Despite a few well-made installments, the Saw franchise has had to rely heavily on gimmicks over the years. The first film featured a devastating twist, while Part 2 offered up the patented terror traps that would carry everything forward. From the splatter epicness of Part 3 to the narrative/character reinvention of Part 4, the films consistently found ways to tweak and trade on the audience's expectations and curiosity. But about halfway through Part 5, the patina finally wore off. By Part 6, we needed a nutty pro-heath care reform statement to get us through the grue.
Part 7 -- also known as Saw 3D -- has dialed up the hype machine one more time by doubling down on the carnival barking hucksterism. First, we are supposed to believe that this is the final film in the still financially solvent series. Then, the whole "added dimension" optical aspect promises to deliver ample arterial spray directly into your slightly more expensive theater seat. Well, here's to less than fitting goodbyes. Not only is Saw 3D the worst installment of them all, it reneges on both promises, leading to one of the most pointless horror movie experiences of all time.
Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery) is busy doing the talk show circuit selling his story of surviving the serial killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), offering a message of hope and self-help while his doting wife Joyce (Gina Holden) looks on. In the meantime, the infamous murderer's wife Jill (Betsy Russell) is battling her husband's former protégé Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) for control of the criminal's legacy. When Internal Affairs Detective Gibson (Chad Donella) stumbles upon what looks like another of Jigsaw's "games", he is desperate to nail the villains once and for all. When Jill offers up Hoffman, the cop jumps at the chance. Then the Dagens find themselves kidnapped, forced along with several others to endure those notoriously deadly traps of the unseen madman.
Wow -- is Saw 3D ever lame. The acting is lame. The special effects are lame. The ticket price-upping visual stunt is lame. It's all just so...you get the point. Nothing here works. It's a waste of time for everyone involved, the first film in the franchise that actually feels like it's intentionally cheating the fans. In the past, the preposterous storylines at least tried to tie everything together, making events and people we've seen in other installments relevant to the realities at hand. Here, it's all junk, random rewrites of the previous mythology that make no sense whatsoever. Even Cary Elwes from the original turns up to play a combination of red herring and obvious suspect.
Even worse, the kills have nothing to do with the initial Jigsaw designs. Instead of all working together in some massive attempt at personal vengeance, they are pathetic regurgitations of previous ideas. We get someone fried in a furnace, another buzzsaw to the torso, a pair of devices that do basically the same thing, and one proposed eye-popper that's nothing more than a bad dream (literally). If you've come to enjoy the Saw films for their blood-laden gags, you'll definitely leave this one disappointed. If you want suspense, inventive twists, and compelling characterization, however, you're really screwed.
Without a clear investment, without seeing how it all ties together as part of Jigsaw's grand plan, Saw 3D turns into a sloppy, subpar slasher flick. It's just victim after victim tossed at the screen, each one dying in less and less interesting ways. Only at the end, when the script attempts some kind of seven-film clarification, does it even attempt to work. The rest of the time, it's terrible. Here's hoping this is indeed the last chapter. The Saw saga can't take another attention-grabbing rewrite like this.
Part 7 -- also known as Saw 3D -- has dialed up the hype machine one more time by doubling down on the carnival barking hucksterism. First, we are supposed to believe that this is the final film in the still financially solvent series. Then, the whole "added dimension" optical aspect promises to deliver ample arterial spray directly into your slightly more expensive theater seat. Well, here's to less than fitting goodbyes. Not only is Saw 3D the worst installment of them all, it reneges on both promises, leading to one of the most pointless horror movie experiences of all time.
Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery) is busy doing the talk show circuit selling his story of surviving the serial killer Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), offering a message of hope and self-help while his doting wife Joyce (Gina Holden) looks on. In the meantime, the infamous murderer's wife Jill (Betsy Russell) is battling her husband's former protégé Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) for control of the criminal's legacy. When Internal Affairs Detective Gibson (Chad Donella) stumbles upon what looks like another of Jigsaw's "games", he is desperate to nail the villains once and for all. When Jill offers up Hoffman, the cop jumps at the chance. Then the Dagens find themselves kidnapped, forced along with several others to endure those notoriously deadly traps of the unseen madman.
Wow -- is Saw 3D ever lame. The acting is lame. The special effects are lame. The ticket price-upping visual stunt is lame. It's all just so...you get the point. Nothing here works. It's a waste of time for everyone involved, the first film in the franchise that actually feels like it's intentionally cheating the fans. In the past, the preposterous storylines at least tried to tie everything together, making events and people we've seen in other installments relevant to the realities at hand. Here, it's all junk, random rewrites of the previous mythology that make no sense whatsoever. Even Cary Elwes from the original turns up to play a combination of red herring and obvious suspect.
Even worse, the kills have nothing to do with the initial Jigsaw designs. Instead of all working together in some massive attempt at personal vengeance, they are pathetic regurgitations of previous ideas. We get someone fried in a furnace, another buzzsaw to the torso, a pair of devices that do basically the same thing, and one proposed eye-popper that's nothing more than a bad dream (literally). If you've come to enjoy the Saw films for their blood-laden gags, you'll definitely leave this one disappointed. If you want suspense, inventive twists, and compelling characterization, however, you're really screwed.
Without a clear investment, without seeing how it all ties together as part of Jigsaw's grand plan, Saw 3D turns into a sloppy, subpar slasher flick. It's just victim after victim tossed at the screen, each one dying in less and less interesting ways. Only at the end, when the script attempts some kind of seven-film clarification, does it even attempt to work. The rest of the time, it's terrible. Here's hoping this is indeed the last chapter. The Saw saga can't take another attention-grabbing rewrite like this.
