full of holes

Rating: 5/10 (20 February 2005)

Though not the worst movie I have ever seen, the disappointment came from having such high expectations of what this film could and should have been as well as major plot holes in the story.
When 2 men wake up chained to a wall in a psycho's game they quickly find out that they are not randomly picked pawns. Each person is linked and as the two men discover that they have only a few hours to either escape or kill the other they also discover how they (and others) are linked and why they have been chosen to play this game the "jigsaw" killer has put them in.
The movie's premise is definitely not new or original but I heard time and time again how this was to be the next SE7EN or even better. Not gory or really that psychologically thrilling it lacked the dark atmosphere and foreboding ..as well as "reason" for the killer's motives that SE7EN had. Though all in all you shouldn't always have to know who or why the killer does what he does..the randomness of it is sometimes the only scary part. The acting is alright. The thing that bothered me the most were two major plot holes that just eat away at me until I can't stand to watch the film now. If you haven't seen the movie..don't read on. Firstly, the supposed real Jigsaw (as far as the movie divulges, but he may also be a pawn much as the orderly was) was the guy laying in the floor the whole time between the 2 captives. O.k. now if I remember correctly they had until 6:00 to do what they were supposed to do..you mean to tell me the killer laid there, unmoving, unflinching on a cold, hard ceramic tile floor for 8 hours?! IMPOSSIBLE! No one no matter how crazy could lay immobile for that long face down and not look like they were breathing, or needing to move. That really bothered me but wait there's more! The same guy lying on the floor was also the guy in the hospital when Elwes is interrupted by the orderly saying he had a name. Now if you noticed Elwes was hanging up X-rays that showed this patient had an inoperable brain tumor. O.k. so maybe that's what prompted his madness or caused him to become jigsaw but um..what..he just checked himself out of the hospital as he pleased and then would return? No one noticed a man leaving the hospital, no one noticed his EKG not reading? Lastly and though it is minor compared to the 2 previous flaws Elwes is a surgeon, a SURGEON, and he decides to hack his foot off at the ankle to escape..firstly he should have known how to make a better tourniquette, secondly if I were faced with chopping off something to get out of a shackle I think I would have just taken a bit off the heel of my foot and then the blood would have worked as lube to slip out..no need to hack off my whole foot and bleed to death...not too smart for a M.D. At this point I could throw a few other things out there but that alone is enough to go..OK watch this movie, you won't be scared or thrilled, don't try to think too much about it..save it for a date with a timid girl night or something..or rent SE7EN.