Pure genius! (gives away the twist ending)

Rating: 10/10 (6 November 2006)

I wasn't in a hurry to see this movie, but my friend rented it for me, so I thought I would give it a chance. And I am SO glad that I did.
From the very beginning you can't take your eyes off. The camera shots, the raw energy, everything from start to finish is just pure genius.
It starts off with so much energy its hard to go wrong. First scene there is a guy in a bathtub, apparently drugged and afraid of drowning... So he unplugs the bathtub. You notice something go down the drain but it is so dark you cant really see what it is. He gets out of the tub to realize he is chained to a pipe by his ankle. He starts screaming, and gets the attention of another male also chained up by his ankle. They cant reach each other, and can only hear each other for the darkness of the room. The one guy (who we learn is a doctor) finds a light on his side of the room and switches it on. They realize they are in an old rundown, unused bathroom. Quite large. Right in between them is a guy face-down, dead with a gun in one hand and a tape recorder in the other hand. Eventually they figure out that they each have a tape that fits the recorder in their back pocket. They are the latest victims of the Jigsaw Killer. The Jigsaw Killer puts the victims up to 'games' that they must complete to keep their lives, and sometimes the lives of their loved ones. The doctor must kill his cell mate by 6:00 somehow, or his wife and daughter will end up dead. They are both chained, and cant reach one another so the task seems impossible... Let alone the fact he doesn't want to kill him. So eventually Jigsaw left enough clues for them to figure out there are 2 handsaws in the toilet tank, apparently to cut through their chains. They each try sawing through the chains with no luck.
Meanwhile throughout flashbacks... You learn all about the Jigsaw Killer. Then thanks to a woman named Amanda. She was also a victim... One who was lucky enough to survive. She told her tell of how she had a mask on her head and her game was to find the key to the mask or it will rip her jaw open. "Think of it as a reverse bear trap." So the key, we find out is hidden within the intestine of her "dead" cell mate. So the only thing in the room with her (besides the TV she received the 'rules' of the game to) is a knife and a cell mate... Who clearly was not dead as was stated, but actually drugged enough he couldn't feel what was going on. He eventually died, and Amanda went free.
So back in the bathroom the two guys figure out they aren't exactly complete strangers. The doctor was being followed the entire time by the other kid in the room, who gets paid to spy on people. He had pictures and notes on his entire personal life. The doctor had been having troubles at home with his wife, and his daughter felt as if he didn't make enough time for her. While he was out at the "hospital" he was cheating on his wife. So all of a sudden he has to figure out if he wants to kill this random stranger, who now he doesn't like so much to save his wife and daughter. Clearly he wants to, but he doesn't know how. Then he finds a box with 2 cigarettes, a bullet, a note and a few other items. It basically says something that makes you think the dead guy in the middle of room was poisoned and couldn't take it so he blew his brains out.
So eventually, near the end of the movie the doctor thinks he knows who Jigsaw is... An orderly at his hospital. His time is running out and he must do something to save his wife and daughter (who we know are both alive due to the fact there is a one way cell phone and the wife and daughter are instructed to call it every so often). So he ends up sawing off his leg, taking the bullet out of the box getting the gun out of the dead guys hand, loading it and shooting the other guy. So then the orderly does end up in the bathroom (after the wife and daughter actually escape from him) to shoot the doctor because he killed the guy too late and "its the rules" So right before he shoots him, the other guy you realize only gets shot in the arm, he wakes up and smashes the heck out of the orderly with the toilet tank lid. The doctor says he is going to get help (now that the orderly opened the door and left it open) and assures the guy he will be just fine because he is going to get help. So then the guy that was laying in the middle of the floor DEAD all along... Gets up. Well, big surprise its Jigsaw!!! He says to the guy chained to the pipe "the key is in the bathtub." Then you realize that is what floated down the drain in the first scene. So Jigsaw just gets up, turns off the lights and shuts the door. IT IS STUNNING. Fantastic. Your jaw literally drops to the floor. Beautiful. Leaves you speechless and thinking about it for DAYS.