2008 Woodie Awards
Saw's Plot Twist Is a Must-See
Twisted Killer Teaches Victims The Reality of Life and Death Decisions
Jessica Havery
Issue date: 11/11/04 Section: Arts and Entertainment
S aw has a gruesomely twisted plot, and director James Wan uses it to remind moviegoers that there is some truth behind the phrase "life and death decision." The horror film is about a serial killer named Jigsaw who presents his victims with sadistic life and death decisions; it has good acting and the ultimate surprise ending.
Jigsaw, a combination between Bozo the Clown and Leatherface, likes his victims to appreciate life and those who escape his deathtraps appreciate it that much more.
The movie opens in the restroom of an underground dungeon.
Adam, played by Leigh Whannell, regains consciousness to realize that his ankle is chained to a pipe.
Across the room, Lawrence, a surgeon played by Cary Elwes, is also shackled. Between the two men, in a pool of blood, lies a suicide victim who holds a revolver and a tape recorder in his limp grasp.
While the identity of this man remains a mystery, the voice on the recorder reveals that, in order to survive the experience, Lawrence must kill Adam within five hours. As Lawrence brainstorms through the hours the variety of ways he can kill his cellmate, and Adam realizes he'll have to saw his foot off to free himself, Detective Tapp, (played by Danny Glover), is working against time to solve the case.
In a depressingly small role, Glover plays an on-the-run detective in search of a suspect responsible for the disappearance of the two local men.
Throughout the movie, Glover's character seems to lose his sanity, along with any progress he was making in the case.
As Glover investigates the killer's past, the audience meets Jigsaw's sole escapee - a drug addict who suffered through the frightening possibility that a metal contraption clamped to her jaw would end her lifelong habit, and her life, with one snap.
Her single opportunity to save herself was a videotaped clue that the key to the clamp was just a few feet away - in the digestive track of another Jigsaw victim.
After a messy ordeal, most of which is not shown on camera, she freed herself from Jigsaw's game, and, in her new appreciation for life, freed herself from her drug addiction.
Without directly showing grotesque images director Wan cleverly inflicted the squirm -in-your seat effect on audience members.
Saw seems to be the acting opportunity of a lifetime for Whannell and Elwes - in 100 minutes, in one room, each character experiences a full range of emotion, from frustrated rants to anguished cries and disgusted dry heaves.
Towards the end of the emotional run-around, members of the audience identify with the prisoners, hoping they escape the ordeal with ten toes.
From Michael Myers to Jason Voorhes, moviegoers have grown accustomed to the idea of the unknown mass murder.
And while the true identity of the man behind the Jigsaw mask remains a mystery for an excruciatingly long period of time, the twists and turns are worth it.
Jigsaw, a combination between Bozo the Clown and Leatherface, likes his victims to appreciate life and those who escape his deathtraps appreciate it that much more.
The movie opens in the restroom of an underground dungeon.
Adam, played by Leigh Whannell, regains consciousness to realize that his ankle is chained to a pipe.
Across the room, Lawrence, a surgeon played by Cary Elwes, is also shackled. Between the two men, in a pool of blood, lies a suicide victim who holds a revolver and a tape recorder in his limp grasp.
While the identity of this man remains a mystery, the voice on the recorder reveals that, in order to survive the experience, Lawrence must kill Adam within five hours. As Lawrence brainstorms through the hours the variety of ways he can kill his cellmate, and Adam realizes he'll have to saw his foot off to free himself, Detective Tapp, (played by Danny Glover), is working against time to solve the case.
In a depressingly small role, Glover plays an on-the-run detective in search of a suspect responsible for the disappearance of the two local men.
Throughout the movie, Glover's character seems to lose his sanity, along with any progress he was making in the case.
As Glover investigates the killer's past, the audience meets Jigsaw's sole escapee - a drug addict who suffered through the frightening possibility that a metal contraption clamped to her jaw would end her lifelong habit, and her life, with one snap.
Her single opportunity to save herself was a videotaped clue that the key to the clamp was just a few feet away - in the digestive track of another Jigsaw victim.
After a messy ordeal, most of which is not shown on camera, she freed herself from Jigsaw's game, and, in her new appreciation for life, freed herself from her drug addiction.
Without directly showing grotesque images director Wan cleverly inflicted the squirm -in-your seat effect on audience members.
Saw seems to be the acting opportunity of a lifetime for Whannell and Elwes - in 100 minutes, in one room, each character experiences a full range of emotion, from frustrated rants to anguished cries and disgusted dry heaves.
Towards the end of the emotional run-around, members of the audience identify with the prisoners, hoping they escape the ordeal with ten toes.
From Michael Myers to Jason Voorhes, moviegoers have grown accustomed to the idea of the unknown mass murder.
And while the true identity of the man behind the Jigsaw mask remains a mystery for an excruciatingly long period of time, the twists and turns are worth it.