One of the best of 2004

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2005)

To anyone who watched Russel Crowe stick two swords into the chest of an opponent and then remove the two blades only to use them as scissors to "remove" the head of said opponent in "Gladiator" and thought that was bad-- don't see "Saw."
As any good twenty-year old in the 21st century will tell you, movie violence is often times fake looking and our desensitized out-look on movie gore and things of that nature often makes us sneer when a movie attempts to scare us with gore and suspense. "Saw" will make you rethink how desensitized you truly are... but in a good way.
A film that was shot in 18 days and cost just a million dollars would probably sound like some crappy student garbage or a low-end indie flick- but "Saw" was a better film than a lot of its competition, and even some films in other genres, in 2004. It may have even been one of the best 5 films of 2004... but lets not jump ahead of ourselves.
"Saw" starts off with Elwes and Whannel waking up in a industrial-like bathroom chained to the pipes with seemingly no way to get out- at first. The film then follows a similar formula to most horror movies with one exception. The ending to "Saw" is absolutely brilliant and I was honestly not expecting it at all. Alone, the ending is worth watching the entire movie for. And not many movies are like that, if not the exact opposite.
While I've never seen "Seven," I've often heard "Saw" compared to it and even heard it billed as a "cheap knockoff." Saw is a film that may not be phenomenally different (yet, still one of the best of '04), but it does just enough different to keep you hooked and maybe more. It is a film that makes you seek out the others like it within its genre, because it was that good and you just need more. While I'm not sure that "Saw 2" is a great idea, the original "Saw" is probably already a cult classic, and for good reason. The story is engaging and it has an excellent ending- one that will leave you breathless.