SAW REVIEW

SAW
Lions Gate Entertainment
Dir James Wan
100 min. Rated R for strong grisly violence and language

Anyone who has seen the trailers for this film is probably tempted to think of Seven and other psycho-thrillers where the killer pushes some moral agenda through his mad murderous scheme. I’m here to help you not make that mistake. Saw is first and foremost a fun ride through some of the conventions we have associated with that kind of film. But in spite of a very twisty plot and a nifty bit of misdirection that will probably fool even the most alert viewers Saw is much less concerned with its point than advertising or even its first half would have you believe.

With a film like this the less you know the better. I can say that the story concerns a killer known only as Jigsaw who figures out ingenious ways for his victims to choose between life and death. All they have to do is follow his directions and they’ll live but what he asks is almost always so horrible that they find themselves at a standstill. And I can also share something about the opening sequence. Two men wake in a large filthy bathroom only to discover they are chained to opposite walls. In the middle of the room just out of reach, is man lying facedown in a pool of blood, a gun in his motionless hand. Soon we hear the voice of Jigsaw telling them men what they must do.

The films prevailing sin is the introduction of characters who exist only to mislead us the audience. It’s only other unforgivable sin is mistaking the misdirection for a story. But in this case it’s the cast and a keen sense of style and tone that saves what could have been a decent made for TV movie from sinking underneath its own pretensions. Keen eyed viewers won’t miss several references to the giallo genre where hooded figures, disguised voices and grisly penetrative violence play a large part. But the tone of Saw, which starts out as a standard if inventive genre piece, soon takes on an urgency and frenetic quality that draws as many laughs as gasps. Cary Elwes and the rest of the cast seem very aware of this and by the time our screening of the film was over our audience had exhausted itself expressing bemused amazement at how over the top the experience had been.

Be forewarned this is a grisly flick. If you do not like movies like Seven you will not like or likely understand Saw. As pastor R.C. Sproul said, “If you can’t understand the humor of dead people eating other people then I can’t explain it you” A truer foundational statement for the horror fan was never spoken. I found Saw exhilerating even if I wish it had knocked it’s central theme out of the park. Don’t go for food for thought (don’t bring food at all!) and don’t go to figure the film out. Go to enjoy the absolute cinematic frippery of it all. This is P.T. Barnum cinema at it’s sucker punch best.