fearlessly downbeat thriller

Rating: 7/10 (7 April 2005)

SPOILERS! "Saw" is something of a testament to the power of genre films, a marker of how low-down, gritty, and generally unpleasant a plot can be, while being mercilessly intense and suspenseful at the same time. It also is a testament to why most film critics simply aren't cut out to critique such films--in an era of feigned PC cuddliness and romantic comedies with Brittany Murphy, it's downright MEAN to splatter our fine multiplexes with the type of morbid bloodshed found in "Saw." Shame on you, Mr. Wan and Whannell! Have you no courtesy for the real-life suffering of human beings?! Perhaps that's the point said critics are so slow to acknowledge. Downbeat, gut-wrenching, and intricately crafted, "Saw" is pure escapism that takes us to a dark place that we never hope to visit in reality. The plot begins deviously simple--two men awaken in a disgusting, decaying bathroom with their legs shackled--and becomes increasingly complicated as the film progresses. In the vein of a true thriller (however B-list), director James Wan (working from costar Leigh Whannell's script) has a knack for keeping plot details hidden in order to build suspense, so that their inclusion later on will make sense (poor Zepp!). The grungy visual style is an obvious nod to David Fincher (the atmosphere and plot is pure "Seven"), and the plot--which could be taken from any one of a million serial killer pics--actually forgoes the POV of the murderer and instead focuses on the two characters (Cary Elwes and Whannell) trapped in the room.
I have viewed "Saw" several times, and must say the quality of the acting improves each time. Whereas I found Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, and Monica Potter (okay, not much of a stretch there) to be hamming it up to an insufferable degree the first time out, I have lumped this eccentricity in as a contributing factor to "Saw"'s morbid charm. Though at times overwrought, Elwes's performance seems to accurately reflect the neuroses of an average man put in an unfamiliar, oppressive situation--there is even a note of horrifying tragedy in the decision he winds up making. He and Whannell are an unusual couple, but their interactions have a certain grace and are not dull. Michael Emerson, who plays the patsy Zepp, is probably the film's standout--a performance that depends heavily on nuance to trick the audience into seeing him as a cold-blooded killer and, ultimately, a pawn. Tobin Bell, a character actor who has spent his career playing lowlifes and killers, phones in his minor role as the murderer Jigsaw.
Though drowned in a sea of hype months before it hit theaters, "Saw" is a solid reminder that true horror and suspense is still alive and kicking, even if it is only with one foot...