Bout time I got to a SAW movie. It's my personal favorite horror series and I ended last year's Halloween Month with SAW and SAW II. They are the two best in the series, but I still do love the seemingly never ending story (well until two years ago now) of Jigsaw and his troubled past. Not to mention all the blood, gore and twisted kills that I've come to love. But this is SAW III, can the murderous magic continue?
Coming off the end of SAW II, SAW III starts off with Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) in the bathroom (made famous in SAW) with his foot shackled to the wall. He grabs the toilet tank cover and breaks his ankle so he can escape. Six months pass from this seeming grisly scene, a SWAT team led by Lt. Rigg (Lyriq Bent) finds another Jigsaw crime scene. Detectives Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer) are also sent to the scene where we find out Jigsaw is back. We cut to a hospital where a depressed doctor, Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh), works. She is kidnapped and brought to Jon Kramer (Tobin Bell). He is now bedridden by cancer, and aided with a shock collar rigged with shotgun shells, she is told by Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) that she must keep him alive. Well she must keep him alive at least until Jeff (Angus Macfadyen) finishes his game. This is the last main part of this movie is following the journey of Jeff through his game. He has just lost his daughter in a car accident and is severely angry and vengeful. He must choose to save or kill various people involved in the ring of people involved with all aspects of his daughters death. Can Jeff learn to forgive, will Kramer survive till Jeff is done and will the detectives finally catch up to Jigsaw? SAW III answers all these questions and more.
This is one of the series' movies I can never really get into. I know a lot of people who love this movie, but every time I watch it I'm extremely conflicted. We'll start with what I like. The kills, at least two of them are two of the best in the series. The shotgun collar is the most mobile and one of the best in the series. Also the rack is one of the most slow and painful-looking traps of all the movies. Also the scenes involving Tobin Bell, arguably the best actor of the entire series, are great. They are in each movie in my opinion. Another thing I love about this movie, and the series, is the continuity between everything. This movie is no different and facets all around in this movie are tied into the first two and the rest of the series. Here's what I never liked about this. The bulk of the movie, Jeff's game, is full of traps that are mediocre and people I just don't care about. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have cared either way if all of them died off. Even Jeff seemed like a dick (so he played his part well), but I just didn't care. It made the movie drag for me. I know they couldn't have just had a movie where Kramer getting taken care of, but don't bore me with with a meh story about Jeff.
All in all this is nearly the worst in the series for me. I've never been a huge fan of three, but I am a fan of the series and this is still a must-see for SAW fans. Two great traps out of a movie-full just doesn't do it for me and as good as the Jigsaw/Kramer story is, the Jeff game really brought down the goodness of it. It made the movie feel long and I hate it when movies do that. Story-line is furthered and if you're a fan like me you wanna soak in all the information going forward. Three is what it is for me at this point, and if you're watching the series this is definitely one of the low-lights.
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Halloween Movie Month 2! Movie #1: Halloween II
Halloween Movie Month 2! Movie #2: The Devil's Rejects
Halloween Movie Month 2! Movie #3: Friday the 13th Part II
Halloween Movie Month 2! Movie #4: Scream 2
Halloween Movie Month 2! Movie #5: Evil Dead 2: Dead Before Dawn
Halloween Movie Month 2! Movie #6: Trick 'r Treat
Halloween Movie Month 2! Movie #7: Planet Terror
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