I Want To Play A Game. Again. (Saw III (DVD))

Name: plipplop

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Product:	Saw III (DVD)
Date:	03.11.06 (1095 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really gruesome, fitting end to the trilogy

Disadvantages: Nothing wildly different to 1 and 2

Jigsaw’s back!

Continuing to evade the authorities, the terminally ill serial killer has converted a secluded warehouse into a makeshift hospital and workshop. In spite of his terrible illness, Jigsaw has concocted an ever more fiendish plan. In a city hospital, Dr Lynn Denlon has no idea that she is soon to play her part in a very dangerous game. Abducted from her place of work, she wakens in Jigsaw’s lair to be advised that she must keep the madman alive – or else an explosive collar fixed around her neck will have clear and deadly consequences. The duration of the game seems clear. Dr Denlon must simply keep Jigsaw alive long enough for single parent Jeff to work his way through a series of tests and very personal challenges.

If only things were that simple. Unbeknown to the two game players, Jigsaw has a rather more sinister motive behind this particular game……

What do brain surgery, sub-zero temperatures, rotting pig carcasses and exploding teddy-bears all have in common? The answer is simple: they all spell someone’s unfortunate demise in the third and latest instalment in the nasty Saw series. A Saw sequel is fast becoming a Halloween cinema tradition and released at breakneck speed merely two years after the original film was released, the third instalment seems to have attracted more attention than any other so far. On Tuesday October 31st, the BBC web site reported that emergency services had now been called to UK cinemas three times to attend members of the public who had fainted during a screening of Saw 3. Can it really be that nasty?

In all honesty, for once, I can see where they’re coming from. The opening twenty minutes of this movie is a booming, graphic and disturbing torrent of sounds and sights to turn many a stomach. Pre-credits, we return to the infamous bathroom, where one unfortunate individual comes up with another novel way of extricating his foot from a chain. We then proceed to see the aftermath of one of Jigsaw’s little contraptions, complete with excruciatingly brutal footage of the victim’s final minute and a half on this planet. And then, just when you think it’s safe to open your eyes, yet another poor victim is abducted and left to Jigsaw’s devices. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge horror film fanatic and will watch the grisliest of grisly but even I couldn’t fail to grimace, clench fists and curl toes. The power of these images is immense, and seemed far more graphic than previous instalments. Other people seemed to agree – there were swift and spontaneous departures from the auditorium before the opening credits had even rolled.

The formula for the third film remains fairly consistent with the previous two. Indeed, arguably, you do really need to have seen the first two films to fully appreciate what’s happening in the third. There are several flashbacks to events that took place in the first film, providing information and back story to previously unexplained events. The climax of the second movie revealed that Jigsaw now had an accomplice in his work, and this is integral to the plot of the third. If you wondered what actually happened to Detective Eric Matthews at the end of the second film, the third film (kind of) explains but there are flashbacks and references to other events that were somewhat lost on me. The plot isn’t intricate, but it is one of those things where you will probably feel the need to clarify something with somebody else who has seen it. Again, there are essentially two tales running concurrently, with Dr Denlon’s ordeal at the hands of Jigsaw playing out against a series of tests to which an unfortunate man named Jeff has been subjected. Suffice it to say that the significance of these things eventually becomes clear, but the journey to get there is so unpleasant that you really won’t be trying to work it out until it hits you like a brick.

As I watched Saw 3, I did find myself questioning what sort of person would invent something like this. (The question over what sort of person would then watch it never really occurred to me.) The trials and torture of part three are every bit as gruesome as the predecessors, and generally far more so (no spoilers, but there is a significance to this.) The set up of each is also familiar, with the makers sticking to the traditional formula of audio / visual forage of Jigsaw explaining each ordeal as it is unveiled. Once again, all of the gruesome action takes place in dark, cold, dirty locations and there is a perverse welcome nature to the film’s return to the bathroom location used (and frequently satirised) in Saw.

The creative team continues to largely comprise those who have worked on previous instalments. Darren Lynn Bousman continues to direct in a claustrophobic, foreboding manner with little attention to detail and more attention to dread than anything else. The story is written by James Wan, writer of Saw 1 and therefore most likely-placed to return to some of the places and ideas from that movie. Cast-wise, Tobin Bell reprises the role of Jigsaw, again to fiendish effect. The franchise certainly wouldn’t be the same without him, as his distinctive voice is integral to Jigsaw’s machinations. His assistant Amanda also returns, with Shawnee Smith cranking up the lunacy factor to suitable effect. Bahar Soomekh’s whinging doctor takes a little getting used to, as does Angus Macfayden’s unfeasibly bitter Jeff but characterisation niggles are easily overlooked amidst the bloodshed.

So overall, is it any good? Well, it’s well-made and atmospheric, much like the previous two movies. It’s very gruesome and very bloody, satisfying the gore hounds out there. It twists and turns, and generally runs at a fast enough pace to help you overlook some of the obvious plot inadequacies. It concludes the trilogy very well, utilising the previous two instalments rather than rubbishing them and consciously makes no attempt to fill in any of the history surrounding Jigsaw or how he came to be. So if you liked the previous two movies, I’m pretty sure you’d really like this one too.

News of a fourth movie worries me though, particularly as it’s being cited as a prequel. The story is fairly well wrapped up at the end of the third movie, and unlike many franchises, quality has remained consistent throughout. In choosing not to tell us that much about Jigsaw’s history, the makers have kept a continuing air of mystery that is greatly welcomed in today’s “movies by numbers” approach to keeping the general public entertained. The series also runs the risk of subjecting itself to too much intellectual scrutiny. Would an old man and a young woman REALLY be able to build such complex, unwieldy traps and devices? Can you really buy all the parts you need to blow someone’s head off in Wal-Mart? I’m not sure.

I really enjoyed Saw 3. It was a good Halloween movie and a fitting finale to the series. But I’d really prefer it if they just left things there. You can only have so much of a good thing.

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Summary: If It's Halloween, It Must be Saw!