Post by RumbleWolf4 on Nov 9, 2004 19:08:49 GMT -5
Saw
How much blood would you shed to stay alive?
Year: 2004
Director: James Wan
Written by: Leigh Wannell & James Wan
Rated R for Strong grisly violence and language
Starring:
Cary Elwes as Dr. Lawrence Gordon
Leigh Wannell as Adam
Danny Glover as David Tapp
Monica Potter as Alison Gordon
Michael Emersom as Zep
and
?? as "Jigsaw"
Produced by: Evolution Entertainment
Published by: Lions Gates Films
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Rating: 8/10 paws up!
Synopsis:
Two men, Dr. Larry Gordon and Adam, wake up in a mysterious and delipidated chamber chained to the pipes in the wall. Eventually, the men realize they are pawns in a twisted and sadistic game perpetrated by the psychopath dubbed "The Jigsaw Killer". As their sanity begins to wane, the two men struggle to escape the nightmare...but to win this game, one of them has to die...
Splatter factor: 4/7- Not AS gory as one would imagine but it's still gruesome. A dead body with a gory head wound, graphic shootings, throat slashing, various bloody bodies, the infamous foot sawing scene and a man has his innards pulled out while he's still alive...still, it's edited a lot to achieve an R rating
Acting:6/10
Not that bad, but not that great either. CARY ELWES does merely decent, but he came off as wooden occasionally and unconvincing as a loving father/husband. He handled the more emotional scenes well but came off as hammy sometimes. LEIGH WANNELL was about as good as Elwes, but his comedic lines seemed out of place. DANNY GLOVER is great as usual, but his character doesn't have enough screentime. the rest are decent, but I can't go into details without revealing some plot points.
"How much blood would you shed to stay alive?" - Jigsaw, using the film's tagline to his advantage
"Game Over!"- jigsaw in the film's incredible last frame
Hand me that hacksaw...
This movie takes a distinct advantage of the four "Gr's"...Grisly, gruesome, grungy and gritty. This is a very impressive film that will entertain many a movie-goer. Perhaps the best quality of the film is the awesome set design. The chamber that holds Adam and Lawrence is disturbing and bizarre. All of the rust and decomposition and delipidation is enough to bother anyone just by looking at it. The movie also makes good use of darkness, especially in the opening segement, filmed in pitch blackness and creating a sense of claustrophobia as well.
The film is actually pretty scary as well. Key scenes involve Adam stumbling through his dark apartment, permeating the infinte blackness with only his camera flash. And when Lawrence's daughter spies the bad man in her room...
. and check out that disguise the killer wears...those two masks are easily the most chilling costumes in a long time and I've never seen an eerier tricycle...The plot is nicely designed as well. The film is packed with flashbacks but none of them disorient the viewer like another recent flaskback heavy film...
One more postitive aspect i'd like to note is the incredible twist ending. At first it seems predictable and disappointing but the intial twist spirals into an awesome final twist that blasts the film with style and creativity. Some may complain that it makes no sense, but I for one found it brilliant and disturbing. The whole thing reveals this underlying deep message about how corrupted society is and the fact that we take our lives for granted. A fact that the killer tries to prove via his twisted yet clever torture games. The score in the film is more subdued until the finale when it kicks in with an awesome recap montage and a truly awesome last frame.
The film is not without it's flaws and the main ones are the aforementioned bad acting. It's not horrible but it's still not that great. Elwes is talented but he tries too hard here and I even heard the audience laughing at his performance, even during the emotional scenes. There are also a few plot holes and moments of character stupidity ("Just shoot him already!") but those are common in horror films. As it stands, this one's pros definetly outweigh the cons.
Bottom Line: It's not without it's flaws, but Saw is rich, thought-provoking and disturbing piece of horror cinema. Definetly recommended.
Things you may or may not have known...
* Star Leigh Wannell also co-wrote the film
*This is James Wan's directoral review
*The film had to be re-edited to replace it's intial NC-17 rating!
