A strange film, one that switches from being brilliant to being unbearable

Rating: 7/10 (17 April 2011)

I had low expectations going in to this film - a franchise that spans over 3 films is something I'm always wary of, especially when each film is essentially going through the same motions. It started out great; two people in a room who have no idea who each other are or how they got there making for an extremely engaging first act. They have been placed there by a murderer who places people in situations where they have to escape from precarious circumstances or die. Flashbacks give us more information on each character and it assumes that kind of format of switching from outside the room and inside.
If I'm going to praise anything, it's the plot - specifically when involving the murders and how they challenge their victims, those are genius. Otherwise the plot is kind of average; there are brilliant twists and turns you don't expect, but the rest of them of a bit stupid. You can tell it was written by two people because the quality of writing soars and then dives in alternating scenes; some sequences are fascinating and well thought out, but others that focus on the characters are horrifically unrealistic and far-fetched and it detracts from the experience. Generally though, the writing is OK; when talking about the murderer it's excellent, but the writers clearly know little about character building - as they spurt clichés and illogically change emotions. This may account for the films biggest problem, the acting.
It's been awhile since I've seen a popular title with such terrible acting - and it only declines as the narrative progresses. Some scenes are unbearable to watch because of the terrible delivery, especially characters become emotional and frantic, as they just start mimicking what they've seen in cartoons. In one scene, a character is shown pretending to die and I honestly thought it was a joke at first. Normally I would've laughed, but I was enjoying the film so much up to that point, that I was just disappointed. So don't watch this after something like 'The Social Network'.
About 5/6 of the way in, the film completely messes things up before finishing brilliantly - it's clear that there were set pieces that were really well thought out, but filling in the gaps turned out to be an exercise in crap. I nearly stopped watching it, it turned into so much of a pantomime, but I was thoroughly rewarded for my perseverance.
Overall, very good directing, turbulent (in terms of quality) story, suspenseful, terrible acting, awful characters and a good ending. However I was all ready to give this film a 9 or a 10 at some points, but then it dropped to about a four. I would've given it 5 if not for the ending, so be warned - IT GETS BAD.
I was disappointed by this film, but there's a lot to be learnt from it. I'm not going to watch any of the sequels, though.