Saw

It's not every day you wake up chained to a pipe. Is this the darkest film since Se7en?

Imagine waking up chained to a pipe in a room to discover another man in the same predicament as you in the opposite corner. Think that's weird? Well how about throwing in a dead body just to liven things up then! That's the situation Adam (Leigh Whannell) and Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) find themselves in. With no idea how they got there the duo are gradually exposed to the horrible plans in store for them, a sinister plot by a serial killer known as Jigsaw leaves both men between a rock and a hard place. Lawrence is informed that if he wants to make it out alive he has to kill Adam, if that wasn't hard enough the doctor is told that he has to do it by six o'clock otherwise his wife and daughter will be executed. Chained to a pipe, Lawrence has some tough choices to make; does he try to escape or will he kill the stranger before him? There doesn't seem to be an obvious answer because of his limited range of movement and a lack of apparatus at hand. On the other side of the room, Adam is still struggling to come to terms with the scenario. Can he trust the doctor or will Lawrence try to murder him to save his family? Either way they have to work together if they want to make it out of this twisted game alive.

Saw is the darkest film to have come out of Hollywood since Se7en. It shares a lot of similarities with David Fincher's masterpiece in that the psychopath behind it all seems to be preaching at his victims and their deaths are extremely intricate. The best way to describe Saw's basic premise is to recall a scene from another Fincher movie when Tyler Durden holds up a convenience store and interrogates the sales assistant in Fight Club. Rummaging through his victim's wallet he finds an expired community college card, Durden threatens to kill him if he doesn't go back to study instead of slogging away in a dead end job. Life is a very precious thing so why do we waste our time working in jobs we hate, hurting others around us and live out dreary existences? The serial killer in Saw takes this a step further, rather than simply state the obvious he puts his victims into a game where they have to decide what direction they want their lives to take. Unfortunately there is a catch; the victim will inevitably have to commit a heinous act if they hope to make it out alive. In this case Dr. Gordon will have to murder Adam if he ever wants to spend quality time with his family again.

Sometimes we have to do the most horrible things if we want to survive and as much as we try to push these memories to the back of our mind, the truth always emerges in the end. The basic impulse of survival is driven home to Adam and Lawrence and as the clock slowly begins to tick to the deadline, a horrible reality descends on both men. Saw is dark from the very beginning, quite literally in fact as the room the victims find themselves in is plunged in darkness. However as the film progresses the atmosphere takes a much grittier edge and the events of the movie become even more harrowing. Simply put, Saw is very difficult to watch and if you're squeamish it's worth giving it a skip altogether. As the plot opens up the main characters discover a series of clues which are designed to help them, including finding two hacksaws which they could possibly use on their chains. When both men trying sawing through their shackles it quickly becomes apparent that the saws aren't designed for their chains... but their legs! Desperate times call for desperate measures and as the clock ticks down will either of them be willing to take such a drastic step? More information is gradually relayed to the viewer as both the main characters recall how they ended up in this room and some background information is given on the Jigsaw killer. Things get even more twisted and Saw ends up challenging for the title of the sickest movie ever.

I am sorry that I am not alluding much to the actually going-on's in the movie, but Saw is very complex and giving anything away spoils the experience. Like the film's title suggests it is a bit like a Jigsaw because it consists of thousands of elements and you can't be sure of the final picture until the last piece has been inserted. Much like Se7en or Fight Club this movie has a big twist at the end, but unlike most films this year there is no way that you'll guess the ending. After two hours of twisting and turning, closing your eyes and gasping in horror the truth finally hits you like a splash of water to the face. One of the most interesting points is that Jigsaw never seems to actually kill any of his victims, their deaths normally come about at their own hands or as part of his twisted games. It seems that even by following the rules your safety is still not guaranteed and even if you make it out alive, the lucky one might just be the corpse you left behind. This all adds up for a rather sublime effort from debutant director James Wan who looks set to have cemented his reputation after this release.