How much blood would you shed to stay alive?
Year: 2004
Director: James Wan
Written by: Leigh Wannell & James Wan
Rated R for Strong grisly violence and language
Starring:
Cary Elwes as Dr. Lawrence Gordon
Leigh Wannell as Adam
Danny Glover as David Tapp
Monica Potter as Alison Gordon
Michael Emersom as Zep
and
?? as "Jigsaw"
Produced by: Evolution Entertainment
Published by: Lions Gates Films
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Rating: 8/10 paws up!
Synopsis:
Two men, Dr. Larry Gordon and Adam, wake up in a mysterious and delipidated chamber chained to the pipes in the wall. Eventually, the men realize they are pawns in a twisted and sadistic game perpetrated by the psychopath dubbed "The Jigsaw Killer". As their sanity begins to wane, the two men struggle to escape the nightmare...but to win this game, one of them has to die...
Splatter factor: 4/7- Not AS gory as one would imagine but it's still gruesome. A dead body with a gory head wound, graphic shootings, throat slashing, various bloody bodies, the infamous foot sawing scene and a man has his innards pulled out while he's still alive...still, it's edited a lot to achieve an R rating
Acting:6/10
Not that bad, but not that great either. CARY ELWES does merely decent, but he came off as wooden occasionally and unconvincing as a loving father/husband. He handled the more emotional scenes well but came off as hammy sometimes. LEIGH WANNELL was about as good as Elwes, but his comedic lines seemed out of place. DANNY GLOVER is great as usual, but his character doesn't have enough screentime. the rest are decent, but I can't go into details without revealing some plot points.
"How much blood would you shed to stay alive?" - Jigsaw, using the film's tagline to his advantage
"Game Over!"- jigsaw in the film's incredible last frame
Hand me that hacksaw...
This movie takes a distinct advantage of the four "Gr's"...Grisly, gruesome, grungy and gritty. This is a very impressive film that will entertain many a movie-goer. Perhaps the best quality of the film is the awesome set design. The chamber that holds Adam and Lawrence is disturbing and bizarre. All of the rust and decomposition and delipidation is enough to bother anyone just by looking at it. The movie also makes good use of darkness, especially in the opening segement, filmed in pitch blackness and creating a sense of claustrophobia as well.
The film is actually pretty scary as well. Key scenes involve Adam stumbling through his dark apartment, permeating the infinte blackness with only his camera flash. And when Lawrence's daughter spies the bad man in her room...
. and check out that disguise the killer wears...those two masks are easily the most chilling costumes in a long time and I've never seen an eerier tricycle...The plot is nicely designed as well. The film is packed with flashbacks but none of them disorient the viewer like another recent flaskback heavy film...One more postitive aspect i'd like to note is the incredible twist ending. At first it seems predictable and disappointing but the intial twist spirals into an awesome final twist that blasts the film with style and creativity. Some may complain that it makes no sense, but I for one found it brilliant and disturbing. The whole thing reveals this underlying deep message about how corrupted society is and the fact that we take our lives for granted. A fact that the killer tries to prove via his twisted yet clever torture games. The score in the film is more subdued until the finale when it kicks in with an awesome recap montage and a truly awesome last frame.
The film is not without it's flaws and the main ones are the aforementioned bad acting. It's not horrible but it's still not that great. Elwes is talented but he tries too hard here and I even heard the audience laughing at his performance, even during the emotional scenes. There are also a few plot holes and moments of character stupidity ("Just shoot him already!") but those are common in horror films. As it stands, this one's pros definetly outweigh the cons.
Bottom Line: It's not without it's flaws, but Saw is rich, thought-provoking and disturbing piece of horror cinema. Definetly recommended.
Things you may or may not have known...
* Star Leigh Wannell also co-wrote the film
*This is James Wan's directoral review
*The film had to be re-edited to replace it's intial NC-17 rating!
It's no big deal 
