Saw
Director: James Wan
Released: October 29, 2004
Rating: NC-17
Runtime: 1h 43m
The Rundown: “Photographer Adam Stanheight (Leigh Whannell) and oncologist Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) regain consciousness while chained to pipes at either end of a filthy bathroom. As the two men realize they’ve been trapped by a sadistic serial killer nicknamed “Jigsaw” and must complete his perverse puzzle to live, flashbacks relate the fates of his previous victims. Meanwhile, Dr. Gordon’s wife (Monica Potter) and young daughter (Makenzie Vega) are forced to watch his torture via closed-circuit video.”
What a Wonderful World: In this grimdark world, a serial killer kidnaps, tortures, and murders his victims. The police seem powerless to stop him, only discovering them long after they have died. It seems that the only justice is Jigsaw’s cruel parody….
The Good Guy: Lawrence Gordon is a successful oncologist. He is also an asshole who takes his family for granted and is carrying on an affair with a nurse. His actions have put him on the radar of Jigsaw, and he wakes up to find himself chained to a metal pipe in a dilapidated bathroom with a stranger chained to the opposite wall. He is tasked with finding a way to kill the stranger, or else his family will die.
The Bad Guy: Jigsaw kidnaps his victims and places them in simple but ingenious death traps. He never kills anyone directly, preferring to torture them first. Jigsaw is somewhat unique among horror villains in that he is fully human, with a human backstory and motivations. The motivations don’t necessarily make sense, but it’s better than “grrr, I’m gonna getcha ’cause I’m evil!”
A+: I was impressed by the cleverness of the death traps. Prior to watching the film, I was worried they’d be overly elaborate and over-the-top. Nope! They actually seemed like something a moderately talented engineer could construct on no budget, but that would also be difficult for someone to escape. Though I’m not sure how Jigsaw got access to all those abandoned buildings and slow acting poisons…
F-: Jigsaw’s motivation makes no sense. He kidnaps people who he feels don’t appreciate the lives they’ve been given, then places them in gruesome torture scenarios in order to help them understand their life’s value. Look, torturing someone is not going to give them an appreciation of life; it’s going to give them severe PTSD. Half of them will be too terrified to leave their apartments. Maybe some of them will be able to function on a high dose of anti-anxiety drugs and antipsychotics.
What gets me is that we don’t even need to know Jigsaw’s motivation; it’s completely incidental. The main focus should be on the victims, their mind games, and their attempts to escape the traps.
Does it Represent…
Women: The main female characters are Gordon’s wife and daughter. They exist mainly as a threat to hold over Gordon’s head in order to motivate him to escape from the room. The only person to survive Jigsaw’s traps is female. I know she comes back in later films, but her role is relatively minor in this one.
People of Color: The two cops are people of color. They both die. The woman Gordon’s having an affair with is Asian, but she’s only in the film for a couple of minutes.
LGBT People: Nope.
The Disabled: As the movie progresses, Gordon becomes more and more unhinged, until at the end he completely breaks down and decides to… well, you know what he does. I wouldn’t call this an example of mental illness, but it is an interesting bit of psychology.
Recommended for: Fans of gruesome crime thrillers. This movie reminded me a lot of Se7en. If you liked that film, you’ll probably like this one.
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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