Post by t.e.r.m.i.n.e.r.d on Oct 30, 2004 23:30:28 GMT -5
Saw
2004, 100 mins. running time
Rated R for strong grisly violence and language.
Perhaps Elwes is trying to call his agent?
In this highly-anticipated Horror Thriller, a hit at this year's Toronto Film Festival, we're introduced to Adam (Leigh Whannell) & Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes). Enclosed in a rusty, secure lair with the appearance of a jail bathroom, Adam & Lawrence awake from unconsciousness chained to pipes on the opposite ends of the room. Shortly after, each find personally addressed envelopes in their pockets with recorded tapes, giving them an assignment. If Lawrence doesn't kill Adam within the next eight hours, an infamous psychopath nicknamed Jigsaw will kill Lawrence's family.
The film's beginning is very steady & intense. The flashbacks of Jigsaw's past escapades are very well-done & eerie. Adam's kidnapping sequence, the most creepy & intense scene in the entire film, is enough to bring shivers down your spine. The dark atmosphere (Adam is trapped, alone, in his dark apartment, only armed with a camera's flash to guide him) really takes you in the film & it turns out extremely effective. The scene with Lawrence & his daughter at home ("There's a man in my room.") is played out very well. From the moment when the closet door cracks open, your eyes grow wide, your hands clench the armrest & you don't let go for the next two minutes.
Sadly, Danny Glover's character & the entire sub-plot envolving him turns out to be incredibly pointless. Too much time is wasted on the character & ends up going absolutely nowhere. The "twist" involving both Glover's Det. David Tapp & Adam is, again, useless.
In what has to be one of the biggest disappointments of 2004, Saw falls apart towards the ending. The dialogue is really forced & badly written. The entire plot falls to pieces & begins to create more questions than answers. It's almost as if Whannell (stars in & wrote the film) forced out the ending because of either pushy producers or little time. Elwes & Whannell's preformances turn, literally, laugh-worthy. Lawrence begins wailing like a retard after getting a phone call from his kidnapped family & never shuts up about it. Adam becomes extremely obnoxious with quipps & constant yelling. The ending itself is very sloppy. Nothing ties in or makes sense & it leaves the audience more than unsatisfied. Less-than-secondary characters are suddenly forced into the primary spotlight to attempt to make sense of the film's mysteries, but it fails miserably. The very last shot is somewhat disturbing, but it, of course, doesn't make up for the rest of the lackluster end.
Saw, a film with so much potential, starts off fabulously, but crumbles. The acting is almost Razzie-worthy on everyone's account & the writing is just plain bad. Not worth the ticket price, but maybe worth the trip to Blockbuster... Maybe.
Overall: C-
2004, 100 mins. running time
Rated R for strong grisly violence and language.
Perhaps Elwes is trying to call his agent?
In this highly-anticipated Horror Thriller, a hit at this year's Toronto Film Festival, we're introduced to Adam (Leigh Whannell) & Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes). Enclosed in a rusty, secure lair with the appearance of a jail bathroom, Adam & Lawrence awake from unconsciousness chained to pipes on the opposite ends of the room. Shortly after, each find personally addressed envelopes in their pockets with recorded tapes, giving them an assignment. If Lawrence doesn't kill Adam within the next eight hours, an infamous psychopath nicknamed Jigsaw will kill Lawrence's family.
The film's beginning is very steady & intense. The flashbacks of Jigsaw's past escapades are very well-done & eerie. Adam's kidnapping sequence, the most creepy & intense scene in the entire film, is enough to bring shivers down your spine. The dark atmosphere (Adam is trapped, alone, in his dark apartment, only armed with a camera's flash to guide him) really takes you in the film & it turns out extremely effective. The scene with Lawrence & his daughter at home ("There's a man in my room.") is played out very well. From the moment when the closet door cracks open, your eyes grow wide, your hands clench the armrest & you don't let go for the next two minutes.
Sadly, Danny Glover's character & the entire sub-plot envolving him turns out to be incredibly pointless. Too much time is wasted on the character & ends up going absolutely nowhere. The "twist" involving both Glover's Det. David Tapp & Adam is, again, useless.
In what has to be one of the biggest disappointments of 2004, Saw falls apart towards the ending. The dialogue is really forced & badly written. The entire plot falls to pieces & begins to create more questions than answers. It's almost as if Whannell (stars in & wrote the film) forced out the ending because of either pushy producers or little time. Elwes & Whannell's preformances turn, literally, laugh-worthy. Lawrence begins wailing like a retard after getting a phone call from his kidnapped family & never shuts up about it. Adam becomes extremely obnoxious with quipps & constant yelling. The ending itself is very sloppy. Nothing ties in or makes sense & it leaves the audience more than unsatisfied. Less-than-secondary characters are suddenly forced into the primary spotlight to attempt to make sense of the film's mysteries, but it fails miserably. The very last shot is somewhat disturbing, but it, of course, doesn't make up for the rest of the lackluster end.
Saw, a film with so much potential, starts off fabulously, but crumbles. The acting is almost Razzie-worthy on everyone's account & the writing is just plain bad. Not worth the ticket price, but maybe worth the trip to Blockbuster... Maybe.
Overall: C-
crazy. Ah well i still woulda seen it over Grudge.
