Pork, the other white meat

Rating: 5/10 (21 November 2006)

Greetings again from the darkness. Third in the Saw series developed by James Wan, this one is significantly better than the second, but falls short of the first, due mostly to the lack of freshness. Three is (as Two was)directed by Darren Lynn Bousman who benefits from a much more complex script and less complicated gadgets and contraptions.
This story centers around Jigsaw (the eerily great Tobin Bell) playing one of his infamous games with a brilliant, yet detached doctor (played well by Bahan Soomekh) who is charged with keeping Jigsaw alive during his last test(s) on his protégé Amanda (played horribly in her third turn by Shawnee Smith). The twists are minimal in this story, but as opposed to Saw II, the twists and turns make sense.
Be prepared for even more gore than the first two, but again we have no character that we really care about or pull for. Amanda may be one of the least sympathetic film characters ever. The flashback scenes are not very effective ... the exception being Donnie Wahlberg and his poor foot. As always, the best scenes include Tobin Bell and his lessons of life for the misguided souls who end up on the wrong end of his "fair" tests.