Not a bad little film, much better than I expected, but not quite as good as I would have hoped.
My wife and I were rather surprised by what we both thought was a rather weak, over-the-top performance by Cary Elwes as the Doctor.
Some great plot twists though.
I saw it last night. Great twist and turns, I like how the generated suspicion all around.
I thought it was very good in parts, where it showed the victim’s perspective with some of the tone and visual cues of Seven. There were a few too many thriller/action cliches, IMO, which broke some of the atmosphere created in the bettter moments.
One thumb sideways from me. With a little more work on the story I think it could have been quite memorable.
I really liked it. I mean, the ending totally caught me off-guard, and I can’t remember the last time a movie did that to me.
Unfortunately, I kept thinking, “Unlike other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent!” That ruined bits of it for me.
I thought nit was good and worth the price of a matinee. I didn’t think it was nearly as good as se7en though.
One thing I wanted to confirm:
So it ends with the Jigsaw killer (and it really dissapointed me that they never wrapped up the whole ‘jigsaw’ theme. Was there a puzzle he was putting together somewhere?) leaves the room and shuts the door leaving the photographer to starve to death? Then I assume he catches up to Dr. Gordan and dispatches him as well? Or did Dr. Gordon pass the test and therefore get to live on? Also, all of the other victims were being taught some life lesson through their ordeals; what was Dr. Gordon being taught? There was some vague reference to him becoming the cause of the terminal diagnosis he’d been previously giving to others but this seemed weak to me.
Any insights would be appreciated.
I enjoyed it (if one can truly “enjoy” a gore show). Spooky as hell to me. I had to look away from the screen several times like when he was cutting his leg off I also though that Cary overdid it a few times, and his accent tended to bleed through, but all-in-all not too bad.
As for the ending…
There is no way that Dr. Gordan would have made it out. From the chase scene earlier, the exit looks a long way off, up a ladder, etc. He was already suffering from loss of blood. I think Jigsaw left the photographer there to die, then either went to off Gordan or found him already dead.
Just as a side note, I’ll add that if you are looking for some good creepiness check out The Machinist. It’s a good movie almost overwhelmed by the bizarre appearance of Christian Bale. He reportedly lost sixty pounds for the role, it works once you get beyond the initial shock of his emaciated body.
Im not sure. All in all
I think it was a good thing leaving it unresolved. My wife and I played with this angle, after all he was trying to teach his victims to appreciate life. My own thought would have him passing the doc by, and if he makes it he makes it, and if he’s able to get the other guy rescued sobeit. After all the doctor didn’t see his face, I’m not even sure if the photographer did either with all the makeup
What I thought was really cool after my wife pointed it out.
The orderly was the trigger for the killer, that it was cool to leave. I totally missed that
I hated it.
I thought Elwes’ acting was ATROCIOUS. You wouldn’t think it would be possible to overact when you’re playing a victim in a serial killer’s twisted game, cutting off your own leg and trying to murder somebody with possibly only minutes to save your wife and daughter’s lives BUT he managed to do it. Everyone in the theater laughed.
So the key was just in the tub. What if Adam had just caught it before it went down the drain. There WAS a light attached. Why would the killer prepare this giant elaborate scene and then just give him the key? It’s really convenient that the killer knows exactly what will happen all the time. He knows that Adam or the Doc will see the polaroid hinting to turn off the lights and hear the “follow your heart” on the tape, but he also knows that they won’t check the dead body for useful items or signs of life or catch the key before it ends up down the drain. Why would he have the orderly come finish the doctor and the other guy off? Overall, WHAT PURPOSE IS SERVED BY HIM LAYING ON THE FLOOR FOR EIGHT HOURS? Besides for the twist.
So the killer stole the doctor’s penlight, used it at a crime scene, left it on purpose, then just happened to get sick and be being treated by the good doctor when the police arrived to question him?
So most people have to climb through razor wire or cut open somebody’s stomach or kill someone. That poor orderly had to break into the house, restrain the family, set up a remote computer/video lab to watch the doctor and adam fight it out in the bathroom, and so on. Dude. Go to a hospital and tell them what happened and get an antidote and send the police to the family’s house. It’s not like killer guy would know the difference.
YOU SHOOT THE BAD GUY WHEN YOU HAVE A CHANCE, DANNY GLOVER AND MONICA POTTER. YOU HEAR THAT? YOU SHOOT HIM.
The relationship between Glover and his partner was really underdeveloped. (Oh, P.S. Danny Glover really liked his partner and went crazy when he died and has been after the killer ever since but is just going to get shot dead without contributing anything to the plot except a contrived fake twist ok you buy that? good)
The flashy music-video rotating flashing camera strobe light faux-seven sequences were painful. The guy going through the razor wire and the girl with the mask and the guy with the candle. All of those little heavy-metal-backed tweeker-edited sequences were painfully distracting. Seven took dirty grungy scary crime scenes and made them look creepy through really good set design and cinematography and music and editing. Saw took the same scenes and ruined them by the very same methods. Good concepts DESTROYED in the effort to make it look like a Rob Zombie music video.
All so frustrating.
What a Scooby Doo ending. The patient from the hospital who really didn’t have a whole lot to do with the rest of the movie? Rip. Off.
Besides, as Ooner just pointed out, the acting *was * atrocious.
This movie could have been good. It’s worse for that fact, seeing a movie with promis totally trow it away like that. I did really enjoy the “headgear” scenes though.
Most of the theatre, including me and my friend, were laughing at Cary Elwes acting. So is it his fault, or the directors?
