Check Out the Trailer

When SAW is good it’s quite good, but when it’s bad it’s quite bad. It’s a seesaw of a flick. (That’s the only bad pun of this review.)

Adam (Leigh Whannell, THE MAXTRIX RELOADED) and Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes, THE PRINCESS BRIDE) wake up in a grungy bathroom chained to the wall in opposite corners of the room. Between them just out of reach is a dead body. They have no clue how they got there or why. A serial killed nicknamed Jigsaw is playing a game with them as he has done before with other victims. Jigsaw feeds them clues that increase the morbidity of the situation and test the two men’s moral fortitude. Det. David Tapp (Danny Glover, LETHAL WEAPON) is investigating the murders and becomes consumed with them. This is all of the plot I will reveal as that is the fun of the film.

However, some of the film’s conceits are so forced that you just want to groan. Characters who conveniently remember details just when they are needed for the plot to continue moving are very, very lame. Then we have Glover’s character, which is cliché and unneeded.

The scenes inside the room with Adam and Dr. Gordon are pretty intriguing. For the most part, they are character based and thought provoking, but the film attempts to twist and conceal things too often, which loses it credibility. The movie steals too much from better horror flicks like SEVEN. In the end, horror fans may find this film a CUT above most recent horror flicks, but everyone will admit that parts of the film they’ve SAW before. Forgive me — I couldn’t help myself.