Saw III

Surprise! There is a horror series that holds up well, even on the second sequel.

It's difficult to explain the plot in any detail without ruining the storyline, so instead, I give you small chunks. A doctor must keep Jigsaw alive. If he dies, so does she. A grieving father must decided what he will do when confronted with the people that changed his life for the worse. Saying anything else about the story line is just criminal.

Like the 2 movies before it, difficult decisions and some nasty secrets become a part of a much larger plan. It manages to explain events in Saw 1 and 2 that may have been considered plot holes. It spins the whole concept of the Jigsaw character and what he represents, and the message he is trying to say. By carefully placing events from the past in a certain order, and by introducing important sequences of the character's lives, Saw 3 manages to become a pivotal point to the series. It's not perfect, though. Constant flashbacks to memories becomes a bit tiresome. Some of the dialog could be a combination of dry, repetitive, or dumb, or all of the above. And oh yes, there will be the improbable & illogical. Big critics will focus on this, and consider the movie a waste of time.

Of course, you can toss out the psychological-babble, tell the critics to go back to their coke snorting, and just have fun watching the movie as pure horror. Of the three, this is ultimately the most bloodiest. Those of low tolerance of gore, medical procedures and general dismemberment beware: the movie theater I went to here in Winter Springs had one movie-goer faint and fall to the floor. They had to temporarily stop the movie and take her outside, an ambulance came, and took her away. Even with this interruption, the movie kept everyone awake, wanting to see more. By the end of the movie, the audience clapped. We liked what we had seen. "What has the world come to?", you say? Geez. You are in the wrong place. I'm sure there will be some Disney movie to your liking.

The traps were clever, original, and far, far deadlier this time around. To me, it beats out any psycho with a knife/ax/chainsaw crap movie that has been pumped out too many times. It's a shame that Saw producer Gregg Hoffman passed away before this movie was produced.

After seeing Saw III I have to say that I was surprised. Few films do good in their third installments but Saw does quite well. It's got more gore than the other 2, not tons more, but definitely enough to please a horror/gore movie fan. Above the gore though is some of the sounds of the film that make you go, "That was INSANE!" There is some crazy traps in Saw III that are very good but there's always room for more sick/twisted trap ideas. It's got better acting than Saw 2, but how important is the acting anyways. Most people just want to see some nasty traps. And NASTY they are! Saw III does have some noticeable actors who are good though they aren't really that famous. Its a well made horror film. Pretty good series for 3 years in a row. Hopefully if there is a 4 it wont ruin the series, but who cares. It's like throwing out Halloween 3 and loving the rest. This one also has good twists and like the other ones I was waiting to hear that Saw theme song music and sure enough, at the end, there it was. Good Film. Well done.

Saw should have stopped after I and 2. By episode 3 my interest dwindled. The torture scenes were pretty much being recycled as they tried to come up with more imaginative ways to make the victims suffer. Sadistic in a way!

i decided, just as it was getting dark, that i was going to watch saw 3, and with much anticipation (after the first two), i did just that. the movie opens up, alike the first - reintroducing the bathroom, so i wasn't feeling too bad.

the movie's a tad confusing, and i spent more or less, the whole time trying to keep the vomit down in my stomach, so that didn't leave me with too much mentality to make sense of the whole reminiscent, nostalgic, deja-vu way the storyline was written.

the whole, disgusting gory, blood thing just isn't my style of horror. thumbs up for the excellent twists though! definitely, not for those with a faint heart, or a weak stomach. maybe my anticipation of the first two, brought my hopes up a bit too high, but it really wasn't as fantastic as i expected.

go and watch it though, only if you've seen the first two.

SAW III in my opinion is tied with the original as the best in the series. For many reasons- one reason being that it keeps it simple. Instead of dealing with multiple characters that sacrificed any kind of character development like in SAW's II, IV, and V, SAW III, like the original, has much fewer characters, leading to a more intimate setting where we can connect to everyone. And while it does have sub-plots, they don't feel out of place, they're not just randomly thrown in to shock audiences. They feel organic, they all connect smoothly at the end and make sense as to why.

