There goes the intelligence...

Rating: 2/10 (30 May 2013)

Upon having myself my very own Saw Marathon to catch up on the horror series I missed out on, I have decided to end it here. The reason? In all honesty, I no longer felt comfortable with the way the series was heading.
But let's start at the beginning. Saw 3 picks up where the second left off, with Detective Eric Matthews still chained in the infamous unused bathroom featuring the corpses of past Saw characters. Here, the film promised a lot, as I enjoyed Donnie Wahlberg's irritable, takes no nonsense portrayal from the second film. But with a bang, boom and snap, the character just disappears from the story. The film is then split in two, following a father going through a series of traps in Jigsaw's test for forgiveness and Jigsaw/John himself, being treated for his cancer.
Firstly, lets tackle the most well known section of any Saw film, the traps. As Jigsaw's latest are presented, it is very clear the makers were now going for shock over substance. This reliance does not bode well for the final film, as I personally found myself cringing and looking away, hoping that these elongated gory scenes would hurry and finish. I no longer had the fixed, morbid curiosity the first two played on so well. The horrified thought process of 'what would I do in that situation?' was gone. That creepy intelligence the first two had replaced with dumb, slasher-like kills. My first disappointment.
The acting, which I didn't expect to be top-notch considering this was a third installment to a horror franchise, wasn't especially atrocious but it wasn't exceptionally good either. Tobin Bell is as 'meh' as ever and from what small amount of time Donnie Wahlberg had was entertaining due to his understanding of his own character. Other returning members of the cast include Dina Meyer (who was unforgivably underused) and Shawnee Smith (who was unforgivably overused). New members of the cast are extremely average, most memorably Angus Macfayden who portrays the tragic father character mentioned previously. I must say the actor deserves an award for playing one of the most unlikable protagonists in cinema history. Everything this character does is idiotic and frustrating. Macfayden seems to do the best he can to work with such a horrible, horrible part but it's just not enough. My second disappointment.
As much as I despised the disgusting trap sub plot, I can't say anything better for the ill Jigsaw plot itself. Although initially interesting, tense and a breath of fresh air from watching pointless suffering, it quickly turned to nonsense and became quite a bore. I don't know why the makers are adamant on the audience caring for the villain. I was far more interested in Bahar Soomekh's brain surgeon present, but perhaps that's a matter of opinion.
But, as a trademark, eventually these subplots came together in a twisting revelation delivered in the final ten minutes of the film. I'll admit, I spent much of the film watching only to hear a reprise of that oh so good 'Hello Zepp' theme traditional in the Saw films. But this pay-off was so lazy, confusing and layered it only came across as humorous and silly. My third disappointment and, as you know, three strikes and you're out.
Overall, it's a poor film and the fact that the Saw films were reduced to this is sad. Although I can't expect anything else from a cheaply made, studio ordered sequel only made for money over purpose of story, I still expected something, anything, that would be enjoyable. But no. The story is flawed, the characters are awful and the traps/tests are almost unwatchable in regards to gore. Horrible. If you're thinking of watching this after you enjoyed the first two, do yourself a favor. Stop there, and remember the series as two successful, clever films and not as the torture porn, ridiculous series it has become today.