Saw has an interesting fresh story, but it's very unrealistic.

Rating: 6/10 (6 March 2008)

The Saw series has really come impressively far with 4 sequels in just a minimum of 4 years. They mostly got worse as they went along but never mind that for now. Saw is about 2 men who wake up chained to pipes at different ends of a dirty abandoned warehouse bathroom. They cannot reach other but in the middle of the room is a dead man, with a gun with one bullet in his hand. One is named Dr Gordon (Cary Elwes) and the other is a young guy named Adam (Leigh Whannel). After finding tape recorded messages they realize they are being held captive by the elusive Jigsaw killer. Dr Gordon is told he only has a few hours to kill Adam or his wife and kid will die. The Jigsaw killer is explained in the papers as kidnapping people he finds undeserving of life, and puts them through grisly tests which they can survive if they try hard enough. While Adam and Dr Gordon try to work out their game, 2 other stories are occurring at the same time. Detective Tapp (Danny Glover) is a discharged cop obsessed with finding the Jigsaw killer, and his main suspect is none other than Dr Gordon. Meanwhile Dr Gordon's wife and daughter are being held captive in order to interlock with his game. As the hours tick down and time gets shorter, the two strangers must fight for survival before it's too late.
Saw is a grisly film with a script full of twists and turns. The plot itself is original and kept my interest, but if you ask me there's no imaginable way something like this could happen in real life. The characters become more developed and shady as the film progresses. The actors playing these characters are not great, in fact some of their acting moments are down right laughable. This is probably Danny Glover's worst performances since I was shaking my head at some of the lines he had to say. Saw is not very scary relying more on suspense and shock moments. However the Jigsaw villain is quite interesting as with a sinister motive and a mysterious allure. Now for the blood and gore levels. The movie is really not as gory as it was made out to be, but that does not mean it doesn't have its nasty moments, because believe me it does. The traps are intriguing and creative, but not realistic at all. Jigsaw would have to be an engineering mastermind and have lots of available money in order to create them. Since he's constantly on the run from police and is such a shady person, it is very hard to believe.
The writer of the film Leigh Whannel, who also plays the role of Adam, shows talent in the horror genre. His story creates an eery situation with more going on than meets the eye. The one most believable point of the movie is the two men chained up in the room, who react exactly how anybody would if put in a situation like this. However I don't think Leigh Whannel should have been a main character because he's not very good at acting, he's okay in some parts but when he has to scream and yell I'll bet anything the theater laughed their heads off. The director James Wan also seems to be very talented. With the help of the cinematographers he creates an extreme, and I mean extreme, sense of style to Saw. However it really starts to get annoying after a while. For instance every time we get a flashback to one of Jigsaw's past traps the camera changes angles at lightning speed, spins around the victim real fast, and flashes bright lights and colors in your eyes. I thought I was going to go blind which obviously meant the editing and cinematography styles went way too far over the edge. It would have added a lot to the creepiness if they kept everything still and relaxed, but instead the filmmakers abuse this technique style and ruin any scary aspect of the film, at least in my opinion.
Saw was very suspenseful to the point where I had to see it to the end. It draws you in with its strange atmosphere, and the characters evolve to the point where I got pretty interested in how it would all end up. Believe me the climax of the movie is really fulfilling and a true "I never saw that coming" moment. Although the movie is not great it will still please horror lovers. I give Saw a 2.5 out of 4. I expected blood and gore but got more than that. The sequels however are a whole other story.