Saw

[Dolemite]

VINCE Vaughn! Is he?

Thought that's who you meant. And no, he's not. What made you think he was?

[aren]

SAW could possibly be the best horror/crime/thriller movie since the magically works of David Fincher when he created Se7en. SAW delivered in every way possible, from the intriguing plot, to the gruesome scenes of torture, to the moderately good acting. Did it live up to the hype? It did more than you ever thought.

Right off the bat we get into the problem where Adam (Leigh Whannell) wakes up in a bathtub in the dark chained up with Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) chained up on the opposite side of the wall already awoken. The room is a rundown, drenched, shabby bathroom with a dead body lying in the middle of the room with a gun in one hand and a tape player in the other. Both men discover a tape in there pockets, and when they play them, the message says: Play my game, or face a grievous repercussion. Let the games begin!

The plot was something very fresh and unique. We haven’t seen this kind plot in a very long time. The man behind all of this, which has been named “Jigsaw,” is a one of a kind mastermind that puts his victims in a set scenario that makes them give up something for their life. It was highly enjoyable to see how Jigsaw came about with using flashbacks of his previous crimes, all remorseless in there own way.

I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but the Muppet did have a symbol behind it, which is like Jigsaw is the Muppet Master and all the victims he picked are his Muppets. So in a way he controls them by giving them a choice to make, which is basically live or die.

What I can say made SAW standout was the setting. Everything was perfectly set so you could feel the dark, gloomy, creepy setting. In that bathroom, you actually felt like you were in another world, in another dimension, if you may. The whole movie felt dark, which created the perfect atmosphere throughout the whole movie, so you never actually felt like smiling during the movie.

The acting was far from perfect. An underused Danny Glover, who played the part of Detective David Tapp, didn’t help the acting situation either. However, it was decent enough to get by in the movie, and the rest of the good things in the movie helped out cover the bad performances.

SAW in the end works out to be a very disturbing film that delivers in more ways than imaginable. SAW took us to a place where we haven’t been in a long time, and it was refreshing to see a film with the likes of Se7en being made. SAW had one hell of an illogical ending, but I just didn’t care, because it all made sense in the end. James Wan gave us one hell of a twisted movie, and after it was all said and done, SAW kills.

Story: A+
Acting: D+
Visuals: A
Cinematography: A
Overall: A- (Not an average)

[Despair]

Thought that's who you meant. And no, he's not. What made you think he was?

All the talk about The Cell early in the thread must confused Andrew to think that Vaughn is involved.

[Dolemite]

All the talk about The Cell early in the thread must confused Andrew to think that Vaughn is involved.

Ah.

So when are you seeing it, Despair?

[Drewbacca]

The reviews are back! Yes!

Here's where I got the notion Vaughn was in the movie:

When Vince Vaghn character gets his intestines pulled up and rolled up on the spike rottisery, its more friggin gore than all RE2 Appocalypse combined

Ouch! You mean the dude from Dodgeball and Old School gets disemboweled?

All the talk about The Cell early in the thread must confused Andrew to think that Vaughn is involved.

That's exactly what happened.

[Despair]

Ah.

So when are you seeing it, Despair?

Well, Soon, if I dl it

[SmoothCriminal]

Except for some ending parts Dole got into, I thought it was a rather good movie. Some of the acting was way too cheesey and had the whole theatre laughing at serious parts in the movie.

A sequel with more traps and more people dying is in order.

[BioMechanic]

Saw has got to be one of the most frustrating goddamn movies I've seen in a while. I was totally immersed in the plot until it slowly started going to shit, and then it vomited all over itself and the audience in the last 15 minutes or so.

Dolemite, I'm pretty sure Dina Meyer was the female cop helping investigate the barbed wire murder scene. The one who found the penlight.

The main reason why I ended up hating the story was that for most of the beginning, the plot was completely believable. I don't mean in a documentary this-is-real fashion, but the film created an atmosphere, situation, and characters that made you think this could really happen somewhere. It went totally illogical, destroying the carefully constructed fantasy.

I can't stand most murder-mysteries because they set up a puzzle in which every single piece falls into place exactly how it was supposed to. This ruins the immersion factor for me because it makes me all to aware of the writer and filmmakers who are behind the scenes pulling all the strings. Saw was the same way.

For example: Adam losing the key in the bathtub at the very beginning. Jigsaw was banking on him pulling out the stop while he was waking up. There was no way his plan would have worked if Adam found the key after waking up. Why put the key in there at all? To shock the audience. That's it. Ridiculous manipulation that was too obviously crafted. There were too many moments like this towards the end - How did Mrs. Gordon let Zep get close enough to grab the gun?!?!? How did Danny Glover let Zep get away....TWICE?!? And as already noted, the "shock" ending ended up being completely lame, finishing off the downward spiral with silly grandeur.

Frustrating because it could have been amazing, if it had maintained the intelligence and creativity beyond the initial situation.

Se7en worked because it didn't resort to this kind of childishness, despite being very similar in tone and subject matter. It had ten times the intelligence of Saw. The sequence in Se7en where John Doe escapes Mills and Somerset was handled with a lot more smarts and care. A similar scene in Saw ends up being stupid: OMG I have a blade hidden in my sleeve!!! And shotguns in a trip-wire booby trap!!! PWNED!

Why aren't Cary Elwes and Danny Glover in more films?

[Gohron]

Yeah, at first when I saw him stand up I was like "Holy shit this movies has zombies in it? Awesome!" Then it was just lame.

I thought the same exact thing.

The movie was a big alright, there was nothing scary or horrific about it, some of the twists were sort of neat but they all got lost by the nearly non-existant plot.

[Dolemite]

Saw has got to be one of the most frustrating goddamn movies I've seen in a while. I was totally immersed in the plot until it slowly started going to shit, and then it vomited all over itself and the audience in the last 15 minutes or so.

Pretty much the problem I had with it...for a while, I was really into what was going on and finding out how it was all going to turn out...then it just all went assy.

Dolemite, I'm pretty sure Dina Meyer was the female cop helping investigate the barbed wire murder scene. The one who found the penlight.

Thanks.

Man, she must had aged or something, I can usually pick her out right away.

Why aren't Cary Elwes and Danny Glover in more films?

I dunno, it's because they're not Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. That's Hollywood for you.