copycat, because there would have been no way for the victim to have survived. Enter at least one more (really cool) scene with Detective Kerry, then switch over to Lynn (Bahar Soomekh), a doctor with apparent husband troubles. Well, she gets kidnapped and set up by Jigsaw/John (Tobin Bell) and Amanda (Shawnee Smith) and is told to play a game, which is to keep John alive long enough for yet another person to finish yet another game. Enter Jeff (Angus Macfadyen), an alcoholic who lost his son to, ironically, a drunk driver that didn’t get (according to Jeff) the punishment he deserved. So all of this plays all together while, simultaneously, we are entreated to flashbacks that further explain John’s history, Amanda’s history, and some other things from the first Saw movie.

First I have to talk about the continuity. Love or hate these films, they have some of the best freakin continuity of any film series ever. It’s almost as if each film were done at the same time or with everything in mind, when none of that is true (the only things they had in mind while filming any of these were dealt with things in Saw 3 and 4). But there is some seriously amazing continuity and explanations, which is one reason I completely love this series. It’s not about the traps for me, really, but about the story and the characters and how everything fits together. It’s all like a big jigsaw puzzle (pun intended), with each movie adding another piece to the overall puzzle.

Anyway, about this movie specifically, my opinion is that it’s a few notches below the first. It concentrates more on plot and characters than traps and gore, though there is some intense stuff. It’s more like a mix of the first and second, with heavier influence from the first. Unfortunately, the twists (sans one) were all incredibly easy to figure out. As for the traps themselves, only one of them has ever bugged me, which is the freezer trap. There’s no way she can get into the state she got into like that in such a short amount of time in the predicament she was in (to be vague). It just seemed way too fantastical for me.

Otherwise, the only other comments I have are with the camera and editing again. It’s some really cool stuff. There’s more quick shots like in the first one, and there’s some more one-shot transition scenes, which are really awesome (for instance, toward the beginning, there’s a crime scene area where the camera hangs out around in and goes through, then it goes down the room, through the hall, and ends up in a house and in a bathroom to show Detective Kerry in the bathtub, even though she was just at the crime scene. According to the commentary, she had to run backstage, strip her clothes, and jump into the bathtub in that whole quick bit, just in time for the camera to see her already in the water. Brilliance). So yeah, it’s not as brilliant as the first one, but it’s one of the better ones in the series thus far (in my opinion).

A Keanu 'Whoa'

The following segments involve spoilers:

Questions Raised Thus Far:

- What's with all the pig stuff (Saw, Saw II, and Saw III)?

- Who the heck was the guy in the drill-to-the-neck trap and what did he do (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon's wife and daughter (Saw)?

- What the heck ever happened to Dr. Gordon (Saw)?

- As such, now that we know he turns survivors into apprentices, will he do the same with Dr. Gordon (after all, the -surgeon- in the video at the beginning was -limping-) (Saw II)?

- What the heck happens to Detective Matthews now (Saw II) and/or is he still alive? (Saw II and Saw III)

- What the heck happened to Danny Matthews (Saw II)?

- How is Obi connected to Jigsaw, as he helped him gather all the people into the house, and as he's seen running in a flashback near John and a woman (Saw II and Saw III)?

- Who is that woman in the flashback (Saw III)?

- What was in that envelope that Amanda reads (Saw III)?

- What is that key to that was around Amanda's neck (Saw III)?

- What happened to Jeff after the end (Saw III)?

- What happened to Jeff's daughter (Saw III)?

- What was with that wax-coated tape (Saw III)?

Questions Answered Thus Far:
- Does Jigsaw just let Amanda go live her life now that she survived?
(He turns her into his apprentice)
- Does Adam just die of starvation, dehydration, and/or blood loss?
(Amanda kills him via suffocation).