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October 27, 2006
Wring my Bell
God damn, I love the Saw movies. SAW II was one of those rare movies that I actually attended twice before it opened. I need to revisit part one again, and soon, though it suffers from a relative lack of Tobin Bell. For my money, Jigsaw is the best slasher villain since Freddy Krueger, and it's not incidental to their places in my heart that both characters have been portrayed by skilled actors who were relatively unknown prior.
Lionsgate had no problem showing me the first two. Why, then, were there no screenings of this one? Arguably to preserve some of the plot secrets, but it's not like part two didn't have its share of surprises.
But I'll say this -- the folks behind the franchise have very successfully managed to put out some credible disinformation online this time around, and if you're a reviewer who's not even aware of the nature of it, you could easily spoil that particular aspect, though doing so wouldn't ruin the movie, as it's not even the key thing.
The bottom line is that whether Lionsgate feared bad reviews or not, this is most definitely NOT a substandard entry in the series. It follows the SCREAM 3 rules for a trilogy, introducing new backstory, looking at the first two stories in different ways, and even bringing a nice sense of closure to the whole thing, rather than ending with a blatant hook for a sequel, as the first two did.
Once more, the movie follows two storylines -- one involving John "Jigsaw" Kramer (Tobin Bell, again fantastic), literally on his deathbed at this point, and the other involving victims caught in a maze. The principal victim here is Jeff (Angus Macfadyen, looking like Russell Crowe crossed with Luke Ford), a would-be vigilante whose son was killed by a drunk driver and now, courtesy of Jigsaw, is presented with the chance to get revenge on those he deems responsible, but at a heavy and painful cost to himself.
Meanwhile, Jigsaw's new protegee Amanda (Shawnee Smith, way hotter than in the last two) has kidnapped a doctor named Lynn (Bahar Soomekh) to keep John alive until Jeff has finished all of his tests. Lynn has an iron necklace of guns locked onto her neck and rigged by remote to John's EKG -- if his heartbeat stops, the device blows her head off.
Savvy viewers will expect that all is not as it seems. Part of what makes Kramer such a great character is that he always tells the truth, albeit elliptically, but his victims are always so enraged at him that they don't heed or believe him. He's also in such physical pain already that there's no point in threatening him -- death would be a blessing.
I'm not going to spoil any of the kills or other acts of violence, except to say that some of it even made ME wince -- Jeff's trials take place in a meat-packing plant, so let your imagination run wild, and it still won't likely get as wild as director Darren Lynn Bousman and Leigh Whannell's gory flights of fancy. My only disappointment is that the one device Jigsaw calls his favorite only shows its effects in jerky close-ups, and a nice big master shot of it in action would have been tasty.
Dina Meyer's back, too, though they cop out a bit by giving her a bathtub scene where the water's all cloudy so you can't see anything. That said, later in the movie you get a nude scene you won't soon forget, but not from Meyer.
The song over the end credits is a bit lackluster, though it eventually fades into death metal. Shoulda reversed the two tunes. That aside, I loved this movie.
And since it's in theaters today, I'm going to place a big honking spoiler warning on the comments for this post. Want to know details? Want to discuss details? Do so. But if you haven't seen it yet and you want to go in cold, don't read the comments.
Posted by LYT at October 27, 2006 1:51 PM [Message Board]
Comments
I've been mad at that series since it's posters started giving me the finger...
Posted by: David N. Scott at October 27, 2006 2:25 PM
But the new poster gives you the tooth, the whole tooth, AND nothing-but-the-tooth!
Posted by: LYT at October 27, 2006 2:42 PM
You think Natalie Maines is gorgeus? I mean, she's pretty, but I don't know about gorgeus...
Posted by: David N. Scott at October 27, 2006 3:03 PM
Totally. Breaks my heart when they finally reveal that she's married and show her husband.
FYI, you won't actually get my full review of that movie until it opens a little wider. The Voice went with a shortened version, and E Online a different, short capsule.
And just so you know, I'm ashamed you're not from Texas.
Posted by: LYT at October 27, 2006 4:00 PM
How do you know I'm not?
Posted by: David N. Scott at October 27, 2006 5:15 PM
You're just discovering now hot (and funny) Shawnee Smith is? Haven't you seen an episode of "Becker?" Where, as the series continued on, her character got hotter and hotter. Makes you wonder why the medical clinic where Dr. Becker runs allowed her to come to work dressed like that...
Posted by: Edwin A. Santos at October 27, 2006 6:22 PM
Why would I watch Becker?
Loved Shawnee in The Blob remake, but the Saw movies have saddled her with some hideous hair and makeup jobs up until now.
Posted by: LYT at October 27, 2006 6:27 PM
Hey, I'm not a fan of the show myself. I just see the reruns on KDOC just to see Shawnee Smith. Because she's the only highlight on the show. That's all.
Posted by: Edwin A. Santos at October 27, 2006 7:45 PM
Suuuuuuure.
Posted by: David N. Scott at October 27, 2006 11:50 PM
saw 3 is the best i would just like to SAY TO LYT AS it has a lot of jigsaw my fave charicktar is adam he is sany and mad
Posted by: Dave sheppard at May 16, 2007 12:02 PM
saw 3 is the best i would just like to SAY TO LYT AS it has a lot of jigsaw my fave charicktar is adam he is sany and mad
Posted by: Dave sheppard at May 16, 2007 12:02 PM
saw 3 is the best i would just like to SAY TO LYT AS it has a lot of jigsaw my fave charicktar is adam he is sany and mad
Posted by: Dave sheppard at May 16, 2007 12:02 PM
saw 3 is the best i would just like to SAY TO LYT AS it has a lot of jigsaw my fave charicktar is adam he is sany and mad
Posted by: Dave sheppard at May 16, 2007 12:02 PM