convoluted bloody fun

Rating: 7/10 (28 November 2015)

Adam Stanheight wakes up in a dirty lavatory chained to a pipe. He finds Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) also chained on the other side of the room. There's a dead body in the middle. They play audio tapes and the voice tells Gordon that he must kill Stanheight before 6 O'clock or else his wife Alison (Monica Potter) and daughter Diana (Makenzie Vega) will die. Adam finds two saws in the toilet tank. Gordon suspects the perpetrator is the Jigsaw Killer. He recounts police detectives David Tapp (Danny Glover), Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer) and Steven Sing (Ken Leung) investigating. Zep Hindle (Michael Emerson) is an orderly and John Kramer (Tobin Bell) is his patient. Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) is the only known survivor of the killer's elaborate games with a harness wired to her jaw.
I love the compelling premise of two guys chained in a room. Once Amanda Young's harness shows up, the movie becomes too convoluted to be scary. On the other hand, it becomes fun splatter. There is no denying that the elaborate plans are ridiculous but the movie completely owns it. Jigsaw is a Picasso clown and that's part of the fun. There is an interesting mystery of trying to escape from the room. It would be better if Jigsaw isn't so invasive leaving the clues. For example, there is no need for a clue to tell them to turn off the lights. It would be more compelling for the guys to guess on their own. It feels like a carefully laid out path and there is no tension in that. I'm not revealing the final twist but there are good points and bad points about that. It's impossibly elaborate but utterly surprising.