"Saw" misses point of horror movie, moves to cliché scenes
Reel Reflections
Avoid James Wan’s feature directorial debut "Saw" like
the boogieman. The horror film so desperately wants to be original and
entertaining that it never quite gets off the ground. Boasting an original
premise and an extensive cast of B-list actors, the film really is more
of a comedy than anything truly terrifying or original.
Cary Elwes ("The Princess Bride") plays Dr. Lawrence Gordon,
a surgeon who awakes to find himself chained by his ankle to a filthy
stench-hole of a bathroom. On the opposite end of the bathroom "playground"
is Adam, played by Leigh Whannell ("The Matrix Revolutions").
Adam, too, is chained at the ankle. Between them lies a man with half
a face, a tape recorder in one hand and a gun in the other, resting in
a pool of blood. Dr. Gordon soon realizes that he has been placed in this
predicament by a sadistic serial killer known as the "Jigsaw Killer,"
a man who places people in elaborate traps that force them to make a grisly
decision to go through with the killer’s twisted game or face torture.
Dr. Gordon soon learns that he is to kill Adam within six hours or his
wife, played by a convincing Monica Potter ("Along Came a Spider"),
and daughter will be killed. The men are led by a string of clues to two
hacksaws. The saws are too dull to cut through their chains or locks,
and they realize they just might have to cut through a body part.
Danny Glover ("The Color Purple") plays Tapp, a vindictive
detective, who takes it upon himself to find the killer. Though Tapp’s
investigation allows the audience to see the previous work done by the
serial killer, the whole introduction of detective out for revenge is
just so cliché.
In the end, "Saw" refuses to be as grisly or entertaining as
its misleading trailers promise. The acting is absolutely atrocious, especially
Elwes as the lead. The screenplay has more holes in it than a mine field.
The directing is awful, with zippy editing interlaced with a hard-rock
score that makes the movie appear like more of a music video for Marilyn
Manson than an actual film.
The scariest thing about "Saw" is its acting and reckless disposal
of a rich premise that could have been so chilling and thrilling. Perhaps
the footage everyone would have wanted to see was left on the cutting
room floor when the Motion Picture Association of America tagged "Saw"
with the notorious NC-17 rating before being edited for re-rating. "Saw"
Starring: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Monica Potter
Running time: 100 mins
Rated: R
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