Ladies & Gentlemen I proudly present you the Saw...(drums roll & applause please)

Rating: 9/10 (5 November 2005)

Holy S..t (yeah with a capital S ).
It's got to be one of the most absorbing horror/thriller flick I've seen in quite a long time. Although the premises are far from being original ( a wacko trapping people to 'kill' them a la Se7en ) they manage to pull off a clever film. That's why I put the word kill under quotes in the last sentence. Because you see in fact the real drive and motivation of Jigsaw (our fuked-up psycho) is not killing people but to confront them with their wretched life and to give them the choice of either dying in a elaborate trap or finding a way out by solving the deadly puzzle. Sounds like a charmer.
Let's sum it up :

We have a very unpredictable very clever killer ( hell I watched Red Dragon this week and I think both Hannibal and Red should take extensive lessons from him)

We have elaborate traps (and deaths) that are as fun to watch as any of your average Final Destination's deaths.

A lot of the movie takes place in a closed space ( which i think is a good way to build some tension between characters when it's cleverly done )

We have the usual twist ( I loved it because I didn't see it coming. You see there are two ground rules in a thriller movie. The first rule is : the killer is necessarily one of the characters that appeared in front of the camera . The second rule is ALL the events have a meaning nothing is gratuitous . Knowing just that has made me able to guess all kinds of twists and events in movies so far even far-fetched ones (and no Identity doesn't count ) . And there...God it was simple but the movie is so well made that it totally distracts you from the real answer . I can't say more I don't want to spoil your fun but let me tell you that I think the end rules!

a solid directing : not relying too heavily on hip camera tricks and editing ( don't worry there are some but only to help the story ).

Yep that's it. They hit hard for a first full-length feature. Leigh Whannell is the man,dude,i tell ya.He writes he acts and he does a pretty good job at it ( even his American accent is good).
I can't wait to see the sequel. But unfortunately I'll have to because you see where I live they dub the movies in french for the theater release. ( hello guys never heard of subtitles? no? and learning to respect a movie neither? )