A good film with bad choices

Rating: 4/10 (7 January 2007)

When Saw was released people even mentioned that it was the one to beat Se7en in this style of films. And while in the same style as Se7en (Suspense, action, dead bodies, high violence and mystery) it was a very original film, with good acting and intense story full of twists.
This is a good sequel, but has some problems of wrong choices. The story is as smart as the ones from previous films, but the way it's told doesn't work well. It seems they wanted to get to the tension scenes and the "games" right from the start of the film. Problem is that by doing so, there was no presentation of Jeff (Angus Macfadyen) and his life outside the "game". While previous films always showed us something to feel for and understand the main character. By doing this, it's hard to understand or at least accept the father's reactions over the people trapped. We have not enough background information about why he acts this way or at least to know that he acts this way. People in traps have no development at all and are only in the film for the gore fest. In the other Saw films, the traps were made so people could learn their lesson, not only to kill innocent people. The important thing about character development is not to remember names but the actions they take, why, and the changes they go trough the whole film. And though the father had really bad development, Amanda and Dr. Lynn Denlon are great characters and very well developed trough the whole film, as you get to know them more. Jigsaw, though we don't get to know more about him, is as good as in the second Saw.
Other bad choice is the amount of gore in this sequel. Though a lot of fans like it, they are the fans who never really liked the film for what it was meant to be. A good story with violence, not lots of violence with story. There is so much gore that you actually stop felling tense during this scenes. Saw I and II kept you watching those sequences because of all the tension, not the gore. While in the previous ones you would be as tense, nervous and desperate as the characters, in this one you might even start telling yourself "good make-up effects" and won't get involved with the scene. The gore in the first and second was only shown when important.
The story is actually good and follow the previous events very well, and the acting is on the same level as in Saw I and II. One problem with it's story is the ending. Though it's full of twists and as good as the other endings, it is too unhappy even compared to Saw I/II endings. There is not enough hope in this film. During the whole film and in the end. While in the other films you feel like wanting to watch the next one, this one makes you feel bad and wanting to get out of the cinema as fast as you can because you feel like the characters have no reason to go on.
They tried to push the film to the next level, but unfortunately, they've chosen the wrong things to push. The gore fest feels like loss of originality, since we have films like Hostel, which brought back the senseless gore to the screen. The traps are a lot more complex, but lost their meaning. Characters are not the most important piece in this one. And the story, though not worse then the intelligent stories of Saw I/II was not pushed to the next level as we hoped it would.