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Welcome to day 1 of my month of movie reviews! Thats right everyday I'm going to review one horror movie. Howver as to not spam the forum, I'll keep all my reviews in this thread.
PLOT:
A mysterious killer known as 'Jigsaw' has been kidnapping people and and putting them through 'tests' via death traps. It's a cute plot, the killer who doesnt really kill his victims but traps them, leaves them with clues and surrounds them with death traps.
His motive for doing so is pretty good too, however its kind of dumb when you think about it, 'I'm going to kill you if you dont appriciate your life. So here are a bunch of death traps that will kill you unless you figure out an obscure clue thats easier to miss than a grain of salt in a bowl of rice'
Cute plot but when you apply logic to it, it doesnt remain as clever.
7/10
SCRIPT:
This is the films second biggest problem, the script. The character Adam, flatter than Gwenyth Paltrow up against a wall. He's got no real character and I didnt give a fuck about him.
Detective Dumbfuck (played by Danny Glover) is as stupid as the nickname I've given him. I don't know what kind of idiot goes into a serial killers grounds with just his friend. This is what seperates a bad screnwriter from a good screenwriter, a good screenwriter would have realized how dumb this idea is.
Dr.Gordon isnt a bad Character, but he's too much a stereotype.The successful but filandering physician? Come on thats as cliche as having the black guy die first in a horror movie.
Gordons Wife has some life to hear, but shes also a stereotype character.
And thats the problem with Saw, its characters are all pretty much stereotypes. The only thing thats really unique is the films ending and its premise.
5/10
ACTING
Cary Elwes as Lawrence Gordon is pretty much the one guy who ends up holding the entire film on his shoulders. Elwes is a really good actor, but in this film he doesnt give out his usual performance. I blame it on the James Wan.
Danny Glover gives a pretty good performance, but his character is so dogshit dumb its hard to watch Danny on the screen.
Leigh Whannel...I haven't seem this much lack of talent and prescence on the screen since Thandie Newton.
Monica Potter as Gordons Wife is actually pretty good, but as shes not really a major character in the film as she is a plot point it doesnt add much to the score.
Same with Ken leung as Det.Sing.
Shawnee Smith as Amanda isnt bad, but her one scene and flash back dont really give you much to absorb as a character.
6/10
MUSIC
Yeah, the Music in this film was pretty flat, I honestly cant remember much of it. I wanted some cpreepy gothic atmospheric music to add more tone to the atmosphere.I do remember some hammy techno here adn there though.
5/10
EDITING
What the fuck is wrong with this film? There are times its pretty well peiced together and then it shifts into a shitty MTV music video, the superfast cartoony speed in several scenes just hurts. It doesnt help that the film is slow and its pacing is pretty 'off' as well so it jumps about a bit while continuing a slow descent into mediocracy.
6/10
GORE
What little there is isnt bad, but it feels more like a PG-13 film with a few tiny bits gore that add a smidge of juice to it. There arent any real squeemish gore effects in the film, yeah we see Dr.Gordon saw into his foot some and a guys guts...um, that was pretty much the major shit right there.
6/10
CINEMATOGROPHY
I felt the film suceeded here quite well, the creepy dingy dirty look of Jigsaws traps and the lighting worked for me as well. I thougth this was the best part of the film.
8/10
DIRECTION
James Wan has some talent when it comes to visuals, but when it comes to working with actors, and intense emotion...he's pretty bland. Doesnt seem to know how to handle it or crank it up to the right level.
Saw got pretty damn Z-grade in a few bits, Especially with Adam and the fact detective dumbfuck fires like....I think almost 25 shots in the film and only manages to wing his target once. That's just really bad, almost Uwe Boll bad.
5/10
FUN FACTOR
I didnt have much fun watchign saw, it had some decent moments but it was mainly two guys getting irritated at eachother.
4/10
CHEESE
While we all know some cheese can add some life to a film,a cheezy film that takes itself seriously kind of sits on your head. too much cheese please.
So in this case the cheese scoreworks against saw.
- 7/ 10
Overall: 45 /90 = 'F'
2nd opinion: its not a terrible movie, but its no where near as good as people make it out to be. Maybe it was all the hype, but even though this was a creative film, it wasnt really a good one.
Too amateurish, not enough emotional investment in the characters, and characters doing unbelievably stupid things.
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Catch you tomorrow when I review...Well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow.