Movie Review by EDF
Starring: Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Tobin Bell, Ken Leung
Director: James Wan
Since SEVEN came out a few years back, there have been several attempts to come up with more quality dark thrillers. Not a lot of them have succeeded, until now that is. SAW takes the audience along on the darkest ride since SEVEN, with the main difference this time being the way the victims dies. This movie actually has the audacity to preach to an audience a valuable lesson in life but I will not spoil it for you.
Two people wake up in opposite corners of a darkened room. Once the light switch is found, we see that the room is an abandoned bathroom. Lying in the middle of the bathroom is a bleeding dead body. The two strangers are chained up tight to the pipes. Neither of them trusts each other, suspecting that the other is involved in this sick predicament. Both Adam (Leigh Whannell) and Dr Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) find a tape in each other pockets and spot a dictaphone in the dead victim’s hand. Adam acquires the dictaphone and both men play their tapes.
From the messages on the tapes, the doctor’s family are in grave danger if he does not free himself from his chains by a certain time to save them. The messages also led them to a couple of hidden saws, to which both men try to saw their chains until the doctor realises that it is not the chains the saws were meant for. The doctor suspects that they are possibly the next victims of a serial killer nicknamed Jigsaw. The doctor reveals that he is a police suspect, having been questioned by the investigating officer Tapp (Danny Glover). Does Adam really believe the doctor’s story and which one of them will escape first?
One of the things going for SAW is the way the script keeps you in the dark about characters and events. Jigsaw is an engaging serial killer who plans out every conceivable scenario. The direction enhances the claustrophobic and tense situation during the bathroom scenes or will have your heart racing as the detectives catch up with Jigsaw. The only let down is some over the top acting in a couple of scenes but ignore this and you will enjoy how this movie engages your attention from start to finish.
