Review: Saw 3D

Saw 3D (2010, Kevin Greutert)

The seventh film in a series that many feel shouldn’t have made it past a trilogy, Saw 3D left me with mixed emotions. The Saw series by many accounts started to lose its way after the third film and departure of original writers James Wan and Leigh Whannell. The last instalments made an honourable attempt to try and tie up any lose ends and provide some closure. However it seems that the lure of the guaranteed profit that seasonal Halloween audiences provide, coupled with the opportunity to create Jigsaw’s traps in eye-popping 3D was far too tempting for Twisted Pictures to resist.

Unfortunately the film gets off to a shaky start and doesn’t really recover until the final few minutes. It opens with a completely pointless sequence; an original and entertaining trap that involves three people caught in a love triangle having to make a decision about where their loyalties lie in order to avoid being sliced in two by a circular saw. No doubt it delivers all the blood drenched, gut spilling gore we have come to expect from a Saw trap, complete with 3D intestines flying over head. But it fails to serve the story in any way whatsoever and isn’t mentioned once thereafter by any of the characters we meet later in the film. Which is strange considering it was on display in full of view of the public, there were two survivors and the films main story focuses on a Jigsaw ‘survivors’ self-help group.

It’s a cardinal sin of screenwriting, as a writer no matter how great you think a scene is if it doesn’t serve the story it doesn’t get included. The script lacks in other areas to; the dialogue, particularly that delivered by Detective Gibson, sounds forced and wooden (it’s not helped by the acting to be honest). There are also some glaring continuity errors involving certain characters wounds magically disappearing between scenes and some of the special effects are so over the top that they lose their impact by displaying too much. This may sound like an oxymoron but often in horror less is more. I also have a gripe with the blood, it’s just not that colour!

The films main problem though lies with the characters, none of them are likeable. I don’t think I’m going to be giving away too much by saying the series’ main character and biggest draw; Jigsaw, is dead. If you’ve seen any of the last few Saw films you know that Jigsaw died some time ago. Ever since then the writers have been picking certain characters from the previous films to fill in as his ‘apprentices’ and continue his legacy. The problem is it is difficult to root for anyone in this film, whether it be the victims stuck in the traps, their captors or the hapless detectives, they are all nondescript and one dimensional. The original films worked because despite his flawed moral logic, Jigsaw believed he had legitimate reasons for ‘playing games’ with his victims. This, in some sort of perverse way, permitted us an audience to vicariously share in his torture of the victims, guilt free because they ‘deserved it’.

My trouble with Saw 3D is not its lack of originality or excessive violence (in fact I’d argue this it its appeal...you know what you’re getting), my main problem is that the essence of the originals has gone through a Jigsaw trap itself and has come out unrecognisable. The series is now a gratuitous cash cow that after this enjoyable, but mindless, last hurrah must surely come to an end.

2.5/5

The Girlfriend’s View:

"Like usual the traps were good and there was a story behind it but they are definitely clutching at straws now. Despite being enjoyable it felt slightly pointless, it felt as if they are just trying to churn another film out. It didn’t flow well from the previous entries and the final conclusion is ridiculous. There was far too much blood and guts for my liking, although when someone gets sliced in two I would expect more than a few ‘sausages’ to spill out of them!"