Starts With a Bang, and the End Saves it From Ending With a Whimper.

Rating: 6/10 (15 July 2006)

I happened to catch Saw the other night (being that, during the wee hours of 12:00AM and 1:00 AM, the only watchable thing on TV are horror movies). I expected next to nothing from this, other than a good shock. I'd seen the commercials, which didn't make me want to see it. I'd heard the mediocre reviews from the critics, which didn't compel me, and the raving reviews from some of my friends (which didn't compel me to watch it either, as we don't share common tastes in movies). I say this because I must; it's necessary to understand my review. I chose this movie on the SOLE basis that it was late, I didn't feel like going to bed yet, and there was absolutely nothing else worth watching. I expected absolutely nothing, but was surprised to find a decent bit more.
I'll begin with the acting. The acting is extremely uneven. In the beginning it was quite good; not great, understand, but definitely above-average. This lasted for roughly the first 30 or 45 minutes. The acting then shifted to a realm somewhere between average and sub-par. It was definitely palette-able, but a noticeable step down from where it had been. I began to think outside of the film and started analyzing (which is never a good move for any movie to make, because the shift from quality to something less than that rarely shifts upward again).
This lasted for a little while until a third shift happened that lasted for most of the remainder of the movie. The acting became unquestionably horrid. Believability of character was shattered and the quality of performance gave way to utterly terrible work. Moaning, screaming, crying and wailing replaced dialog and action (although this might be more of a writing problem), and I thought that, just as the poem says, it would end, not with a bang, but with a whimper. In fact, I was sure of this, and wanted nothing more than for the movie to end. Literally every second that ticked off of the clock lessened my opinion of the movie, and I wanted to think of it as best as I could; I really did. It grew painful to watch. But, then, something happened. In roughly the last five or ten minutes of the movie the acting picked up and became, once again, above average. This trend occurred with the cast in general, and not in any singular member of it. This above trend is not reserved only for acting, but to the entire film. The story grabbed the viewer right away, and for roughly the first 45 minutes I was enthralled in what was happening. I, literally, nearly threw up (in a good way). This never happens to me, where I have such a violent reaction to a film (although the feeling subsided after a while). That this movie could have that effect on me was a wonder, and a testament to it's quality. For this rare occasion, I was literally horrified of the movie that I was watching.
However, this soon gave way. The compelling story died away with the acting, the gritty dialog (gritty, not witty, by any means) became intolerable. The quasi-complex characters that had been developed somewhat fell apart until the only thing that was left was the doctor's annoying-as-Hell moaning in the background.
But this, too, gave way. Right when I found the police-man's actions implausible, right when I thought that I could stand the pathetic moaning no more, right when I thought that what had begun so wonderfully was utterly ruined, the last ten minutes saved this film. I won't ruin it for anybody, but the twist at the end really saved this movie, and brought it back around to what it had started as. While it wasn't enough to make up for the previous... half hour... it was certainly more than enough to save it from a bad review.
There are some parts of this film that just bothered me. The car-chasing scene was terribly shot. I understand that it was shot on a very thin budget, but it looked exactly like what they were doing (set in a dark garage, with people rocking the car to make it appear in motion). I'm sure that there had to be a better way to shoot it then that. The police officer's character near the end became confusing and I was unsure of the exact time-table that the movie had acted upon. The character of the doctor was intolerable from after the first 45 minutes, and continued as such until the end. I found the puppet annoying, but still rather creepy.
This movie is not Se7en, which some people seem to think it is and then are angry when it disappoints. I do, however, understand the comparisons drawn between the two movies. In many ways they are similar, but they're still two very distinct, very different, movies. The directing is tolerable, but far from brilliant (I'd place it in league with the remake of Dawn of the Dead).
This is an extremely gripping, shocking and horrific movie. It's a tremendous achievement in horror, and should be commended for the boundaries it's both stretched and broken. I'd recommend this movie to horror fans only, as I doubt anybody but horror fans will like Saw. I'd recommend to save it until you're alone, at midnight, in a dark room, for maximum effect.