Saw

Review by Jason Gaston

 

Would you gut an innocent person to save your own life? Would you crawl your way through razor wire if it meant you would love another day? What if the lives of everyone you love depended on if you could kill a stranger?

That is the deliciously grotesque premise put forth in the movie Saw, the story of how why a diabolical serial killer has been going around putting people in situations where they create, through actions or inactions, their own demise. For example, a guy is locked in a room and the key is in a safe. The combination to the safe is written on the walls of the dark room, but the bad news is that he's barefoot, the floor is covered in sharp broken glass, he's covered head to toe in a flammable gel, and the only light he has to work with is a lone flickering candle.

Nasty stuff.

The focus of Saw is two characters, Lawrence and Adam, who wake up to find themselves chained to opposite sides of a disgusting room with a dead body between them. A menacing voice on tape tells them that there is only one way out... Lawrence must kill Adam and, if he doesn't, not only will the two men die slowly of starvation, but the killer will also kill Lawrence' wife and daughter.

Saw is both a cleverly crafted horror movie and a disturbing character piece about just how far someone can be pushed. Far from being a run of the mill slasher movie, Saw is smart, Saw is wicked, and Saw is fun.

This movie is just bursting with psychological horror and, at certain times, watching it makes you feel like you've been punched in the gut because it really does get down and out disturbing and touches some kind of nerve that makes you almost sick. The characters in Saw aren't that remarkable, but the situation they are stuck in makes you identify with them simply because no one should suffer as much as they do.

At the same time, the unrelentingly sadistic tone of this movie evokes many a wicked smile during its run.

Unfortunately, Saw is clobbered by Cary Elwes' rickety acting. Talk about one man taking what could be a great movie and bringing it down in flames... Lion's Gate Films should sue his ass. Elwes hammy performance and uneven deliveries makes William Shatner look like an Emmy winner.

Wait... What? William Shatner did win an Emmy? Wow, I guess Elwes really was that bad.

Aside from Elwes horrible turn in this movie as an unfortunately lead character, Saw is a great horror flick and one of the most disturbingly sadistic and psychologically intense movie of the year. One man keeps it from absolute greatness, but on the whole... this is one movie that will disturb you deep down and keep disturbing you long after you left the theater.

If you ain't seen Saw, see Saw. Saw is worth seeing.

I hate to use the old cliché, but my wife even loved this movie and she hates horror movies.  If she liked it, Zombieland has to have done something right.  I would not be the least bit suprised if this ends up on my best-of list at the end of the year.