HOLLYWOOD—There are some films that are so bad, words can’t describe them. “Saw 3D,” the supposed final chapter in the franchise, is a film that audiences should avoid at all costs. If you’ve ever seen any of the previous films, you know that the series is driven by an element known as torture porn. The victims are placed in intricate traps by Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) who forces them to acknowledge their sins. Let it be known “Saw 3D” is not for the faint of heart. The violence is extremely graphic and vicious; I found myself squirming in my seat on several occasions. I’ll admit it, I had to close my eyes during several scenes in the film because the gore was too much for me.
In this final chapter, Jigsaw’s reign of terror is continued by his apprentice, Officer Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), whose ultimate goal is to eliminate Jigsaw’s wife, Jill (Betsy Russell). The opening sequence of the film finds three people inside a contraption where each of their fates is determined by a saw. The sequence is bloody and brutal as the viewer is forced to watch the slow demise. The movie’s plot revolves around self-help guru Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery), a survivor of one of Jigsaw’s contraptions who attempts to assist fellow survivors. The audience soon discovers that Dagen’s story is a hoax and he’s now become a part of Jigsaw’s game.
The “Saw” films pride themselves on the theme of morality and how those who do wrong must be punished. The problem with that idea is that the traps that each victim is placed into are impossible to escape. If the ultimate goal is forgiveness for their sin, the traps developed by Jigsaw make it impossible for any of the victims to make it out alive. I will admit that the first and second films played with that notion and it worked very well; of course there was violence that just became more excessive with each film.
The movie lacks well-developed characters that audiences will care about; they’re just bodies that can be dispatched in horrific ways with tons of blood and guts. It makes the mistake so many horror films have continued to make today: focusing on the element of blood instead of story. What I find so amazing about the “Saw” series is that Jigsaw has been dead since the third film, yet his madness continues. Just what kind of pull did this man have on his apprentices?
“Saw 3D” is perhaps the worst film I have seen so far this year. The gimmick of the film being in 3-D will disappoint many fans because perhaps only one or two things fly at the screen. This movie is likely to send a large message to studios—stop trying to sell a movie by giving the idea that it’s in 3-D when its not. Sixteen dollars is a lot to spend on a movie ticket. For any moviegoer looking to truly take advantage of what “real” 3-D looks like, watch “The Final Destination.” Now that’s a film that depicts that element well.
