Better than Se7en

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2004)

I had read that this movie was a poor man's Se7en, so it was a genuine surprise to find that Saw is actually a very good, well-made thriller which keeps the pace moving frighteningly brisk throughout.
The movie begins in darkness and creates a tense mood right from the start. It is a relief when the lights come on and you can gain a sense of the scenario - two men on opposite sides of a room chained by a leg, with a dead body lying in a pool of blood in the centre of the room. Through a series of flashbacks, a little at a time is revealed of the situation they are in and how it came about.
There are some similarities to Se7en in that the movie concerns a serial killer who selects his victims with a macabre purpose. In this context, Saw compares favourably with Se7en and sheds more blood more graphically. This in itself does not make it a better movie, but it sustains its dark mood throughout as it continues to build up tension with a series of twists. Perhaps the final twist is beyond the pale but then in any movie of this type you need to suspend reality for best effect. And the ending does tie up a loose end that was barely even considered throughout the rest of the movie, that is, whose is the dead body lying in the pool of blood?
If you like your movies fast-paced with plenty of thrills, chills and gore, then this is for you - if you are prepared to suspend logic and go with the flow (of blood). 8/10