Kevin's Watch

A couple of weeks ago, a friend who owed me a trip to the cinema said she'd pay me back with a viewing of Saw 5. Having seen not so much as a single film in the series, I was required to engage in some fairly intensive viewing. I expected to hate them; from the publicity and the things I'd heard, the original Saw was basically just an attempt to produce gore in inventive ways, and surely the sequels could only be dimishing variants of that.

No.

Many people had tried to get me to watch these films, but not one - not a single one - ever said the one thing that would have persuaded me: "It's plot-driven". Or even simply "It's clever". I went into the Saws expecting shallow sadism and came away having enjoyed a well-written and intelligent psychological thriller. Brutal and perhaps even harrowing, yes, but the 'games' (i.e. the torture/death scenes) serve the plot, rather than the reverse. However, while each of the films is good, they are not equal, of course; I'd order them thus: 2, 1, 4, 3 (in descending order of quality).

Which brings me to the new one. I had my viewing of Saw 5 tonight, and it annoyed me. Not a bad film, but it lacked the clever writing and the oppression of the others. Each previous Saw surprised me in its own way by, to paraphrase my friend, "taking what's come before and twisting it". Additionally, each film left me feeling a little drained at the end, through the psychological pounding administered to both the victims and the viewer through the games. Saw 5, however, (vague spoiler possibilities)

Spoiler

lacked this sense of having staggered to the end of a terrible experience (in a good way), and, even more disappointingly, turned out to be exactly what I predicted in the first fifteen minutes or so.

Still, there is hope. Saw 4, unlike the previous three, was not (reasonably) self contained. It was clearly the first part of a story, and it now seems that Saw 5 was indeed the second part, but was not the last. As a stand-alone, or even an installment in a series of related but separate films, it lacks hugely; as the second part of a plot arc that is still unfinished - well, I'll have to wait for Saw 6 before I can give my verdict.

All in all, I have to consider myself a Saw fan now. I'm not sure I'd consider them among the finest films I've seen, but they do make it into my Top Arbitrary Number for the same reason Pitch Black does - I find them memorable. Very few films leave a lingering impression on me. Part of this effectiveness is the music. The distinctive Saw theme is brilliant, and used well each time. I actually hummed it almost constantly for a good week after finishing the DVD of Saw 4.

So are there any other Saw fans? Any haters of Saw?

I've only seen Saw II, and that was on late night TV. Like you, I had braced myself for nothing much more than a gorefest -- "torture porn" as some have called these films. But I ended up liking Saw II for the same reasons you put forth. Or maybe it's more accurate to say I found I could bear watching Saw II all the way through. I generally take no enjoyment in movies that involve gleeful acts of human disfigurement/dismemberment. (Kill Bill is an exception, because much of that film's violence is so obviously cartoony and satiric.) But with Saw II, I could endure its grisly horrors because I understood (to some degree) Jigsaw's sense of morality about what he was doing, twisted as it was.

Now that I realize how much intelligence goes into the Saw films, I could probably stomach watching the other ones in the series if I had to. But only under certain circumstances.

Hate to admit it, but I thought the original Saw was incredibly clever, and I thoroughly enjoyed the second two. Haven't seen 4 or 5 yet.

You'd probably enjoy the Final Destination films too CovJr. At least the first two.

matrixman wrote:I could endure its grisly horrors because I understood (to some degree) Jigsaw's sense of morality about what he was doing, twisted as it was.

The thing that unsettled me more than any of the games was the way, with each sequel, Jigsaw's actions seemed more and more reasonable. By Saw 4, I was practically on his side. It was quite uncomfortable, but the result of very deft writing.

Cail wrote:Hate to admit it, but I thought the original Saw was incredibly clever, and I thoroughly enjoyed the second two. Haven't seen 4 or 5 yet.

My advice would be to hold off on seeing 4 and 5 until 6 hits. There's too much continuity between these latest installments.

Cail wrote:You'd probably enjoy the Final Destination films too CovJr. At least the first two.

I've been meaning to see Final Destination for years, but never had any idea if I'd enjoy it. Maybe I'll make the effort now.

The first Saw was a damn good horror flick, with one of the best ending twists I've ever seen. After that, they kinda run together, and to me they're pale shadows of the original. I suppose my favorite sequel is the one with Donnie Walhberg (an underrated actor, if you can believe it.)

The first film was really good, in that it really made you think quite a bit. And yeah, by the end of the third film, I found myself totally on Jigsaw's side (plus, Shawnee Smith is hot).

The first Final Destination film is also something of a thinker, with the added bonus of some really great death scenes. The second film has one of the best opening sequences ever filmed (like Cliffhanger good), and really, really creative ways of killing people. The third film was a letdown, but still worth seeing.