Almost the best movie I have ever seen...almost!! Spoiler Alert

Rating: Null/10 (31 October 2004)

Nope, not kidding here ladies and gentlemen, the words brilliant, amazing, entertaining, intriguing and a worthy film come to mind. The words slightly flawed, under used, mainstreamed and poorly casted also come to mind. But for director James Wan's first time around, it is truly a remarkable piece of film. It almost made the status of being the greatest movie I have ever seen. Comparisons to the amazing Seven w/ Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are not unfounded. The world created by Wan in Saw is a gritty, dark underworld of murder, lust, and twisted imagery and interestingly as David Fincher did in Seven, they never once mention the city or state or any other location in the film. It's just people who exist on a dark playing field, caught in a game of terror.
Saw is the story of an incredibly sadistic terminally ill killer who plays games with his victims that ultimately end up in them ending their own lives so that he never actually kills anyone himself. He is a voyeur into the lives of these people. In his first round of murders a detective played by Danny Glover and his partner played by Ken Leung track him down after finding his first victims. He narrowly escape and in the process cleverly murders Glover's partner. Glover then becomes obsessed in tracking him down and ending his murderous spree. Fast forward an unknown period of time, the killer kidnaps a young married surgeon and a washed up photographer and chains them inside a small bathroom type area. Together feet apart they must unravel the mystery of this killer's plan in order to escape with their lives and the doctor's family's life.
First the unfortunate side, bad news before good. The plot line for this film has been mainstreamed in order to bring the teenies out. It's still much more than a slasher flick but they put in the necessary elements that almost ruin the film. The inappropriate humor in the film takes away from the tension, and ruins the perfectly terrifying atmosphere of the film. At times you wonder if you're supposed to laugh but can't quite help it anyways. Leigh Whannel's character of Adam is inappropriately funny and it's a shame really. Danny Glover's character of Detective David Tapp is perhaps the saddest part of this movie. In his acting caliber with this character they had an unbelievable, memorable presence left completely un-"tapped" no pun intended. A washed up, removed from duty, emotionally disturbed detective who has become maniacally obsessed with tracking down a serial killer that ended his partner's life. This is a whole movie premise on it's own. And yet Wan chooses to barely touch on it, and Glover's role in the movie is instead pointless and unused. What a complete shame!!
The cast of the film was not brilliant. Whannel leaves much to be desired as an actor although this appears to be his first "real" role so we can cut him some slack. Cary Elwes as the imprisoned Doctor, who has been around for a long time in supporting roles really has no excuse. This could easily have been his break out role and although he has several shining emotional moments, there are also times where the over reacting and the under reacting is too much to bear. In the hands of a much more skilled actor, this role could have brought tears to my eyes. Monica Potter does alright with what she is given in the "Gwyneth Paltrow--Seven" type role. The daughter of the doctor and Potter's character is played by Makenzie Vega who has had several small Television roles. She does a great job as the terrified little girl.
On from the bad news and what makes this film "almost" the best movie. There is another person who posted a review on here "The Unemployed critic" who absolutely despised this movie. I wonder after reading his review if he was asleep through this film? This is Wan's first time out as a director and there are few if any who are given the opportunity and ideas that this movie presents. You have the most complicated, terrifying story of two men in desperation, first not wanting to be together, then having to work together, then hating each other for being there, then caring for each other, then relying on each other, and finally they just have to be together in order to survive as shown by Whannel's plea to the doctor "Don't Leave me" in the final scenes. Their desperation and terror is reflected in their constantly changing moods and emotions. The whole story for these men is carried out on a four foot chain, locked in a giant puzzle. On the outside you have what seemingly appears to be another man who is the killer, watching them, terrorizing Dr. Gordon's family but in actuality he is only a pawn in the game himself, being terrorized and forced to stay alive as well.
The room is filled with clues, the dead body, the telephone, the photograph, the neon X, the heart, the saw...it all leads up to one terrifying climax that will leave one man with the decision to live or die. Wan does not resort to the cheap thrills jumps of other slasher type horror films and instead instills a feeling of dread and terror in the audience as he builds up the climax and we are revealed each step of the puzzle as the characters are. I do not believe Wan fully used the characters to the best of potential and although I do believe Serializing this film would most likely ruin it, it would do very well to reveal more of the back story on this character. Why does he kill? When did he lose his sanity? The murders are clever and unique and it has been such an incredibly long time since I have seen a original story such as this. I highly recommend anyone wanting to see a terrifying murder mystery to check out this film and Seven as well. Both these movies stand alone as truly great piece of cinema and will stand the test of time as classics. 8.5/10