With ‘Shudder’ randomly deciding to drop 7 of the 10 ‘Saw’ films on their platform through November, I decided finally bite the bullet and see what this franchise was made of. Before this, i’d only ever seen the first two ‘Saw’ films, The first I watched about 6 months after it hit cinemas on a crappy ‘shot in the cinema’ bootleg I got from a friend, the 2nd I saw in 2007 from the same friend, in similarly crappy ‘bootleg-o-rama’ vision.
Revisiting the original ‘Saw’ nearly 20 years since the last time I saw it, I feel it still definitely holds up as a picture, but theres absolutely some parts of this that havent aged well, and parts that really hold it back from being the best it can be.
Essentially, this first entry is the blueprint for the modern day ‘Escape Room’ challenge. Throw a couple of people in a room, restrict their movement and give them clues that’ll slowly help them escape from the room (Or will it!?!) we meet Larry and Adam, to gents chained to the railings of an ancient looking bathroom, given till 6pm to escape the room, or they get trapped in there forever.
With some non linear storytelling we jump around in Larry and Adams lives in the days/weeks leading up to their abduction, and we’re also introduced to the detectives who are hunting for ‘Jigsaw’ the mysterious serial killer who kidnaps people who take life for granted (or place suffering on others) and sets them fiendishly deadly traps that, if they succeed, will let them go free, but heavily mutilated or mentally scarred…if they fail. They die.
The Script here is honestly a bit pretentious. Dont get me wrong, im a critic, I enjoy movies that try to act a bit ‘higher thought’ than the usual hack and slash fodder. But this thing really is full of itself. To the point that it really kind of trips itself up. there are moments where the characters are faced with an ‘impossible’ to solve situation, that most of the audience can solve within seconds with a bit of thought. The script drops WAY too many hints about whats REALLY going on, which meant that by the 30 minute mark (even on the first watch) i’d pretty much figured out everything barring the final FINAL twist (which admittedly, for the time was VERY unexpected…but suffers from the ‘Friday the 13th’ problem of…once you know the twist, the entire rest of the movie is somewhat defanged past a second viewing).
The pacing is slower than i’d like. The film could have EASILY been 15-20 minutes shorter and probably a whole star better for it, it basks way too hard in its own ambience for its own good. But it does keep a decent act structuring on side throughout, with nice transitions and a ‘slowboil’ chemestry between the characters, who’s rich backstories really help to flesh things out and keep the tension slowly boiling. it runs the three acts fine enough with nice subtle transitions between the acts and it sticks the landing to great effect. So on that front its a win from me.
While I will commend the way it maintains its wonderfully seedy and unpleasently dark tone throughout, there are a lot of loose threads that dont seem to go anywhere or mean anything and theres no contrast to that darkness to help create a more nuanced picture. This is just bleak viewing that gets bleaker as time goes on.
The direction is a highly styalised piece, that…for the most part, I really quite enjoyed. I thought they cast and crew worked very closely together to produce a solid work that really puts James Wans mark as a director on the film firmly. I will however criticise it for two things, Firstly, the frankly AWFUL and surreal timelapsed sped up styalised shots of people failing traps that are show via flashback. Some people may think they added a sense of urgency or creative flare to proceedings. I HATED them, I Found them irritating and so steeped in that edgy mid 2000’s style of horror film making. Its aged like sour milk.
The other is around the cast direction, not to knock the performances, which in themselves are overall pretty solid. But there are moments where the line deliveries just didnt quite ring true to the realism that this film is trying to put across, To me? some of the deliveries, particularly in the final act rang very hollow and I feel like, had there been just a bit more support given to the cast for those more raw moments, we really could have had something very special here.
The cine is a bit of a mixed bag, while I love the use of colour (acid green, electric blue and scarlet really seem to get a great workout in this thing) This film was one of the earlier victims of ‘Desaturate the crap out of it’ styalising that plagued 2000’s horror films. indeed, all the main scenes set in the bathroom are drab, lifeless and look super washed out and unappealing. there are several scenes where the cops are exploring locations that are brown, black and gray with very little in the way of colour to help add some contrast. While I WILL say this film is nowhere near as bad as some for the absence of colour. I feel it does miss out in places because of it.
The editing is reletively solid too, barring the timelapsy/quick cut sequences I mentioned above a lot of the scenes have a decent mix of b-roll, the line seems to have been in careful consideration, blocking has been followed for most shots and as a result we have an edit that has a more than solid breathing space, that keeps the film rolling…But is maybe a tad slower than I personally would have liked. As mentioned I think this thing could have been 15-20 minutes shorter and been a much more solid work for it. But thats not to say that whats here is necessarily bad. It’s just a bit looser than i’d like it.
Performance wise? Everyone seems to bring the best they can to the table. Larry and Adam as our leads are both complex characters who have a solid physical presence, which is especially impressive given they spend 99% of the runtime chained to pipes in a bathroom. the supporting cast are all professional, animate and deliver their lines soldily with a sense of realism. In fact; barring the aforementioned wobbles on delivery in the 3rd act, that I feel could have done with more director driven support. I dont really have much bad I can say about it at all.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the soundtrack I find myself with some issues. we have a VERY 2000’s score here, but to my ear, the worst excesses of 2000’s rock and metal. It reminds me of the ‘Freddy vs Jason’ soundtrack, which I equally disliked. Its oppressively loud to the point that I had to put subtitles on because at certain points in this film, the dialogue became inaudible. again…I just kind of found it more irritating than scene setting, and it pulled me out of the action at times.
All in all? ‘Saw’ as a movie is fine. While the cracks are beginning to show a bit because of its age and the time it was made in. And I feel the film as a work has a certain pomposity about it that I dont feel it earns (largely due to it being a film that tries to brand itself as SOOOO COMPLEX, while underdeveloping and even missing basic plot elements…and substituting nuance for heavy gore) It DOES have an engaging plot, it DOES have some solid performances and direction, MOST of the film looks decent and the editing, while a little slow boil in places. is fine. If you’re into movies like ‘Silence of the Lambs’ or some of the early proto slasher thrillers, it may be worth checking this one out.
I cant speak for later entries (I hear the cerebral element goes out the window as time goes on) but at least for this one? as long as your not squeamish to blood or gore, I’d say its maybe worth seeing at least once.
TYTD Reviews 