SAW 3D
2010 | Dir. Kevin Greutert | 90 Minutes
"To be able to sustain such a traumatic experience, and yet find the positive in that grisly act, it's a remarkable feat indeed. Remarkable, if not a little perverse."
Thirsting for vengeance after surviving her attempt to murder him, the rogue detective Hoffman hunts down Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill by any means necessary. Meanwhile, a man profiting from falsely claiming to be a Jigsaw survivor wakes up in a genuine Jigsaw trial.
Saw 3D is a mess. Also known as Saw: The Final Chapter, designed to be the series finale with a screenplay plagued with problems by returning writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the seventh Saw film is full of underdeveloped ideas and head-scratching leaps in logic. Directed by veteran series editor and Saw VI director Kevin Greutert, though none of his ingenuity translates onto the screen, the film starts off well enough by flashing back all the way to the ending of the original Saw to reveal that Dr. Gordon survived, confirming years of fan speculation. However, the picture quickly shows its hand as a lesser sequel when it immediately cuts to a Jigsaw trap targeting a bickering love triangle, bizarrely in public and in broad daylight, operating under a grossly misogynistic premise. This push to prioritize splatter lacking in Jigsaw's signature brand of warped justice is apparent throughout the feature, as Hoffman goes full-slasher and shockingly succeeds in unceremoniously murdering Jill after taking out what seems like the grungy city's entire police department, and phony motivational speaker one-off protagonist Bobby is forced to watch his innocent wife, who was entirely unaware of his deceptive backstory, horrifically roast alive. The pacing is all over the place in the worst way, as the movie shoehorns Jigsaw traps into the narrative without much thought for how they serve the story, such as Jill's gratuitous nightmare sequence and the awesome but out-of-place white-supremacist-destroying body shop set piece. The revelation of Dr. Gordon as a secret Jigsaw apprentice, with at least two other additional acolytes, fulfills fan expectations in an amusing if somewhat obligatory way. However, with minimal build up, the twist comes too little too late, and it doesn't take the edge off some of the more senseless deaths during the picture's final act, killings that fly in the face of the franchise's twisted core tenet of rehabilitation through suffering.
For all of Saw 3D's narrative flaws, the 3D gimmick is rather fun and the overabundance of death traps featured in the film make the most of it. Though perhaps as a side effect of shooting the entire film in RealD 3D, all of the blood in the picture takes on a super distracting pinkish hue. Production designer Tony Ianni pulls out all stops, bringing eleven traps to the screen, a series high, with the Speak No Evil test and the automotive chain reaction trap standing out as real highlights. Composer Charlie Clouser's main theme for the series is as good as ever, and for this entry it really does most of the dramatic heavy lifting during the climax.
Series star Tobin Bell returns all too briefly as Jigsaw, featured in only a handful of audio and video recordings, and appearing in just one absurdly short scene shared with the imposter Jigsaw survivor Bobby. Adhering to the way the role was written, Costas Mandylor gives a bland performance as Hoffman passionlessly stalks and murders his way through this sequel, his character unfortunately devolving into a nigh unstoppable killing machine like so many generic horror movie slashers. On the other side of the bad acting spectrum, Chad Donella is laughably terrible as the internal affairs officer Gibson, making an already poorly-written character worse with exaggerated line delivery and a generally unpleasant screen presence devoid of charisma. Not only is she a victim of multiple Saw traps in this installment, Betsy Russell's Jill is also a victim of having to fill a thankless role with almost zero agency, spending most of the picture as a damsel in distress until her gruesome end. As Bobby, Sean Patrick Flanery isn't bad but ultimately less than memorable, his performance overshadowed by the surrounding insanity and absurdity. Though his return is brief, Cary Elwes is clearly having a hammy slow-clapping good time as Dr. Gordon. The cast also includes Naomi Snieckus, Rebecca Marshall, Dean Armstrong, and Gina Holden as Bobby's entourage; Sebastian Pigott, Jon Cor, and Anne Lee Greene forming the love triangle in the opening hardware store display trap; and Chester Bennington of seminal nu metal rock band Linkin Park, Gabby West, Dru Viergever, and Benjamin Clost as the racist fodder for the gnarly garage scene; and Oluniké Adeliyi as a featured Jigsaw trap survivor.
The alleged final chapter is the very worst Saw sequel yet, a disappointingly poor conclusion that does a great disservice to the admittedly silly but remarkably intricate overarching story of the series. Saw 3D eschews narrative logic for cheap thrills, many of which are unjustifiably mean-spirited, evidently in a rush to cobble together a grand finale. The cheesy fun novelty of 3D doesn't overcome the shabby acting and bad storytelling that's of such low quality as to be truly shameful even by the Saw franchise's already disreputable standards.
BEST TRAP
The Speak No Evil trap is a rather clever appropriately themed punishment for a greedy publicist. It's easily the most nerve-wracking set piece featured in Bobby's trial, and arguably the most imaginative trap featured in this trash fire of a Saw movie.
FRAGMENTS
- The Saw series was originally planned to end with two sequels following Saw VI, but the relatively low box office total for Saw VI forced the production to cram story ideas from the intended eighth installment into this film, and it really shows considering the frantic pacing and rushed feel of this movie
- Series production designer and Saw V director David Hackl was originally slated to direct but dropped out late in pre-production prompting Kevin Greutert to reluctantly return to the director's chair, struggling to integrate his own ideas into the story with sets for traps already built
- Oddly, breaking with series tradition, Saw 3D was the first Saw film without a promotion Red Cross blood drive held by distributor Lionsgate
- Playing the lead role in what is widely considered the worst Saw movie, Young Indiana Jones and Boondock Saints star Sean Patrick Flanery really fell far
- In addition to Dr. Gordon and the survivors of the opening love triangle trap, the support group for Jigsaw survivors also features cameo appearances by catacombs survivor Mallick from Saw V; and from Saw VI, gallows survivor Addy, shotgun carousel survivor Emily, acid trap observer Tara, and flesh scale survivor Simone who is still justifiably angrily protesting the logical fallacy of Jigsaw's philosophy
- Just as Tanedra Howard won her spot in Saw VI, Gabby West was awarded her face-destroying role in this film for winning the second and final season of VH1 acting competition reality show Scream Queens
- Curiously, the film never depicts or elaborates on the trap for the Jigsaw survivor whose testimonial inspired Bobby to fabricate his story
- Though I've always hated that Hoffman murders Jill, seeing the classic reverse bear trap do what it was built for is undeniably gratifying on a visceral level
- I laugh during every single rewatch of this stupid movie when Cary Elwes says "I don't think so" and tosses the hacksaw right into the camera
SUPPLEMENTAL STUFF
- Video: Dead Meat - Saw 3D (2010) KILL COUNT