If you've seen a SAW film, you know the story is going to have twists, turns, and violence/gore to accompany them. But at least SAW III does it very well. It expands on characterization and back stories for these characters and ties up the loose ends as believably as this franchise can do. We also get a deeper look at the relationship between Jigsaw and Amanda, knowing more about how the two really look at each other. Jigsaw is the calm, cancer-stricken anti-hero who does these evil things to prove a moral standpoint. Amanda, on the other hand, doesn't seem to grasp this - instead using the traps to torture her victims as a way to get back at innocent people for the way she was tortured herself with suicidal tendencies and drug abuse. With these two extremes, we see how much Jigsaw is trying to mentor her in his vision while she struggles with her own demons. And when Jigsaw gets ill, we see that Amanda really isn't a fitting apprentice to carry on his legacy as her vindictiveness comes out.

SAW III is also supported by the fact that the two protagonists are developed deeply. Maybe not as much as our two anti-heros, but we understand where they're coming from. From Lynn's dour nature to devastated Jeff's situation. The subplot with Jeff by the way adds some great underlying messages to the film. These messages shows us that hate, vengeance, revenge, and complacency brings more pain than anything else, and does not solve anything. It ruins families, destroys relationships, clouds judgment, and at the end: self-destruction. Leigh Whannell, who wrote the first two films with James Waan and flew solo writing the screenplay for this one, does a nice job giving the spotlight to all the characters instead of just focusing on Jigsaw and Amanda. He makes SAW III more of a character study than any of the other installments and that's one of the essential reasons why this installment scores high.

Darren Lynn Bousman directs a much more subtle film than he did with SAW II and SAW IV. The quick edits are kept to a bare minimum (thank God) and the film has a lot of dread going for it. Very moody and darkly atmospheric. He focuses on the drama and emotion at hand, which was a vast improvement on SAW II and especially SAW IV. He lets the acting and the situations do the work for him instead of being extra-fancy with the camera work. Lastly, the cinematography is a plus. Darren shoots the film with a vibrant and kinetic feel and uses good, non-queasy camera movements. I love the lighting most of all though; he uses a wide arrange in the color palette (from lime green to icy blue). He definitely proves here that he knows how to grasp the material and visualize it. His direction of III ranks alongside James Waan's mindblowing direction of the original.

The acting is hardly an issue. It's usually good or better. Tobin Bell can play John Kramer in his sleep by now for gods sake! He shows excellent range and is always effective in the role because he gives the character more depth than what the script probably provides. Shawnee Smith is superb as Amanda, who will always be one of my favorite characters in the series. This is without a single doubt her shining moment, her most dramatic portion in the series. You really want to hate her but you just can't because you pity her. Smith could have easily played the character as an annoying nutjob, but she gives the character substance and unbelievable humanality. Angus Macfadyen as Jeff is superb in his role as well; he makes Jeff the most realistic and sympathetic character within the entire series. As far as I'm concerned, McFayden nailed the mourning father act. Bahar Soomekh was decent but always outshone by Bell, Smith, and McFayden. Her acting was a bit flimsy at times, but for the most part she gave a nice performance and made her character likable.

The suspense and tension, while not as impressive as the original, is still great. Hardly any other Saw film or horror film in general for that matter (with the exception of Eden Lake from last year and Inside from 2007) has been so edge-of-your-seat gripping, so exciting. The slow pacing allows you to gradually absorb everything in, and this makes it all the more better.

There is a lot of extreme gore in this film, but unlike some other installments like Saws IV and V, it's done very well and serves a purpose. Jeff's bloody trials are in a lot of ways cathartic. You're enduring these horrific scenes along with Jeff, and the relief at the end that the horror is over really fits with the theme of redemption through forgiveness. Moreover, the revelation that the horror isn't over, and what you feel as a result, drives home the Shakespearean tragedy in a very personal way because you the audience have to keep enduring it.

SAW III is clever, solidly written, has the best characters, succeeds with the emotional aspect it was going for, and ties up loose ends perfectly. For a third installment in a horror series, it's incredibly strong.