Saw III

[Remo D]

As usual, the more you say, the more you spoil...

Considering that I thought that the first two SAW films were perfectly complementary setpieces and top-drawer excruciating, I was in the unenviable position of wanting to see what happened next while dreading the inevitable deterioration of the series. Could they possibly pull it off a third time?

What I got wasn't quite up there with what I wanted--but it was still significantly superior to what I expected. Without going into detail--

Our old friend "plausibility" is COMPLETELY out the window this time. You could suspend it JUST enough in the first--and especially the second--SAW. Here, you simply have to say "Yeah, RIGHT!" at least once. On the other hand, continuity and believability in the characters and their actions IS admirably maintained--as is the Hitchcock/USUAL SUSPECTS use of dialogue and wordplay gradually revealed as it all comes together.

The abuse directed against human bodies tries to be every bit as horrific as before, but even the sound of cracking bones and loud shrieking can get a bit... dare I say "deadening?" if you've followed the films so far. Proof that it's the head games more than anything else that truly GET to you. ANYONE can do gore, but not EVERYONE can do SAW.

We do get flashbacks that attempt to clear up some allegedly loose ends (in some cases putting a "whole different paint job" on it), but damn it all, they STILL don't show you exactly what happened to Dr. Gordon after he crawled away at the end of the first film. We can rest assure that he didn't survive, but come on now... not even a body to trip over?.

In the end, I'll say that with the shadow of overfamiliarity growing more threatening as time goes by, SAW III did its level best to avoid being a "slasher sequel" or "obligatory cash-in." There's still plenty of material that works... and damned if they didn't do it AGAIN! You will NOT want another sequel, but you'll STILL want to know what happened NEXT!

Not the best, but certainly good enough.

[Lode]

I had to go out and rent 1 and 2 because I hadn't seen either movie yet. I can't wait to see this third one now. All horror movies have their bit of cheese, but this series has been the least bothersome to me on the "yeah, right!" factor.

[Chris Slack]

The first two thirds of the film were decent but the third act really impressed me, everything came together so well.

[Clark Chaos]

I'm with Chris, I was fairly bored for the first part of the film, some good twists and little hints of what was coming but the last 40 minutes or so is when the film really picked up my interest.

It was cool to see it all come together.

[mickey brown-eye]

I really liked the end. BUT! What the hell was in the envelope, damnit!

[Kimberly]

I thought it was really good...

[DylanDog]

Late as usual, but....

Better than 2, not as good as 1, imo.

Gore was quite impressive. "Sound" of cracking bones, Remo? I thought the SIGHT of that leg was pretty horrific. And of course the surgery scene was none too pleasant either.

Though I thought some of the set pieces were again a bit much to be believed, at least it didn't have the "get a bunch of people in a house, reality tv, saw-style" set up as the last one. This time around the plot seemed more focused.

The killing of that cop seemed a little thrown in, but whatever. Anyway, I definately approached this with plenty of skepticism, but I'd definately tune in for a part 4 now.

[chemical boy]

I'll be honest...I am a little leire of the Third installment of the Saw seiries, I dunno why really I always get a little nervous around films that have a third part to them I am not sure if it is because the old man is gone aka Jig Saw or if it just feels taboo to me or maybe it's cos I really didn't care for sawII
I suppose I'll have to see it just to develope a more logical take on the whole thing but as I said part 3's always make me nervous.
C.B.