A Suspenseful, twisted, pseudomasterpiece

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2004)

This is the first film to be made by the production company; Twisted Pictures. I can certainly attest that not only is this an appropriate film to associate with the word twisted, it is a fine debut for all involved. This is indeed a twisted little indie flick that'll give you chills.
Adam (Leigh Whannell, who also penned the script) and Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes, in his best performance in years) have woken up in a dingy room that they've never seen before. They're both chained by their feet to thick pipes. There is a man in the middle of the room who has apparently blown his own brains out. He's holding a gun and a tape recorder. They each find a tape in their pockets, with instructions on what they have to do to escape alive. Let the games begin.
What follows is a nail-biting, tense cat and mouse game between the two prisoners, and their sadistic captor. Inter spliced between the scenes of the two in their grungy dungeon, are scenes that reveal the back stories of the killer, the captors, and the detective (Danny Glover, possibly the most underutilized actor working in Hollywood today) obsessed with finding the killer known only as 'Jigsaw'. The back story scenes are every bit as interesting as the scenes in the dungeon, if not more so. The film works so well because it keeps you guessing, and just when you think you've figured something out, the movie laughs in your face, and shows you what you thought was true to be completely false.
The real reason the film works so well, is because of the superb performances that unfold on the screen. Elwes and Whannell share an excellent chemistry, and not only play off each other extremely well, they both demonstrate a great sense of doubt of the other. The rest of the actors do a fine job as well. What makes the performances all the more astonishing, however, is that the director (James Wan), is a first time director. Wan demonstrates an eye for style that would be deemed impressive for a 20 year veteran director, much less a rookie. Wan manages to craft a very tense, very unsettling film. Much like Silence of the Lambs before it, Saw is a twisted, yet very substantial piece of work, and it has a moral that can apply to everyone at the end.
Speaking of the end, while the movie doesn't cheat the audience for the most part, there are a few plot holes in the movie that I just can't let go of. I won't reveal them here, but there a few definite: 'Um, excuse me, but just how the hell does that work' moments, especially during the movie's climax.
Furthermore, despite Wan's obvious talent behind the camera, there a few decisions in the movie that I find baffling. One, for example, is the mass amounts of comic relief, and lack of gore. When I saw the trailers, I was expecting a gruesome and dark excursion into the depths of depravity. What I wound up getting, however, was a fairly gruesome (although, really, there isn't as much blood as you'd expect from this sort of movie), suspenseful tale, with just a little too much dark comedic relief. Whannell's character does begin to grate with his constant one-liners by the end of the movie.
There are also a few bizarre editing choices in the film too. For example, there is a car chase towards the end of the film that is so poorly thrown together; I wonder why they would even bother to include it in the movie, at all. I know that this movie was made on a shoestring budget and all, but this is just ridiculous! The whole chase is merely the faces of the drivers getting closer to the camera, in a clear fast forward of the film. They don't even show the cars on the road! It's so ridiculously cheesy, and feels distinctly out of place in a (mostly) serious thriller. Cheesy car chase aside, however, the director manages to get squeeze every penny of his budget, and puts it up on the screen in a surprisingly glossy manner.
The reason that semi-high profile actors such as Danny Glover and Cary Elwes agreed to do this film in the first place, for a low salary, is because of the strength of the script they read. The script is tight, filled with shocking twists and turns. The characters are all believable, and they say and do what most people would do (or what I think they would do, anyway) in whatever situation they are put in. However, with that said, the movie does fall into a few of the generic horror movie clichÃ©s, such as hiding the killer's face until the end, or having the killer looking at his victims from computer screens. Also, for some reason I find it quite doubtful that a killer with that much time on his hands would have the resources or the intelligence to pull off the elaborate schemes he sets up for his victims.
But I digress. The film for the most part is extremely intelligent, and doesn't pull too many punches. Most of the pieces fit, and considering some of the wretched thrillers to come down the pike lately (Taking Lives, anyone?), that's a lot more than recent thrillers can boast.
A word of caution however, this is not a film for a squeamish, and if you've ever closed your eyes in any movie, you will do the same in this movie as well.
Overall ****: If you like thrillers, this is one of the best in a long time, with a genuinely interesting plot, and deep, developed characters. It's funny, this movie has what a lot of big budget movies (Again, Taking Lives, I'm looking at you!) lack, Heart and Soul. I really look forward to see what else these talented rookies can pull off in future projects.