Saw (2004)
Last Watch Date - October 30, 2023
Total Times Watched - Twice
Comments
I watched this movie shortly after it came out. The hype was unreal. BEST HORROR MOVIE IN DECADES. SO SCARY. WILD RIDE. WOW! All sorts of stuff like that. I fell for it hard and bought this on DVD in some special edition with a cool case. That was the highlight of my experience with this movie.
And while I remember not enjoying it, I thought that it's been almost 20 years now and there are now 3930409 sequels so it's possible that I would feel differently. Maybe I missed something about it and was overly harsh at the time. Maybe I was reacting to the hype. Maybe! But no.
This movie is terrible. The plot is so convoluted and takes a LOT of inspiration from Se7en, but never quite nails it the way that movie does. I think part of it is a failing of the script and location. Most of the movie takes place in a tiny room with extremely over-the-top acting going on. I normally like Cary Elwes but yuck, this is bad. The other main dude in the room, some Aussie guy, is equally awful. Maybe he's good in other stuff, BUT NOT THIS. And Danny Glover sucks in this too. His character makes no sense at all. I'm not going to reveal anything about it because it would spoil too much of this and the ONLY thing this has going for it is the mystery of the Jigsaw killer.
So if all of these actors who are actually great in other things all happen to be terrible in this movie, who do we blame? Is it the writers? The director? It has to be a combination of those. The movie never makes you feel sympathetic toward the people in these situations, nor does it give you enough to hate them to cheer for them to be in these situations. Similarly, you feel nothing for the killer. His story is confusing and makes you really wonder "why does this movie exist?"
I have to admit I'm dreading watching this series. It's going to take me a while to get through them. Hopefully they get goofy as they go along.
Recommended?
No. The mystery isn't very good, the acting is atrocious, the story is incredibly stupid, and there's a LOT of yelling that makes it annoying. Skip it.
