Since October 2004, horror fans have faithfully attended cinemas in their droves each Halloween weekend for a new Saw movie. After all, if it’s Halloween, it MUST be Saw. This year brings about the release of Saw 3D, the final film in the long running saga. I attended a preview screening this week and I was genuinely excited, as I hoped it would build towards something exciting. All I can say is I’m glad it is finally all over and whilst the film was satisfying (it’s much better than the bland part three and the truly awful fifth entry) it was a mixed bag.
I won’t say much about the plot for fear of ruining anything for fans yet to see the film, but I will say that for the most part, we follow Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery), a jigsaw survivor who has written a book about his ordeal and holds meetings for other survivors, acting as a mentor/life coach. As everyone will expect, someone takes a dislike to Bobby’s notoriety and he finds himself being tested. As we follow Bobby, the saga is wrapped up around the central storyline thanks to some handy flashbacks.
From a technical standpoint, the film looks incredibly sharp, but there was no need for it to be in 3D, as they don’t really use the technology to its full potential. I expected more from the company who spearheaded it’s use with last year’s far better My Bloody Valentine 3D. The editing was a bit clunky which resulted in the storyline jumping about all over the place (I’m not totally sure of the timeline in this one); however the ending was both well paced and edited.
Sadly, this entry had some of the worst acting in the series (despite it’s great but sadly underused cast). I was actually almost crying with laughter during the survivors’ meeting when a familiar face returned with a dodgy prop and another character had the most ridiculous back story ever! What surprised me was that Betsy Russell’s Jill was almost a caricature by the end of this, as she chewed the scenery and even threw in some dodgy comedy runs (think Anna Faris in Scary Movie).
OVERALL SUMMARY
In the end I was glad to be done with it. There was a point when I realised that I couldn’t see myself sitting through another one of these movies as they’re just gore for gore’s sake now. I was satisfied with the ending and was left with only one question, so I have no need to see another Saw movie. Let’s hope it stays this way.
