Jigsaw Thriller

Rating: Null/10 (1 November 2004)

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** "Saw" is one of the most original, twisted, grotesque, and perplexing suspense films I have ever seen. It contains a gruesome, sadistic premise that is designed to keep the audience's interest at least out of sheer curiosity and question: two men find themselves confined inside a hideous building, chained to the floor and having only their recollections, thoughts, and a few perplexing signals by the man responsible for their abduction, who is apparently notorious for this style of execution. The direction is rather blurred, tumultuous, and frequently frustrating: as we learn of important, curious details of the backgrounds of these two unfortunate men as well as the madman, the director feels that "pieces of the puzzle", in order to fit (perhaps in the constraints of the film's running time), must be hurried and even graphic: sometimes we aren't even aware of what is happening, particularly and most disturbingly in the "revelation" towards the end, and one can only become dazed and lost when they cannot follow a hundred pieces suddenly said to come together! The tone and setting are depressingly bleak, dark and twisted, perhaps to enhance the element of fear, of gratitude for not being a "pawn" in this madman's "game", which is ultimately more horrible than it might initially seem as is revealed throughout the film. We can only immediately assume that the two men (Cary Elwes- Lawrence Gordon, Leigh Wannall- Adam) are merely subjects of their captor's design, and try as they might, can ultimately only beg and plead to the circumstances of their contingent demise. There are indeed many surprising twists throughout the film, including the identities of Lawrence and Adam, which of course, are pieces to the jigsaw that is the film's plot. The meaning of the film, if it could possibly be fully conceived, would be brilliant, if not for the consternation created by the dizzy editing and twisting developments throughout the manic story. Every detail of the story, including every character that is included and revealed, is a "piece of the puzzle", and while the jigsaw itself can be quite "puzzling" even by the end, the film does manage to put everything together and consummate on a rather admirable and satisfying note. A dark, convoluted, twisted, perplexing thriller, "Saw" is at the very least, one brutal "jigsaw" of a concept. *** out of ****