The inevitable deadening effects of repetition are beginning to infect the "Saw" franchise, now having produced its third installment in as many years.
While "Saw III" provides a decent number of new twists, psychological as well as torture-wise, it necessarily lacks the originality of its predecessors and -- if the blase response at an opening-day screening at New York's AMC Theatre on 42nd Street is any indication -- audiences may be beginning to develop a "been there, done that" attitude. The film opened Friday and, unlike the prior editions, was not screened in advance for press.
Seamlessly similar in style to the earlier films, this sequel finds its archvillain Jigsaw (Tobin Bell, again delivering a quietly intense and scary performance) not doing so well. Desperately ill, he and his loyal follower, Amanda (Shawnee Smith), have enlisted -- well, forced -- the help of a female doctor (Bahar Soomekh) to perform some emergency surgery. Helping to motivate her is the fact that she's been outfitted with an explosive collar tied into Jigsaw's heart monitor, so if he dies, she dies with him.
Meanwhile, her husband, Jeff Angus Macfadyen), is playing one of Jigsaw's diabolical games. He's confronted with a series of individuals being tortured in various ways who are connected to the hit-and-run death of the couple's young son, testing his level of forgiveness as he must decide whether to risk his own life to save theirs.
The chief gimmick in these films is the ingenious methods of torture devised by the filmmakers, who no doubt feel intense pressure to keep topping themselves. But while this edition features a series of reasonably clever and undeniably gruesome examples -- a key located at the bottom of a jar of acid, etc. -- they don't quite have the same impact as some of the indelible set pieces in the first two installments.
Director Darren Lynn Bousman (who helmed "Saw II") and screenwriter Leigh Whannell (originator of the franchise) have here replicated the style of the earlier films, including the rapid-fire editing, dark color palette, industrial-style music and sound effects and nonlinear storytelling. There also are numerous references to past installments, including the brief appearances of Donnie Wahlberg and Dina Meyer reprising their roles as the cops on Jigsaw's trail.
Ironically, the most graphic and scary sequence involves not one of Jigsaw's intricate torture variations but rather an impromptu brain surgery involving a power drill that the hapless doctor is forced to perform on her evil patient. While he ultimately doesn't fare very well, it's hard not to suspect that he'll nonetheless be back to wreak more havoc sometime around, oh, next Halloween.
While "Saw III" provides a decent number of new twists, psychological as well as torture-wise, it necessarily lacks the originality of its predecessors and -- if the blase response at an opening-day screening at New York's AMC Theatre on 42nd Street is any indication -- audiences may be beginning to develop a "been there, done that" attitude. The film opened Friday and, unlike the prior editions, was not screened in advance for press.
Seamlessly similar in style to the earlier films, this sequel finds its archvillain Jigsaw (Tobin Bell, again delivering a quietly intense and scary performance) not doing so well. Desperately ill, he and his loyal follower, Amanda (Shawnee Smith), have enlisted -- well, forced -- the help of a female doctor (Bahar Soomekh) to perform some emergency surgery. Helping to motivate her is the fact that she's been outfitted with an explosive collar tied into Jigsaw's heart monitor, so if he dies, she dies with him.
Meanwhile, her husband, Jeff Angus Macfadyen), is playing one of Jigsaw's diabolical games. He's confronted with a series of individuals being tortured in various ways who are connected to the hit-and-run death of the couple's young son, testing his level of forgiveness as he must decide whether to risk his own life to save theirs.
The chief gimmick in these films is the ingenious methods of torture devised by the filmmakers, who no doubt feel intense pressure to keep topping themselves. But while this edition features a series of reasonably clever and undeniably gruesome examples -- a key located at the bottom of a jar of acid, etc. -- they don't quite have the same impact as some of the indelible set pieces in the first two installments.
Director Darren Lynn Bousman (who helmed "Saw II") and screenwriter Leigh Whannell (originator of the franchise) have here replicated the style of the earlier films, including the rapid-fire editing, dark color palette, industrial-style music and sound effects and nonlinear storytelling. There also are numerous references to past installments, including the brief appearances of Donnie Wahlberg and Dina Meyer reprising their roles as the cops on Jigsaw's trail.
Ironically, the most graphic and scary sequence involves not one of Jigsaw's intricate torture variations but rather an impromptu brain surgery involving a power drill that the hapless doctor is forced to perform on her evil patient. While he ultimately doesn't fare very well, it's hard not to suspect that he'll nonetheless be back to wreak more havoc sometime around, oh, next Halloween.
- 10/30/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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