Saw...rolling out the greatest horror series of the modern era

Rating: 9/10 (5 February 2007)

I honestly didn't think the Saw series would be able to hold ground past the first sequel. As amazing and terrific as Saw II was, even better than the original, I could see the inevitable prat-falls that would cause the downward spiral of this series. Imagine my shock when they took Saw III and made it even more spectacular, fixed all those plot holes and made the series even more intelligent, more gory, more creepy and gritty and riveting and made us all wet our appetites for more. That makes the Saw series an absolute phenomenon among horror films and horror series. Saw III left behind the premise of a group of people being tortured by the deranged madman Jigsaw and brought back the terror of one person being alone in his game to escape. Each victim is brought together for a reason and a purpose and Jigsaw's heir and student which I thought was a poor addition to the second installment was downright brilliant in the third. The story gets more complex with each turn and it has an intelligent, well based and terrifying plot.
Tobin Bell is absolutely brilliant. He is now considered the man who has brought forth one of the most terrifying and brilliantly horrific horror movie monsters of the modern day...Jigsaw or John Kramer as he's known. Bell has been a long time character actor, been on TV for years and years and usually does play the bad guy because he's just got the ominous flavor to his performance but Jigsaw is so versatile. I mean Jigsaw is more than just depraved and completely sick, he's brilliant, a genius even, he believes he has justification for her murders stating constantly how he 'hates murderers.' His soft spoken tone, quiet eyes and disturbing voice makes him absolutely phenomenal for this role. I admit I wasn't a fan of the addition of a Jigsaw sidekick in Saw II but actress Shawnee Smith certainly changed my mind in this third installment. Now granted I think the screen writer did something far more phenomenal with her character making her a victim to Jigsaw as much as anyone despite being his heir apparent. Smith shows a versatility and as deranged as she is there is some pathos felt for her character this time around. She comes across as more of the villain than Jigsaw. We get a far more in depth look into her character arc and how she got to this point with John in flashbacks and moments between each film up until now. Angus Macfadyen plays Jigsaw's latest victim and he will run him through a barrage of tests to teach him forgiveness, each test terrifying and disturbing in it's own right. Macfadyen is brilliant as the tortured father who lost his son in a car accident and now faces the opportunity to exact revenge on those he feels are responsible. Macfadyen makes for a great male lead taking over from Cary Elwes and Donnie Wahlberg. Bahar Soomekh plays Lynn, the brilliant surgeon who is kidnapped by Jigsaw in order to keep him alive long enough to play one last game. Soomekh is very good and a strong female lead and shows an equal amount of strength and sincerity as well as appropriate fear and weakness. Also returning in smaller roles this time around is Donnie Wahlberg and Dina Meyer, the detectives who have tracked Jigsaw since the original and it's sequel.
What else can be said?? Saw III is downright brilliant. You can't watch it on it's own right to see it's true brilliance but rather part of one of the greatest horror trilogy's ever made. They are laying down a foundation for what could be an incredible series. Director Darren Lynn Bousman took the helm again after doing the second one and since the two sequels exceeded the original and they seem to be discovering better ways to do things with each one I hope Bousman continues to direct. What more can they do with the series?? I say this after every Saw installment but I can only hope that they manage to continue down the brilliant path they are on. Perhaps we will start to see an unraveling of Jigsaw's history...we saw tiny moments of it in this film but more could be done. So far they have done an incredible job of continuity and bringing everything together. Is Jigsaw gone?? I hope not...I think he's too smart for that. Lord knows I wanna play another game. Incredible film!! 9/10