The Missing Piece of the Jigsaw is in a Dirty Public Lavatory (Saw (DVD))

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Saw (DVD)
Date:	15/02/05 (285 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Suspense, Stylish set-pieces

Disadvantages: Terrible acting, Confusing finale

If there’s one perennial problem with horror flicks it’s that they rarely attract the best actors. Recent notable exceptions include Francis Ford Coppola’s sprawling homage to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and the exceptional “Se7en”. “Saw” is billed as an even darker adaptation of the themes explored in Seven. If only the acting had been as good….
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Director: James Wan
Cert: 18
Run time: 102 mins

Main cast:
Leigh Whannell - Adam
Cary Elwes - Dr. Lawrence Gordon
Danny Glover - Detective David Tapp
Ken Leung - Detective Steven Sing
Dina Meyer – Kerry
Mike Butters – Paul
Paul Gutrecht - Mark
Michael Emerson - Zep Hindle
Benito Martinez - Brett
Shawnee Smith - Amanda
Makenzie Vega - Diana Gordon
Monica Potter - Alison Gordon
Ned Bellamy – Jeff
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The movie is centred on the two main characters – Adam and Dr. Lawrence Gordon – who find themselves in a dilapidated toilet area. Both have chains attached to one of their respective legs and both find themselves imprisoned at opposite corners of their makeshift cell. In the middle of the room lies a dead body with a gruesome amount of blood surrounding it. Both Adam and Lawrence are vague about how they got there in the first place although they soon come to realise that they are the victims of a macabre game of cat and mouse perpetrated by a psychotic serial killer.

The circumstances of their incarceration and the subsequent discovery of a couple of hack saws that are insufficient to break their bonds but would do the trick if they decided to saw their own feet off (naturally) to escape before the 6pm deadline are revealed by a small dictation machine left in the cell to give instructions re the deadly game and leads to the realisation that the architect of their situation is the infamous Jigsaw killer, so-named because he leaves the shape of a jigsaw piece cut out of his victim’s body (clever, eh?). Either way, the idea appears to be that one has to kill the other whilst the abduction and possible pending murder of Dr. Lawrence’s wife and daughter further fuel their desperate situation.

First of all, I have to say that I did enjoy the movie. There was a decidedly nasty aspect to it that reminded me of “My Little Eye” that had a cruel underbelly as well as a particularly grim finale. The obvious influence for “Saw” is the classy “Se7en”, what with imaginative killings and an underlying motive which, in this case, appears to be punishing the ingratitude of those who should be thankful to be alive (a tad tenuous but it’ll do). The almost exclusively run-down urban settings plumb the depths of urban decay and don’t get the occasional relief of normal day-to-day life that "Se7en" gets but it’s the stylish direction centred in a dirty, surreal underworld of dark alleys and hooded figures that gives the movie it’s dark tension. In a world of chicken wire and razor blades, the low light often used gives the viewer that feeling of looking in on a grim play acted out to a deadline that ticks away in the background.

However, similarities with “Se7en” end there. It’s almost impossible to reprise a cast that included Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and Gwyneth Paltrow and the lead characters in “Saw” fail dismally to engender anything approaching empathy. Leigh Whammell (The Referees) as Adam and Carry Elwes (Kiss the Girls, Twister) as Dr. Gordon are charged with the responsibility of building the tension, what with them being the main focus of the story as well as recounting flashbacks that build the plot to it’s complicated conclusion. Unfortunately, both fail miserably and where the audience should feel an impending doom as to the inevitability that any mutual trust that they might have is eroded quickly by the machinations of the plot, I couldn’t help but feel completely unmoved by their plight. This is a shame but recovered by the stylish set-pieces that save the movie from that all too common banality that many horror movies suffer. The director, James Wan, is a relative unknown but I should imagine he won’t have much problem getting more work after what has been a box-office success despite the movie’s obvious flaws.

Even the established Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon, Predator 2) seems to be lacking in credibility treading water in the role of drummed out ex-cop. Glover is unhealthily obsessed with the case even though it’s ruined his life and equally obsessive that the Jigsaw killer is Dr Lawrence when there seems little if anything to suggest why that is.

Without being too hard on the movie, the situations dreamt up by the writers seem straight out of a run down Victorian homage to “Dr Phibes” as the inclusion of bear traps on victim’s faces along with drills on either side of a prisoner bound and strapped on a chair lend an air of horror that would have delighted Vincent Price.

Other gripes I had was that the explanation of the Jigsaw killer name and concept seemed decidedly tenuous with just a fleeting glimpse of a jigsaw shape cut into the shoulder blade of one of the killer’s victims whilst the closing frames were unnecessarily confusing as the writers groped for a hard-to-guess twist. Yep, the twist is difficult to guess and I didn’t actually guess what it was but with all the swerves and turns I did find the whole thing a bit disorientating when all I wanted was a competent finale to what is a good suspenseful story.

Would I recommend this movie? Well, yes to be honest. Despite the ham acting and over-cooked finale, I found it good entertainment that most horror fans would appreciate. It’s certainly not one for the kids but if you liked any of the movies mentioned above then, chances are, you’ll like “Saw”. If nothing else, it may give you a different outlook on public toilets from now on.

Thanks for reading.

Marandina

“Saw” is available on VHS and DVD. Amazon are asking £12.99 and £13.99 respectively although I’m sure by shopping around you can find a deal.

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