Add Tail Slate
to Your Site/RSS
| Blog: |
| Tail Slate |
Topics: |
| films, movies, television |
Shawnee Smith (left) and Tobin Bell return for a third turn in Saw III.
All signs pointed a third entry into the Saw series after the exceptional success of Saw II in October of 2005. In fact, Saw III was greenlit after the numbers from Saw II’s opening weekend were available. Co-creators of the original film, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, went to work straight away and one year later, Saw III was born.
The scary part: the screenplay for Saw III was churned out in just about a week. How could Whannell possibly come up with something that could not only meet, but exceed the greatness of Saw and Saw II? Was it possible? We all know how later sequels in a series tend to be, how shall I say… not so good. Case in point: Halloween III, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Friday the 13th Part VIII… Nevertheless, I grew increasingly excited as Saw III’s release date approached.
Saw III is basically a direct continuation from where Saw II left us. The nefarious Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), suffering from an inoperable brain tumor, is now completely bed-redden and on the verge of death. Before his own personal game is over, he has one final round yet to be played.
With the help of his new apprentice, Amanda (Shawnee Smith), he kidnaps a prominent surgeon, Lynn (Bahar Soomekh), in the hopes that she can keep him alive just long enough for Jeff (Angus MacFadyen) to navigate the sadistic maze of emotion and retribution laid before him. But, as we find out, there is a much bigger game going on behind the scenes… which is deliciously handed to the viewer as the final “twist ending” of the film.
I was afraid Saw III was going to possibly be somewhat of a letdown, but I had faith that Wan and Whannell’s writing and Darren Lynn Bousman’s direction would propel Saw III to levels it shouldn’t even think of approaching. It did just that. The opening alone will start your heart racing as three separate people must “live or die, make your choice” in just the first 15 minutes!
The script was as tight as you could possibly make it. Not only did it introduce some new characters with their own cruel games, but it also flashbacked numerous times serving to explain much more of Jigsaw’s motives and past. My favorite flashback showed Jigsaw setting up his game from the first film. The scene literally sent chills down my back and put a smile on my face. I ate it up and craved another serving.
Perhaps the most amazing thing of all is the fact that this was never meant to be a trilogy. The ability for the writers of both Saw II and Saw III to seamlessly weave new stories with old is something simply not found in film today… horror or otherwise. Twenty years from now, someone can watch all three films and honestly believe the entire series was meant to be a trilogy.
The acting here was the best of all three films. Soomekh mailed in her performance at points, but her beautiful face makes up for it in my eye. But MacFadyen hit the target square on as the grieving, but vengeful and unforgiving father. The lovely Shawnee Smith was at her sexiest, and she played the role of psychotic bitch to a T. She was unrelenting, morally reprehensible, and just plain mean as Jigsaw’s apprentice.
Which brings me to the man of the hour. Over the course of the last two years, Tobin Bell has made the Jigsaw character his own. Much like Robert Englund has done for the Freddy character, I cannot see anyone playing the role of Jigsaw besides Tobin Bell. Predominantly a television character actor, Bell will probably always be remembered for his role as cornerstone of the Saw franchise. Whether this was his last go-around as John Kramer is anybody’s guess, but if it is, then this man deserves a standing ovation.
Saw III manages to bring out a humanity in John Kramer almost to the point where you can’t help but feel slightly sad for the guy. How can you turn someone so cold and vile, yet morally rich (in a sick and backwards way) into someone you actually care for? I have no idea. But Whannell and Bousman capture it and more power to them.
Saw’s infamous torture devices are as dastardly as ever here. Plus, Bousman did not hold anything back as the blood flows and it flows often. On more than one occasion I was left squirming in my seat while I looked at was transpired on the screen. And to think, this film went to the MPAA ratings board seven separate times before finally being granted the “hard-R” rating. Who else besides me can’t wait for the uncut DVD release next year?!
After a $14 million opening day release, Saw III was forecast to pull in close to $35 million for its opening weekend. That is up slightly from Saw II’s opening take of $32 million, and Saw’s first weekend of $18 million. Can it reach Saw II’s final total of $87 million is hard to say and possibly harder to accomplish. Suffice it to say that it should at the very least meet Lionsgate’s expectations.
Whether we see a Saw 4 is debatable. Lionsgate would be crazy not to capitalize on the growing success of the series, and they probably will end up doing just that. Inevitably, the quality of the finished product will slowly diminish with each sequel and/or prequel so Lionsgate has a huge choice here: do they let Saw go out on top as the reigning king of horror franchises, or do they milk this bad boy for all its worth?
"Live or die, make your choice."
Twenty years ago, a small-time floundering company had a similar decision to make. The company was New Line Cinema… the franchise was A Nightmare on Elm Street. Wes Craven’s progeny basically served as the lifeblood for the company by picking them up off the ground and propelling them into the big leagues of Hollywood production and distribution. “The House that Freddy Built” soon became one of the more successful companies in Hollywood, and remains that to this very day. Perhaps Lionsgate should think twice about producing further sequels to Saw, and avoid having Jigsaw/John Kramer become more of a joke as Freddy Kreuger has.
But if they decide to do away with that notion and pump these bad boys out each Halloween, I’ll still be the first in line!
Flick Figures: 7 deaths; 1 body frozen to death; throat sawed; limbs twisted; female full-frontal; ground-up pig carcass bath; multiple counts of self-mutilation; multiple gunshot wounds; gratuitous brain surgery; skull-cracking; flashback-fu; manual foot-snapping; head bashing; head obliterated; and a 360° head-twist that would even make Linda Blair proud.
Share on Facebook
- 
-