Saw 3D puts the last piece of the Saw franchise puzzle in place.
Artwork by Mia Nogueira
For the last six years, a horror tradition has foreshadowed the Halloween season. Just before Halloween a new Saw movie has been released just days before the night when monsters and ghouls walk the earth. This year, however, marks the end of that ritual, as Saw 3D is promised to be the final installment of the series.
The cynical reviewer in me is happy to see the end, as there’s been a steady downhill since the third installment. However, the horror fan in me is sad to see the series finally end, as I’ve been a huge fan of the psychological twists and turns since I stumbled upon the second movie late one night. Though my two halves have been squabbling incessantly, I’ve finally come to a consensus: the series had to end, and Saw 3D was a most fitting curtain call for Mr. Jigsaw.
Ever since John Kramer (Tobin Bell, Saw), the feared Jigsaw killer, kicked the bucket back in the third movie, the plot has been as easy to navigate as a maze of barbed wire. However, the easiest way to sum up the story so far is that nearly everyone involved in one of Jigsaw’s ghastly tests has not been fortunate enough to make it out alive. The detectives and FBI agents on his trail have met with similar demises, and even Jigsaw’s apprentices have been done in one way or another, with the exception of former detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandalor, Saw IV). After narrowly escaping death in Saw VI, Hoffman is on the warpath for revenge against Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell, Saw IV), who left him in the series’ iconic head trap as per Jigsaw’s final request.
Yet a small group of survivors has banded around fellow survivor Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flannery, Boondock Saints). Dagen has turned his experience into something positive, writing a self-help book and organizing Jigsaw survivor therapy sessions. Dagen seems like a stand-up guy, but his PR assistant, lawyer, and manager are more focused on making as much money as they can from his story. Though Dagen had some impressive scars that he claimed were from his test, I couldn’t put my finger on which predecessor he had appeared in. I had a hunch it was a bunch of bologna.
Hand me a crystal ball, ‘cause my prediction was correct.
Dagen soon wakes up in a metal cage, as Jigsaw’s signature puppet informs him that the charade of his survival is up, and it’s about time that he was really tested. He then proceeds through a series of tests, all which pay an ironic homage to the mantra, “See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil.”
During Dagen’s trials, Tuck appeals to the police, revealing Hoffman as Jigsaw’s last apprentice for protection. Hoffman has some different plans, however, initiating a few more tests (including one involving a car, an enclosed garage, and a character played by Chester Bennington, one of the singers from rock band Linkin Park) designed to fool the police as well as throw them off the trail with a couple falsified clues. They introduce a new detective, Gibson (Chad Donella, Shattered Glass), who does nothing noteworthy aside from follow Hoffman’s trail like a good little lemming. Hoffman’s ruse gets him inside the station under everyone’s noses, whereupon he begins a veritable killing spree. Let’s just say he really enjoys that knife of his. There isn’t any more I can say about Hoffman’s devious ways and thirst for vengeance without ruining the film, but fans of the franchise will be pleased to finally see what happens when that iconic head trap actually goes off.
There’s one thing that Saw3D does that makes it worth seeing, and it isn’t the 3D effects. It’s that it wraps up the saga completely. The film leaves no loose end untied, no question unanswered – especially the one regarding Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes, The Princess Bride) from the original – and no audience member without a grimace. There were many different occasions when I found myself wincing at the grisly traps, and after six previous films, it’s hard to make me squirm.
I’ve hated the 3D gimmick since its origin, and though it is entertaining when sparks, debris, or body liquids leave the boundaries of the screen, the effects are completely unnecessary. It seems Lionsgate Films has performed just like any other money-grubbing production company and hopped on the Gimmick Bandwagon. Aside from the 3D, there haven’t been too many changes to the good ol’ Saw formula. There’s still the same scene where the camera spins around the victim of a trap like an out of control merry-go-round, and the same building suspense as the authorities hunt for the game’s puppeteer. If it ain’t broke (and it gets people through the theater doors) don’t fix it, right?
There is one thing I’ve loved about these last two installments, however, and that’s the return to the roots of Saw that director Kevin Greutert brings to the table. Saw III, IV, and V were so complicated that Inception becomes a walk in the park. They were also driven by traps rather than a plot, and Jigsaw was barely more than the initiator of a new gory test. Greutert brings back the haunting dialogue of Jigsaw’s instructions heard in earlier installments, as well as the creepiness of the puppet that isn’t seen through a television.
Saw’s biggest lure isn’t the horrid traps, the intense twists of the storyline, or the phrase, “I want to play a game.” What gets people into the theaters, and money into the company’s pockets, are the thoughts of what the viewer would do in that situation. I’ve been in many interesting conversations with others on whether or not one could perform the sacrifice necessary to escape with one’s life, and many arguments over what could have happened if the unfortunate victim did what was required of him/her instead of trying to get around it somehow. Though the cinematography is not always spectacular, nor the directing superb, it’s the “what if’s” – the circumstances that make me think – that makes this my favorite horror series of all time. With that, there’s only one thing left to say: Game Over.
★★★★☆
