As many of you know, Saw has been a Halloween tradition for the past seven years, and it is now official (for now :P) that Saw 3D, or Saw Seven is now the final part of the franchise, Tobin Bell's John Kramer putting his final pieces of the puzzle into place. Of course, I have always taken the critic reviews of the franchise with a pinch of salt, as I would call myself a fan of the franchise, I enjoy the storylines that wrap around each other, and the 'trying to work out where the story is heading', and have always found the violence in the movies very comic-book.
There's something about hearing the 'Hello Zep' theme song as the end of a Saw movie approaches that really gets me in the zone, and I find it a lot of fun. Heck, I watched Saw 3D a good few days ago, and I still can't get 'Hello Zep' out of my head.
Those unsure of the song, it's below:
So now to Saw 3D, how does it compare to the previous six, and is it any good. My answer is one of 'it's a bit of both.' Mark my words, this is not a patch on the first two, or last year's quite ingenious part six. Those three to me are the highlights of the franchise, and I would probably stick Saw 3D behind those as the 4th best.
I'm gonna start with the bad first. And there are some howlers. Firstly, the 3D in the movie is without doubt the worst 3D I've seen in the cinemas. There is pretty much nothing worthy of putting on a pair of 3D glasses, and to me it was one of the biggest disappointment, as the potential for really capitalising on the gore of the movie was wasted so badly it was almost criminal I paid extra for the ticket. So if you can, watch the movie in 2D. It's far, far better.
Secondly, the acting is at a low for the franchise. Jill, Saw's ex-wife has always lowered the franchise in terms of realism as she is so unbelievably bad that it hurts and makes me want to cry at times. I believe I could have donned a wig and been more realistic as a woman. Also, as hard as it is for a Saw fan to accept, Carey Elwes' return as Dr. Gordon is wrecked by the fact that Elwes can not act, and in fact, what would have been a very good ending to the movie is damaged by Elwes' in my opinion. Long are the days we wish for Danny Glover, Donnie Wahlberg and Michael Emerson.
And Tobin Bell...
What? No Tobin Bell? No Jigsaw? The sad fact is that the writers seemed to forget that Bell's John Kramer holds the franchise together with his 'very dead hands'. When he is on screen, we love Saw, his evil and cold calculating are always highlights of any of the movies, and yet we get Kramer for two scenes, one about a minute long, the other in the ending reveal, and he barely speaks at all, barring the 'Jigsaw Tapes' of course. It's THE biggest flaw in the movie, one with last years Saw 6 skirted round brilliantly, and it made that movie so much better.
So the good, well, I thought that the Bobby Dagen storyline was well crafted, and I loved the twist with his character, and his storyline alone pulls Saw 3D out of the swamps it came close to falling in. On it's own it's a great concept, but us Saw fans, with the franchise ending demanded more of the real storyline. And that was a letdown.
Also, Costas Mandylor, who has played Saw apprentice Mark Hoffman for the last five movies does his best to keep that side of things interesting, but his whole storyline feels over run, and it's because his character never matched Kramer for excitement, and so it all plays out mediocre. but credit to Mandylor, he did have some awesome scenes in the police station.
And then the ending, I've mentioned it already, briefly. It's a great idea, it wraps up some of the questions that Saw fans have, but I felt the game was given away a bit by bad acting. Nonetheless, as the movie reached it's final crescendo, I found myself enjoying it, even though it really doesn't put a full stop on the proceedings. Watch out for Saw 8 my friends... :P
(Also, if you watch it, answer me this question: Who the F&*k are the other two? - You'll know what I mean)
So as a Saw fan, I was entertained but I was disappointed. It had some good ideas, but felt lazily put together, and that was what hurt... Much more than any of the traps they put us through.
And so for now, I guess it really is 'Game Over', and it's one of those games that for seven years I would say have had more highs than lows, but have not ended with the bang such a franchise deserved.
6/10
Adam
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