Warning: this review contains no puns about the title of the film

Rating: 3/10 (9 February 2005)

First off, "Saw" is a thriller not a horror film. It's been a long time since someone has directed a great horror film, and it looks like it might be a while still. Nonetheless, it's not a bad movie. It takes the concept of two people stuck in a room at first for no apparent reason from "Cube" and toys around with it, albeit not in the same fashion. While there is some very entertaining reasoning, nice non-linear plotting, "Saw" remains nothing more than an interesting and mildly entertaining thriller.
When you decide to go out of your way and actually dissect it, the plot starts to make less and less sense. But with serial killer movies, plot is rarely the strong-point (with the exception, of course, of classics like "Silence of the Lambs," or "Se7en"). What usually makes a good thriller is its ability to thrill, to terrify. "Saw," a film whose violence-level is extremely over-hyped, is more nasty and cruel than it is scary. It has the obligatory tense sequences and jump scenes, but they don't really lead to anything that (for me anyway) would cause you to lose sleep.
And I take back some of what I said. Plot is crucial in a thriller insofar as it makes the story somewhat realistic, consequently more terrifying. While the scenes and set-ups and situations created in the film are relatively original and interesting, the ending of the film (don't worry, I'm not going to reveal it) is almost ludicrous. As is the dialogue for that matter and the acting (or lack thereof). The problem that I have with the ending is the same problem I had with the ending of "High Tension." While this film does technically have a stronger ending than "Tension," and while "High Tension" has much more tension than "Saw" up until its ridiculous finale, both films leave you with a feeling of "quoi?" There is something lacking - something that would make you continue to shudder with horror long after the credits roll. "Saw" of course, is not a terrible film. It doesn't have a lot of blood, but it has a lot of freaky looking objects and people and torture devices. It's even entertaining to watch. It just, in my humble opinion, doesn't live up to the hype, which made it sound like it was the first really scary horror film in ages. I would more confidently recommend "High Tension," which is, on some level, horrifying in the old style, almost brilliant, but it ends the way this film did; haphazardly. I hope the creators of "Saw" won't make a sequel to it, but rather hone their talents and come up with something even better. I'm sure they're capable of it.