A cut above the rest.

Rating: 9/10 (29 October 2004)

SAW (2004) ***1/2 Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Leigh Whannell, Ken Leung, Dina Meyer, Michael Emerson, Shawnee Smith, Makenzie Vega, Tobin Bell. (Dir: James Wan) A cut above the rest.
Finally a horror film that pays off in actually being scary! Novice filmmakers James Wan and Leigh Whannell  director/ co-screenwriters  have concocted a fiercely chilling tale of horror with echoes of dank élan to 'SE7EN' as well as any films during the seminal '70s the likes of Carpenter, Craven and Hooper in gleaning some of their mojo glommed onto their uniquely perverse, darkly humorous and more importantly downright bone-chilling spooky with this dark story of a fated morality play.
The conceit begins with two strangers awakening from a drugged abduction to find themselves chained in a rotted industrial restroom (just the ghastly cinematography by David A. Armstrong and grotty production design by Julie Berghoff makes one crave a Tetanus shot!) and at the fate of a ticking clock coerced by the whimsy of a madman's sick, twisted game of life or death.
Dr. Lawrence Gordon (a very fine turn by Elwes) is a successful oncologist and a slacker type named Adam (Whannell providing much needed gallows humor smart-aleckness) must unsolve a dastardly puzzle with big questions  Who did this? Where are we? - to small details (each have a micro-cassette in their pockets and the only way to listen to the messages are provided in the hands of a blood drenched corpse littered at their feet clutching a tape recorder) as their time begins to erode  as well as their sanity.
Using flashbacks it is discovered by the good doctor that they are at their situation thanks to a serial killer  or more apropos , serial gamesman  tagged as 'Jigsaw'  whose m.o. is to abduct someone and have them run thru an impossible mechanism designed solely to kill/maim them with the grand design being that each one realize just how precious a commodity life truly is.
Adam and Gordon are also discovered to have a handy hacksaw provided for them to attempt an escape but soon learn that the tool will not cut through the heavy metal but should do so nicely through their own ankles! So begins the sweat-inducing, nerve-wracking quest of getting loose in time  for Gordon particularly since he learns his wife and daughter (Potter and Vega) will be killed if he doesn't kill Adam (a single bullet has been left by the sicko and a handy revolver is in the other grasp of the bloodied victim on the filthy floor).
Added to the mix is a police investigation involving Det. David Tapp (Glover, in a snaky 'I'm getting' too-old-for-this-s**t potshot at his 'LETHAL WEAPON' character) and his partner Det. Steven Sing (Leung) who are getting too close to the crazed genius with some truly lethal consequences.
Wan milks several sequences in dark, cluttered and silent moments of dread while incorporating themes of infidelity, betrayal, redemption and employs a few stock gimmicks including grainy snuff-film video taping, a hair-raising sound effect of a maniacal clown laugh and just for the price of admission one of cinema's creepiest looking puppets to get his messages across.
The screenplay by both  native Australians  hearkens back to slasher/psycho exploitation films yet raises the bar in their inventive, ingenious set pieces especially one ghastly recollection with a 'reverse bear trap' head device ; nuff said.
There are moments of quiet devastation, nail-biting tension and just enough nervous laughter for the two protagonists racing against their inevitable doomed plight while also evoking many questions by the film's twisty canny climax (stop here if you don't want to realize the reason the pic is titled the way it is).
Violence is underscored with scarily innate logic yet not over-the-top (I for one cannot wait for the DVD to see what made the editing floor to get its MPAA R  rating) and it has some greatest hits of the genre standards like the rooting for the victims to get their much thirsted for vengeance.
A true crowd-pleaser that doesn't disappoint but will have you wanting to return to put each simply creative puzzle piece together as more questions will come flooding by its stunning conclusion.
You've been warned!