Stylishly Reminiscent of Seven

Rating: 9/10 (1 November 2004)

Saw is an interesting movie that is, stylishly, an amalgamation of what one sees in other films. In a sense, the film is very reminiscent of films such as Seven, Along Came a Spider, The Bone Collector, etc.. The movie is dark, dirty and ugly. Flashbacks are interspersed with the stories of the victims both for illustration and also as shock value. The great thing about Saw is how deviously simple a story it is. Saw is no 'onion' with layers and layers of plot and sub-plot to twist the mind and confuse the viewer. Instead, it is a very direct movie that presents the viewer with a brutally effective story.
However, this is also a weakness. I found both the beginning and the end of Saw to be extraordinarily good; however, the middle was quite lumbering and distracting. It is as if Whammel did not quite have enough in mind to flesh the story out to full length. Instead, certain scenes are rehashed without adding anything really new. The viewer learns little tidbits here and there by viewing the same scenes from a different perspective; however, there is not enough of a difference to make the viewer step back mentally and say "Hey, wait a minute.. I thought... ".
While I have commented on the style, one cannot rate a movie without commenting on the acting. A friend of mine and I have a debate going about whether Cary Elwes is intentionally trying to 'camp it up', or is in fact severely out of place in a horror movie. The jury is still out for me. Having long been a fan of his work in comedies (Princess Bride, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Hot Shots, etc), I am hesitant to simply say he did a poor job.. However, few scenes in particular seem to support this theory; these are scenes in which the audience at my showing laughed. However, coming out, I heard people discussing whether or not those scenes were SUPPOSED to be funny; no one seemed quite sure. Combined with Danny Glover's *terrible* acting, it does seem possible that parts of the movie were rushed (understandably with a budget < $10 million).
All in all, though, Saw is a very effective movie if you can be a little patient in the middle. The end of the movie makes the whole thing soooo worthwhile; you will leave the theatre grinning your ears off. I am thrilled that Saw 2 has already been announced for Halloween 2005, what with the movie making a profit in its first weekend of over 80% of its production costs. Time will tell if Saw 2 will be able to preserve the magic of the first without giving in to 'sequelitis'.