Saw: A Movie in Search of a Brain

Rating: 5/10 (13 July 2006)

Horror films have become simulated Hollywood snuff in recent years: mean, baseless violence that does not revolve around an engaging plot. If you want to see a REAL horror film that "Saw" ripped off, then go see "Seven". In contrast to Saw, Seven was brutal for a purpose...there was no inkling that indicated David Fincher to be a nihilistic, twenty something with nothing better to do than shock people. His work since has further shown his interest in emulating Hitchcock, rather than the makers of "I Spit On Your Grave". Seven did not actually show the tortures while Saw picks this up as the basis for a movie, not realizing that NOT seeing them is exactly what makes these scary in the first place. Is SAW entertaining? Yes. But I think we should examine after wards how good we feel about ourselves for thinking so.
Unfortunately, pop culture has a memory of only five to ten years, and since Seven is about that old, it's no surprise that it's been forgotten in favor of Saw, which inexplicably got over a 7 on IMDb, something I find very telling about our culture. Seven was smart, instead of just acting like it. It had some reasonable logic, with a realistic enough serial killer.
However, Saw does not rely on any character or villain that interests you, but a vacuous machine of one known as "Jigsaw". Ironically, this "character"'s real name is "John"; a name that is indicative of what he really is: a "John Doe", a character with no life, purpose, or back story. But of course, as some readers would point out, Jigsaw does have an origin. True, but it is no more realistic than say, the Incredible Hulk's. In that sense it takes away a great deal from the very pseudo-realism that is supposed to propel the chills in Saw.
The main problem with Saw is its maddeningly illogical logic; it's as if someone has given you a Jigsaw puzzle to solve, one that should open up the secrets of this plot, yet they've failed to give you all the pieces. It would be better if it didn't feel like it was done not on purpose, but because of the sheer incompetence of the writing.
***Note: I did like Saw II, but only because it didn't attempt to insult my intelligence by pretending to have one.***