Saw III Doesn't Make the Cut

There's an unwritten law in the world of film, I'm sure, stating that the third movie in a franchise (and especially a horror franchise) has to be terrible. We saw it at work in the Jaws films and The Exorcist series. I truly wish I could say that Saw III is the exception to the rule, but sadly, I can't.

The original Saw, while poorly acted, brought a great plot and fresh levels of ingenuity to the horror genre. It raised the bar for creativity and clever violence, and spawned not only a solid sequel, but a cult following that has virtually guaranteed the box office success of Saw III. While the first film brought something new to the table, and the second film further developed an interesting story and characters, this third installment was merely a muddy and detached gore-fest.

The violence in this film was, as expected, quite intense. But instead of morbidly appropriate traps and an emphasis on underlying mental struggles, we're treated to over-the-top cruelty that seems to be simply for torture for torture's sake. Jigsaw, the deranged engineer-killer, arranges "tests" for his victims that, while elaborate, were believable in the first films. It was pointed out to me by a friend that in Saw III, the tests took on a complexity reminiscent of a Goldberg machine; everything would have had to work out just right for them to be effective. These unbelievable tests and circumstances took away some of the terror I experienced with the first movies. Likewise, the sophisticated torture machines were visually stimulating, but ultimately unbelievable.

Tobin Bell performs well as Jigsaw, but there's no mystery left to his character. His identity was suspect in the first movie, and in the second we finally found out the true reasons behind his actions. In this film, we're just treated to more of the same philosophizing, with no more true character development. The other main characters, played by Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen, and Bahar Soomekh, give acceptable performances, but no one stands out, and I wasn't too terribly attached to anyone when they met their inevitable fate.

Saw III had the potential to elevate its franchise to the cult classic level, but it ultimately suffered from a lack of vision and poor script. The series as a whole is still somewhat tolerable, though this would be an excellent place to end it before it becomes just another late-night boredom killer.