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November 2006

Review of Saw 3
By Brandon Grendell

SPOILER ALERT!

For those that haven't seen the newest Lions Gate addition to the Saw franchise the long awaited Saw 3 don't read any farther unless you want to possibly spoil it for you. Saw Started in 2004 with the release of Saw 1, a true psychological thriller and the best part was the October release date. A year later part 2 followed and answered a few questions but asked twice as many. Saw 3 starts of with an answer to the last question asked in part 2 a year ago with Detective Eric Matthews waking up locked in the original crime scene of Saw 2 where Amanda closed the door with the wonderful statement “Game Over.”

Detective Matthews played by Donnie Wahlberg Returns to make his escape from the bathroom and the writers in another wonderful move gave us another brilliant yet gruesome way of accomplishing this cringing escape. And just as quick we leave him without knowing if he made it out of the building. Just to return in one of many flashbacks.

Jigsaw has once again connived one amazing “Game” after another, which at the end adds another interesting twist to the story. Tobin Bell returns To reprise the role of the now bedridden Jigsaw still playing his games with the help of Amanda his first “Patient” as he now calls it. The always beautiful Shawnee Smith comes back as Amanda in more of a powerful yet weak position as she seems to flip from a true loving and caring support to a weak emotion driven character. Shawnee Smith's great acting as usual make up for any flaws that there may be in the writing that is usually expected in trilogies.

Saw 3 is a must see for big fans of the franchise and can be a pretty good stand alone due to all the flashbacks but seeing 1 & 2 first I would say is the ultimate must. These are 3 movies that fit hand in hand unlike many triliogys. The down side for this will be more pronounced for the simply mediocre fans. The true filmies will notice the change of directors style from the original psychological style of James Wan to the Saw 2 style of Darren Bousman and this styling is even more evident in the more “startle” points that seem to be more apparent throughout Saw 3.

How do you know if you will like it… if you are a haunt and horror fan you will. If you like the more psychological style then you may not like it as much as the first Saw. Everyone has had that occasion that a friend has said “yea that was good” but that was what their opinion was. How do you know if you will? I watch so many movies that I have to be able to narrow it down at least a little when it comes to my personal viewing. In order to do this I ask a simple question: “Would you see it again?” if you think of how this question would be answered with a few of the movies you have in your collection and not you will see why I ask.

When it comes to Saw 3, my answer: I'm going tomorrow with my Saw doll and mask and as a big fan and being that Halloween is this week then yes I would…