Caffeinated Clint
While not quite a horror-movie icon in the vein of Freddy or Jason, Jigsaw still does a bloody good job of getting the hairs on the back of one’s neck upstanding.
Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus MacFadyen, Bahar Soomekh
When it comes to movie sequels, the law of diminishing returns usually tends to kick in around the third instalment. Many a promising franchise or acclaimed series has gone right off the rails when the filmmakers have taken that third trip back to the well.
So I have to admit that my expectations weren’t high for ‘Saw III’ – not only because it was the third movie in the remarkably successful string of low-budget horror flicks, but because the ‘Saw’ movies have generally been an unpalatable combo of grimy, gore-stained shocker and pretentious social commentary.
I won’t say my admittedly low expectations were exceeded, but ‘Saw III’ certainly earned a bit of admiration from me for both its ambition in weaving a slightly deeper and more complex tale than usual and for really ramping up the nastiness to 11.
The gist of the ‘Saw’ story is this: a terminally ill chap who goes by the name of Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) has decided to teach people failing to display enough joie de vivre the error of their ways.
If they won’t appreciate the miracle of life, then Jigsaw will remind them by hook or by crook (and it’s usually by hook or some other sharp object).
The thing about Jigsaw is he’s not a maniacal killer per se. He simply places people in elaborate life-or-death situations that require them to do something pretty painful or gross to liberate themselves. If they can’t or won’t, well, that’s their problem.
In the first ‘Saw’, he pulled just such a trick on the drug-addicted Amanda (Shawnee Smith), strapping a big metal bear-trap to her head and threatening to set it off unless she performed some exploratory surgery on a fellow junkie – she had to slice open the living person’s belly and fish around for the key to the trap.
In ‘Saw II’, it was revealed that Amanda hadn’t taken offence at Jigsaw’s test but had in fact become her tormentor’s apprentice, helping him put a whole new group of victims through the wringer.
And in this new movie, Amanda has kidnapped troubled surgeon Lynn (Bahar Soomekh) in a bid to save the life of the rapidly ailing Jigsaw. Meanwhile, Jigsaw and Amanda have also abducted Jeff (Angus MacFadyen), who has been left a broken men after a drunken driver killed his young son.
In a twist on the usual ‘Saw’ shenanigans, it’s the people who’ve added to Jeff’s pain – a lenient judge, an uncooperative witness – undergoing Jigsaw’s tortures.
Jeff could easily sit back and watch these people suffer. But Jigsaw believes that if Jeff forgives them and frees them from their pain, he will free himself from his own self-imposed suffering. Of course, being a ‘Saw’ movie, things always end up a bit messy…
In fact, it almost goes without saying that ‘Saw III’ is extremely bloody, brutal and sadistic. How it landed an MA rating is beyond me.
The efforts by director Darren Lynn Bousman and Aussie screenwriter Leigh Whannell to introduce a little depth, shading and ambiguity into this chamber of horrors are noteworthy. But it doesn’t really change the fact that ‘Saw III’ is more of the same – it’s unnecessarily convoluted, dripping with empty style and jam-packed with hammy acting.
Credit must go to craggy character actor Bell, however, who brings a creepy conviction to his work as Jigsaw, a man utterly convinced of the rightness of his horrible actions.
While not quite a horror-movie icon in the vein of Freddy or Jason, Jigsaw still does a bloody good job of getting the hairs on the back of one’s neck upstanding.
Rating : 
Reviewer : Guy Davis