This movie could have been good. It’s worse for that fact, seeing a movie with promise totally throw it away like that. I did really enjoy the “headgear” scenes, however.
Most of the theatre, including me and my friend, were laughing at Cary Elwes acting. So is it his fault, or the director’s?
I agree with most everyone here. Lots of scary scenes, lots of suspense, but ultimately, a crappy movie. Way, WAY too convoluted at the end, and the twist was implausible.
Re: the key - seemed the killer had rigged the tub to drain as soon as the guy moved, and suck the key down with it. I think the photographer is left in the dark to dig through the piping.
Most implausible moment: Gordan sawing off his foot. Sure, sure, someone had to do it in a movie like this, it’s expected. But not reaching that phone was patheticly written. He used an implement (the box) to try to reach it, he had told the photographer earlier to use his shirt to reach the cassette player, he takes his shirt off to tie his leg, yet he doesn’t attempt to reach the phone with his shirt while it’s ringing?!? You have got to be kidding me. The movie was over for me at that moment - it was obvious the writers had completely run out of ideas.
So Danny Gover has been staking out the doctor’s apartment for several months, holed up in a shithole apartment across the street, complete with requisite surveillance equipment and a bazillion newspaper articles plastered on the wall, and only has 3 bullets in his gun?!? Again, poor writing.
This killer is more implausibly prepared than Batman.
Actually, a couple of days away from it, and I find myself asking: Why the orderly?
I mean, all the others seemed to be people the Jigsaw killer ran across who take life too much for granted, but the orderly seemed to value each individual’s life, which makes him a perfect suspect, but a lousy candidate for one of the killer’s victims.
Ebert and Roeper reviewed it (CBS Sunday night here) and they both hated it. Roeper: “I despise this movie!”
Not being a film critic, I don’t think I understood some of their comments. They said the story was all about manipulating the audience, which I interpreted to mean “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Does that criticism seem valid to you guys? I’ve enjoyed lots of movies that didn’t make sense.
Yeah, that makes sense to me. I thought the movie was a great theater experience - but it completely falls apart once the credits start rolling. That is manipulating the audience. It’s cheap plot tactics that distract you from the thin story.
For instance, the killer appearing as the dead guy was a huge plot twist, and big surprise. But it’s ridiculous - there was a surgeon in the room with him for 8 hours, and he didn’t notice any breathing, or signs of life?!?
The photographer’s pictures are revealed near the end, showing the orderly in the window of Dr. Gordan’s apartment - but when was that photo taken? Gordan was abducted at night, as was the photographer. That’s impossible.
Other contrivances for the sake of plot twistiness:
John (the killer) must know that Gordan’s near-mistress is going to page him to their hotel room. How? He also must have timed this perfectly to coordinate whatever assignment he’s given the orderly to abduct Gordan’s family, as well as set their apartment up with the surveillance equipment. Oh, and the orderly needs to be able to hide in the closet with a tan sheet on that Gordan completely misses when he sweeps his daughter’s room for monsters. Any parent will be able to tell you how implausible that is. John also needs to know or predict exactly when Danny Glover (who has been tailing Gordan for several months) hires the photographer for ONE DAY, and base his entire plot around that moment in time. Add in elements like the pen light, Gordan’s wallet, Danny Glover’s lack of ammunition, Gordan’s irrationality in sawing his foot off, the impossibility of the photographer being able to free himself (he’s still chained to the pipe, but has to get the key to the door out of the pipes? In the dark? How, exactly?
The writing was unfair to the audience, because at first glance, it all seems to culminate together into an elaborate, cohesive story. A few glances more, and that’s all revealed to be bullshit, and the effect is destroyed before the credits are through.
Not just that it doesn’t make sense, but it reduces the characters to engines driving the plot. “Poison Ivy” was the first film so egregious in this regard that it bugged me (then I married Lifetime fan, and was treated to many more).
In a script written solely to manipulate the audience, characters do and say things not because it’s what any actual person would do in that instance, but because it is the worst (or best) possible thing that could happen to the protagonist, or because it gets a reaction from the audience.
A coupe of days thinking back on this film, and I find it full of such moments. How could they not see the body breathing, especially when they are concentrating on it to get to the recorder?
Why place yourself in the room the whole time with a gun and a live bullet, when you could so easily be found to be playing possum?
Why, if he’s only doing it to save his own life, did the orderly put a stethescope on the kid’s heart while pointing a gun at her mother? If he’s running free, and has a slow acting poison in him, why doesn’t he just phone the police from a hospital instead of carrying out John’s plans? His earlier victims at least had the excuse that they were trapped.
What a horrible peice of crap this movie turned out to be. I would go into detail on the various plot holes and incredibly poor acting but it has been covered well by others.
Just wanted to pop in and say how horribly disappointed I was with this movie.
I liked certain bits of it and it’s ok popcorn fodder if you don’t bother thinking at all.
I fear that some of the major plot holes revolve around either trimming the story or leaving it open for some “concurrent” sequel that shows us that the orderly was really in on it with the killer and other nonsense.
I finally saw it.
I liked it as a technical exercise in gore and creepiness.
It doesn’t really fulfill as a complete movie due to the acting and the poor logic, as others have pointed out.
However, enough movies just leave you feeling bored, so it was at least refreshing to have my stomach turned a couple of times, in particular during the actual turning of a stomach.
I haven’t seen Elwes do anything except Princess Bride and Robin Hood. Maybe he can’t really act outside of being a goofball.
The gore and the tension were well done, but I wish it was more cohesive. It could have reached the level of Se7en if it held together or had something more to say about society.