Here is something you can't understand. How I could just kill a man.

Rating: 6/10 (16 February 2005)

It's a bit odd to say that the thing I liked best about Saw was that there was true suffering in it rather than detached horror movie gore, but that was the case with this movie. I am reminded of some of Wes Craven's early films like Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes, which were essentially about people doing horrible things to other people. It's a lofty effort for a couple of first time filmmakers and is very good as a debut horror/thriller/crime film, and the almost universal comparisons to Seven are to be expected. They are, after all, perfectly justified. The problem is that Seven never stops being interesting, while Saw makes no sense on a second viewing.
My roommate watched the movie after I had already seen it, and I sat and watched parts of it and was reminded of the supplemental documentaries included with the Vista Series edition of The Sixth Sense, in which it is explained that they went to great lengths to make sure that they were making the movie honestly, that you could go back after you knew about the ending and see that the movie still made sense. This movie has no time or interest in that, because while the twists and turns are great during a first viewing and it is tremendously successful at making almost every single character look suspicious at some point or another, if you watch it when you already know the end the entire thing falls apart.
Adam and Dr. Gordon wake up to find themselves locked in a filthy restroom of sorts, each chained to opposite sides of the room with a dead body between them holding a gun in one hand and a tape recorder in the other. They each have tapes in their pockets, and once Adam gets a hold of the tape recorder (by using his shirt to help him reach it, and at Dr. Gordon's suggestion, which will become important later in this review), they listen to the two tapes and are given instructions by the killer. Adam is a voyeuristic photographer, his job is to prevent his own death, while Dr. Gordon's job is to kill Adam or his wife and daughter will be killed and he will be left there to die.
Thus begins a lengthy series of ever more complicated events set up by the killer which are very convenient for a structured screenplay but make no sense in reality. Then again, the application of logic is a great way to dismantle a movie like this, and it should be noted that the movie is, in fact, highly entertaining during that first viewing. I like to think that it's not until the second viewing that you realize how much you have been cheated.
(spoilers) Because of the shock of the ending, for example, you forgot that Zap, the hospital orderly, at one point holds a stethoscope to the daughter's chest while he points a gun at her mother's head, listening as the child's heartbeat speeds up in fear. Was he enjoying himself? Kind of cancels out some of the sympathy you felt for him after he got killed at the end despite not being the kidnapper, didn't it. Then there was the issue of the objects just out of reach. Early in the film, it is Dr. Gordon that tells Adam to take off his shirt and use it to reach the tape recorder in the man's hand in the middle of the room, then later in the movie Dr. Gordon finds himself unable to reach the cell phone, which is ringing, so he takes off his shirt andÂ…uses it as a tourniquet to cut his foot off. What?? Given that the phone was about 8 inches out of his reach on linoleum, he may have been able to save his foot had he used his shirt to get it, like he suggested to Adam earlier. He must have been under a lot of stress.
There is a good scene early in the movie where Adam finds the two saws and tosses one to Dr. Gordon and they both start sawing frantically at the chains around their ankles. Adam breaks his saw and Gordon soon gives up, realizing that it's not the chains the killer wants them to cut through, it's their feet. Reminds me of a great short story by Stephen King called "Survivor Type" where a man is stranded on a desert island and quickly finds himself with very, very little to eat.
All in all I enjoyed the movie, it had a good surprise ending despite the fact that the path leading up to it was heavily and clumsily manufactured. It is an entertaining horror film, not a great one. Cary Elwes provides a bit of star power, but sadly delivers the worst performance I've ever seen him do, it was even worse than Liar Liar. If there is one thing I learned from this movie, it is that Cary Elwes can NOT cry on film. WOW. His emotional scenes were some of the worst I've ever seen. Clint Eastwood can cry better than this guy, and he makes Samuel L. Jackson look like a care bear. Schwarzenegger can cry better than this guy, for crying out loud. Maybe that's why he was so convincing in The Princess Bride, because Wesley was completely devoid of all emotion for most of the film.
Whatever the case, this is still an interesting film. Fans of the great thrillers like Seven and The Sixth Sense may find themselves unimpressed if you go into it expecting more of the same level of quality, but horror fans are sure to get a kick out of it. At least the first time.