I WISH it had been worth my time.

Rating: 2/10 (21 July 2006)

I remember being extremely excited for this movie to come out in theaters. I flocked to see it on the first day. The concept was great. But I was hoping to go to a reasonably intelligent story about a serial killer. I was prepared for joyous blood and violence, what I wasn't prepared for was Saw. In about 80% of American Horror films, you can find a number of cliché's used because they are said to work. But I was hoping that Saw would be one of those films that would step away from the things that I had seen, show me something new, no matter how small. Serial Killers are very interesting characters, and their M.O.'s generally tie back into their mentality somehow. What was so disappointing about Saw was that the killer's method was interesting, but his motives were crap. The best killers(see Se7en) get inside your head, you find yourself rooting for them, even identifying with them, THAT is what scares you. Jigsaw's motives felt like something tacked on JUST so he would exist, he had no real purpose other than driving a movie. Bringing me to the ending, the ending of the film is so stupid, cheating so badly that literally 20 minutes into the film, after examining the setup, I thought to myself, "now what is the most contrived, and horrible way that they can end this?" I guessed correctly, but dismissed it giving the movie the benefit of the doubt. I was right... not a great feeling. In fact, I probably would have forgiven the contrivances in the middle of the film if only it had not ended the way that it did. Let's face it; the best serial killer movies are those in which we see the killer in all of their bloodthirsty glory. All in all, I went in hoping that I could put Saw among films like Se7en, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer or Silence of the Lambs, instead it will forever remain a monumental waste of a very good chance at something disgusting, depraved, and yet, intelligent and chilling... DON'T EVEN ASK ABOUT SAW II (the same method used to guess the ending was applied, and paid off.)