Third chapter - and most anemic - of the trilogy

Rating: 7/10 (30 October 2006)

SAW III (2006) **1/2 Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen, Bahar Soomekh, Dina Meyer, Barry Flatman, Costas Mandylor, (cameos: Mark Wahlberg and Leigh Whanell) Third chapter - and most anemic - of the trilogy franchise into fear with the ever-crafty serial game player Jigsaw (Bell at his most phlegmatic), in the end stages of his debilitating cancer (end game anyone?), who has pitted two new victims against the clock with aiding and abetting protégée Amanda (nutty Smith) providing some truly nasty set-ups (and of course out comes). While the carnage runs rampant the originality is on fumes despite some efforts from original filmmakers James Wan and Whannell, its creators, letting director Darren Lynn Bousman - who helmed the second part - do all the heavy lifting for what should have been a sure thing of unholy terror, instead is a tepid retread of its origins.