Saw is worth going to see just because of the experience, it is unlike most films you will ever have seen and ranks up there with Memento or Fincher's offerings which I have already mentioned. As a piece of film-making it is pure class, sure it won't be everyone's cup of tea but it will draw a reaction. While I tried to watch the movie I couldn't help but be drawn to the couple beside me. The girl beside me actually started to cry and was visibly shaken at points and her boyfriend had to console her throughout the performance. Even when the film ended there was a commotion as everyone left the cinema with people talking, even ranting, about what they had just witnessed. It's one of those films that gets everyone going and its infamy is sure to travel by word of mouth. While I don't think that Saw is as good as Se7en it is still refreshing to see movies like this still coming out despite not being geared towards a mainstream audience. After another summer of dreary sequels and over-hyped superhero flicks, it's great to sit down for two hours and witness one of the most engaging pieces of film for some time.

Like I pointed out already Saw isn't as great as some of its peers, there are times when it is let down by some of its inconsistencies and some bad acting. I will briefly criticise some of the performances before returning to the actors a little later in the review. The acting is good enough but the characters' overzealous reactions work against the film at times. It works on some levels as a dark humour is introduced to the atmosphere with the audience laughing at points; it sort of drives home the stark reality of the situation. A recent study has shown that men treat visits to the hospital with self deprecating humour to get them through bad news. The experience of Saw is like a cancer patient finding out that he only has days left to live and just shrugging it off with an 'Oh well' or 'Life's a tough cookie, isn't it?'

It's almost hard to believe that you are actually sitting through it and it's not just some nightmare. Unfortunately Whannel's inexperience and Elwes' wooden acting holds this back from becoming a true classic. Saw's peers are more believable and there seems to be quite a few plot holes scattered through this movie. Some aren't that obvious but seeing as the film will have you thinking about it for a good while afterwards, the end result is that the experience dims somewhat in light of the inaccuracies. Using Se7en as an example again, Fincher's movie is a lot more plausible and its climax is more fulfilling. Even still Saw is well worth the watch because it dusts off your brains cobwebs and is engaging in both the mental and visual stakes.

Unfortunately like I alluded in the previous paragraph the acting in Saw is a bit hit and miss at times. Cary Elwes' performance is quite varied, at times you think he's still trying to shake off his starring role Robin Hood: Men in Tights and then he completely contrasts this with a sublime twisted humour. Elwes is nothing short of fantastic in the movie's climax, the mental torture his character has endured pours out and one can only reel in horror as the experience takes its toll on him. Very interestingly it turns out that Adam is played by one of the film's scriptwriters, Leigh Whannell. The actor is the latest Australian to cross the globe and stake out a career in Hollywood; you may remember him as Axel in The Matrix Reloaded. Despite being relatively inexperienced in terms of the big screen, he far outshines his rival's performance.

The pair are backed up by Danny Glover who is quite good, you wonder why he isn't getting juicer parts in light of this and his role in The Royal Tenenbaums. Unfortunately it just goes to show that a person's political leanings can sometimes impact on their career's success. After being one half of arguably the greatest cop due ever, Glover is blossoming in the twilight of his career and I love getting the chance to watch him performs in roles like this. Going back to the hit and miss accusations I'm going to have a little dig at the Jigsaw killer- let's put it this way, he isn't going to go on from this and have Kevin Spacey's career. I can't really go into it that much because it'll give the twist away, but needless to say when he takes on the guise of Jigsaw (the actor appears in another guise of the film also, so it could be Adam or Lawrence!) he is overbearing in parts. His role is highly reminiscent of Brian Cox's character in the video game Manhunt, but unfortunately he comes across too strongly.

If you're still reading this review then I've got to wonder how come you haven't run down to your local cinema to catch Saw before it disappears. It's not one for a mainstream audience and some portions are quite difficult to watch, but all the same Saw is one of the best pieces of film-making to have emerged this year. Just to drive home how highly I think of this movie I want to point out that this isn't just something that you'll watch and say 'That was good', it's something that you'll think about and talk about with your friends (or even anyone that cares) for years to come. This is Donnie Darko and The Shawshank Redemption territory, while it might not be a box office smash it is sure to be a sleeper hit over the next decade. With a lovely twist and some shocking subject matter this is a movie that is sure to get a lot of attention, obviously you'll either love it or hate it. Saw might fall a few pieces short from being a masterpiece but it is an effort that any director and cast would be proud of.

Piaras Kelly
Editor, Kikizo Movies