A gorier sequel with a good twist

Rating: 7/10 (28 October 2009)

Wow if you thought the first two "Saw" movies were gory, it gets even more gorier and just might please some hardcore "Saw" fans. The set up was well done and the torture devices are more hardcore this time around. But the main aspect I didn't like about the 3rd installment is how it revealed Jigsaw to be more of a prick, cause in the first two installments he was in the gray, but now it reveals he is leaning more to the dark side. But you feel a bit compassionate towards him in the end cause of Amanda, who is his accomplice. She is one evil emo junkie who is very hypocritical and that just about sums her up. So basically the only reason she survived Jigsaw's game in the first place besides the fact that the game that is set up for her was way too easy compared to other torture devices Jigsaw set up for his other victims, but Jigsaw actually plays fair and keeps his word. If he didn't Amanda's head would be in smithereens and yet she sets up her own torture devices in a way where that is not winnable. And doesn't learn her lesson, she destroys 4 lives and one of them was a female police officer named Kerry, who really didn't do anything wrong. And just lived a life where she was dead on the inside, which isn't anything comparable to Amanda who was a drug addict and gets a kick out of cutting herself. So you want Amanda's death to be gruesome as possible but she just gets shot in the neck, which was a big disappointment. After Amanda kidnaps Lynn the surgeon to fix Jigsaw. It makes Jigsaw the old fart look like he is just trying to save his own life, while most of his victims die off. But at least it led to a brain surgery on Jigsaw which was gruesome to watch and some gore fans may get a kick out of it. I will admit that some of Amanda's quotes I had to agree on, like when she says "what you do is no different than murder" and "She hasn't changed cause nobody changes" which proves to be true cause Amanda is still a whinny girl that cuts herself. While the scenario of Jigsaw, Amanda and Lynn is going on, it goes back and forth to the scenario of Jeff, Jeff is a father that is semi psychotic after the loss of his son and doesn't show the amount of love to his daughter that he showed for his dead son. Anyways he got kidnapped as well and has to go through 3 test and each of the test it has a person who was involved in his sons death and through these test it is shown that Jeff is no better than the people involved in his son's death. First door leads to the witness that didn't do anything during the scene of the accident, so she isn't that bad but Jeff thinks she deserves to die and when he makes up his mind to save her she freezes to death. The second door leads to the Judge that gave the killer of Jeff's son a light sentence of just six month in prison, so Jeff has a reason to be angry at the guy but he ends up saving him. Than it comes down to the final door that leads to the murderer, but during the flashback scene it shows the guy accidentally ran over Jeff's son and felt guilty about it. Also a lot of blame goes to Jeff as well for not keeping a close eye on his son, and basically it's his son's stupidity that got him killed. As a parent he didn't even bother to teach his son to look both ways before crossing the road? Besides the fact that Jeff and Lynn use to be husband and wife it really didn't show why he was chosen although it was a decent combination. But if the origins of Jigsaw that is revealed in "Saw 4" was shown before part 3 or during it, it would have given the idea of why Jigsaw chose him, cause both there origins are somewhat similar. Although I doubt the creators of this film thought that much ahead. The first 30 min wasn't that good and felt like it was an excuse to add more gore into the movie, and also felt a bit repetitive. Also Jigsaw's moral speech about vengeance made me roll my eyes. It's one thing when a villain knows they are evil and sadistic, but Jigsaw is a man that convinces himself or thinks he is doing the right thing. And it feels like the image of Jigsaw is getting destroyed and gets weaker as a new sequel comes out and not just literally. Jeff seems to be kinda slow but he makes a really dumb decision at the end, but it was satisfying. The twist near the end about how the game mostly revolved around Amanda and how she was a contestant all along without her knowing was a nice touch as well, my only major problem about that is the fact that although While the previous 2 "Saw" movies had some hope for the victims, it isn't the case for this one. Jigsaw was all about teaching the victims a lesson about the value of life but most of the victims didn't have a chance for themselves but for someone else to make the decision for them if they should live or die. This is a worthy sequel that connects some of part 1 and 2 together, some by flashbacks and finishes off with a decent twist in the end. It's well worth a look for hardcore "saw" fans even if it isn't engaging as part 1 and 2.
7.3/10