Saw III: Review

I went to see Saw III at the weekend and thought it was a great film. This is my review of it. There are a few spoilers here so I wouldn’t recommend reading it if you don’t want to know the ending.

At the end of Saw II Jigsaw (John) is very ill and has taken Amanda under his wing to continue his work. In Saw III he is in an even worse, bed-ridden, state. Amanda kidnaps a doctor (chosen for a special reason, of course) and forces her to keep Jigsaw alive while they watch another of their games played out on the cameras in their lair. Their victim Jeff has to complete some puzzles and make some tough decisions in order to reach the end where he is promised he will come face to face with the man who killed his son.

The Ice Shower scene

The traps and torture devices are even more elaborate than before and include a kind of twisting crucifix, an ice shower and death by pigswill. While not as jumpy as Saw I the torture scenes are particularly gruesome including a hand burned by acid and a close up shot of a leg being snapped.

Throughout the film we are following two storylines – Jeff’s race to have vengeance on his son’s killer and the challenge to keep Jigsaw alive. The two plots come together at the end in a typically Saw-like excellent plot twist.

Another thing that was excellent about this film was the way it answered many questions from the first two parts. I was impressed by this. They also introduced flash backs to Jigsaw’s early life, leaving other avenues open for exploration in the inevitable sequels (or prequels as I have been hearing rumours about). It also helped our understanding of the original films when we found out that Amanda had been working with John since the beginning of Saw I.

Overall I would say Saw III is an excellent film and is essential viewing for anybody who has seen the previous two. I think it would be a nice ending to the story to leave it how it is but there are a few unanswered questions in the film and the flashbacks to John’s earlier life make a sequel inescapable.

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