SAW III

US, 2006, 110 minutes, Colour.

Tobin Bell, Angus Mac Fadyen, Shawnee Smith.
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman.

First of all, this is the best of the three Saw films. Though that may not be very persuasive for those who abhor this kind of grisly entertainment. The first was released in 2004 and was an extraordinary hit at the box-office. It was the brainchild of two young Melbourne filmmakers, Leigh Whannell who wrote and acted and James Wan who directed, who had their screenplay accepted in the US, moved rapidly into production and was very cleverly marketed. Their involvement in the sequel was mainly in producing. Now Leigh Whannell has written the new screenplay and Darren Lynn Bousman, who directed Saw II, has again directed.

Tobin Bell who made a very sinister villain repeats his role and gets much more screentime as does Shawnee Smith as one of his victims who makes good, or rather makes bad, in becoming his accomplice. New victim is Angus Mac Fadyen, once Robert the Bruce in Braveheart.

The plot repeats a lot of the first two films but also gives more explanation of what happened in those films behind the scenes with the mad killer arranging his deceptions and gruesome killings. It also takes a fairly moralising tone about guilt and punishment, especially irresponsibility, vengeance and self-pity which consumes people as two of the sins to feel guilty about. The games, both cruel and vicious, are also meant to be moral challenges and lessons.

This is why it is difficult to write quickly and glibly about the sometimes extreme sadism of the visuals. The Saw series tries to make moral points but has absolutely no qualms in presenting the cruelty as graphically as the film-makers can. This reviewer found the first thirty minutes particularly uncomfortable and deeply frightening as it asked us to identify with the plight of the impossibly trapped victims. It should be noted that for those who survive these cruel sequences that there is quite a deal of close-up surgical processes of brain surgery which follow.

A film of terror and empathy for people in extreme peril.

1.The success of the first two Saw films? The character of Jigsaw and his situation? His wreaking vengeance? The torture chambers and the victims? Paying for crimes? Possibilities for achieving redemption? This film building on that background?

2.The wider scope of this film? Going beyond the torture chambers? The hospitals, homes? Jigsaw’s condition? The care for him in his illness? Yet the use of the torture chambers and the familiar background? The musical score?

3.The opening, the reference to Saw II, Eric Matthews and his being trapped? The background of his fellow police officers? Their involvement in solving this case?

4.John Kramer, his terminal illness? His wife? The bond between them? Amanda, his having chosen her to continue his mission? Her background, drug addiction? Her care for Jigsaw? With the doctor? Her intensity, viciousness? Wanting to destroy people?

5.The portrait of the father, his being distraught at the hit-run accident? With his daughter? His wife? His erratic behaviour, outbursts? His being taken, imprisoned? His being given the mission, to find the judge, to find the perpetrator? His personal torment?

6.The doctor, her work at the hospital? The background of John Kramer and his diagnosis? The doctors not able to help him? The abduction of the doctor? The explosives around her neck? Amanda and her antagonism? Her being asked to care for Jigsaw? The possibility of surgery? The limited implements? Her having to improvise? Jigsaw and his willingness to undergo the surgery? The build-up to the surgery, the graphic detail?

7.The father, his continued quest? His getting through the puzzles, the personal suffering and pain? His finding the judge, the judge and his leniency, the judge and his change of heart? Helping the father?

8.The discovery of the perpetrator, his being chained? The traps? The flashbacks to the accident, his rash behaviour in leaving the scene? The sentence, lenience? His pleading for his life? The father and his inability to kill the perpetrator? The judge and his move, the judge being killed? The death of the driver?

9.The doctor, the revelation that she was the wife of the upset father? Amanda and her malice? Her being controlled by Jigsaw, her failing his test?

10.The resolution, the doctor and her husband? The possibility of any future? Jigsaw – and the possibilities of a sequel?