Tiresome....

Rating: 4/10 (22 February 2007)

I suppose that, on a technical level at least, this is a competent movie. It just doesn't seem as if the Saw series is going anywhere. The motivation in S1 was a bit novel and interesting. In S2, it got to be pedantic and overextended. In S3, it just seems pointless. OK, OK...we're ultimately teaching people how to care and be compassionate. I get it. The slight variations and twists that S3 holds for us are not enough for us to generate any genuine concern. Even the "surprise" deaths at the end are just not of any real interest.
Shawnee Smith is over the top and Mcfadyen (almost unrecognizable in this role) is pretty ham-fisted as a protagonist. Tobin Bell is, well, Tobin Bell...same as always.
About the only difference in shading in this movie is that many of the deaths are not only bloody, but ultimately devoid of meaning or hope. I couldn't help but think about Final Destination 2. In FD2, the characters figure out that Death is coming for them, but in _reverse_ order from how they were originally supposed to die. In S3, the motivations of the primary killer are, unlike in the S1, actually based on a need for violence and vengeance. It's an attempt at a cinematic flea flicker play...and it doesn't come off.