Saw 3D (aka Saw 7)

"I want to play a game."

1 1/2 out of 5 Stars



I want to play a game. This time, everyone must die. Of course the idea of Jigsaw capturing people and forcing them to play sick games for the purpose of learning a lesson is back. Of course, Jigsaw has been dead since the third movie so others have been doing his dirty work, mainly the former detective Hoffman who has taken up the screen the past couple movies. In this installment Dr. Gordon (from the first film) is back and we open on his escape from the room. Now some time later a man has claimed to be a victim of the Jigsaw traps. There is only one problem. He is a fraud and has written a book that has garnered acclaim as well as a healing support circle. Of course only his agents and lawyers know the truth, other than Jigsaw and his accomplices. Now Hoffman is out to finish the game and end the life of Jigsaw's wife. By the end of this final installment who will survive?

Part of what made the first Saw work so well was that it was a psychological horror film that dealt very little blood. Sure it was still there but in mild doses. More than anything it was images that got into your subconscious that was really effective. Than in the second film half of that was kept while moving in a different direction that involved more blood and more disturbing deaths. Pretty soon each film felt like it was trying to top the last. And somewhere around the fourth film a heavy element of a police investigation came into play, making the films less about the work of the man known as Jigsaw and more about the people being murdered and the "game" being played. Of course in these games everyone could somehow survive, even if there was a consequence to doing so. As long they did the right thing they would survive. Of course someone always died but that didn't mean everyone did. Then in the sixth film the rules changed. Now not everyone could get out alive. Someone had to die. Suddenly the justice was no longer so justified. Of course by then it wasn't really Jigsaw doing the work. It was a legacy that continued on in bloodshed and brutal murder that evolved away from the feeling of Jigsaw's original message. The message of redemption, valuing life, and justice were soon lost beneath ten layers of grotesque gory murders.

Then came along the seventh film which was heavily promoted on the 3D. And it is pointless 3D as well, even though filmed with 3D technology. 3D has quickly become a tiresome fad with films. The more films there are in 3D the less exciting they are. In the end the 3D was most likely necessary for the marketing considering that the only thing left it had going was the fact that this is supposed to be the final chapter. Will this be the final chapter, though? I think so. At least for the Jigsaw storyline. The end of the film wraps up nicely bringing it back full circle. But that doesn't save the film from the tremendous number of flaws that it holds. These films (at least the later ones) have been coined "torture porn." I can see why since every person that dies, or almost does, is tortured in some way and the audience is the voyeur watching the sick display.

Saw 7 takes it too many steps further. The man who is a fraud is brought into a game to face his demons and is set in a number of scenarios where he must save people he knows. There is always that chance someone will survive. Well except for the beginning of the movie when a trap is set up for the entire public to watch in a glass cage and at least one person must die and guts fly at the screen. But even when there is a chance someone could survive no one will. That's just how this movie will play out. No surprise considering how the sixth installment went. So by the end of the film not only must everyone in the game die but so must anyone who could keep the Jigsaw line going. It's a giant pot that mixes a mild dose of psychological horror with the police investigation and a most of the pot with blood and guts. That is, people die every 15 minutes with insides flying and blood spraying. The story just doesn't work. The message is lost. They try too hard to top the last film. It's a film for horror enthusiasts who go to films to see if there is any way to get more grossed out.

What they needed was another film like the first in the franchise. Then it would have been great. The beginning was good. The end was a fitting end. But when you have a terrible middle, you have no movie.