Available at Amazon.com
Directed by
Darren Lynn Bousman
Written by
James Wan (Story)
Leigh Whannell (Screenplay and Story)
Cast
Tobin Bell ………. Jigsaw/John
Shawnee Smith ………. Amanda
Angus Macfadyen ………. Jeff
Bahar Soomekh ………. Lynn
Donnie Wahlberg ………. Eric Matthews
Dina Meyer ………. Kerry
Leigh Whannell ………. Adam
Mpho Koaho ………. Tim
Barry Flatman ………. Judge Halden
Lyriq Bent ………. Rigg
J. LaRose ………. Troy
Debra McCabe ………. Danica
Costas Mandylor ………. Forensic Hoffman
Betsy Russell ………. Jill
DVD Release Date: January 23, 2007
Run Time: 113 minutes
Unrated
The Movie
There are many ways in which one can enjoy Saw III, the most obvious being a rousing game of Movie Chicken. In Movie Chicken, one rents a grotesque and/or disturbing film (think May or Dagon), watches it with friends, and all battle to see who has to turn away last or least. The movie certainly provides scenes that are best screened through slightly spread fingers.
Apart from that, Saw III remains a surprisingly satisfying movie. This thing is especially true when one compares the film to third efforts in other franchises (horror or otherwise). Why is it satisfying? Saw III manages to provide effective closure to not only its own story but those of Saws 1 and 2. The film is able to strike a good balance of murkiness and logic throughout its twists and turns. There are some shoddy performances in the first act, but Saw wouldn’t be Saw without a couple of stinkers.
This third film in the francise picks up nearly exactly where Saw II left us, and we’re given a nice Psycho-lite version of “is that the main character?” Jigsaw is getting closer to death, aided by journeyman maniac Amanda (Becker‘s Linda from the Bronx, Shawnee Smith). They kidnap a doctor (Bahar Somekh from 2004’s Crash) to ease the Jigga man’s suffering and for the ubiquitous “other reasons.” Meanwhile, Amanda and Saw run a grieving father through a horrifying game of forgiveness, redemption, and Fear Factor stunts. It all manages to wrap up nicely in a shockingly brisk 113 minutes.
It should be noted that, for the most part, Saw III forgoes the “terror” element of horror. The film paces more emphasis on being disturbing and/or gory than it does being scary. Whether or not this thing is a detriment to one’s movie experience is based solely on one’s personal taste.
There are a couple of interesting things at work in the movie. One of which is a very gory juxtaposition between Jigsaw’s traps and the surgical procedures to save Jigsaw’s life. In fact, the simplest of the medical scenes are often the most difficult to watch. There is an isolating hyperrealism in a scene wherein a giant mechanical contraption is designed to explode open a rib cage. There is no such wall of separation when we see the sick and aging Jigsaw convulse or vomit or otherwise slowly lose ground to cancer. Having recently witnessed an elderly person “pass on”, these scenes are painfully real. Experiencing suffering breeds appreciation of life.
And in a sense, this allows the film-makers to become Jigsaw.
The DVD
On the disc we get subtitles in English and Spanish as well as audio tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0
The meat of the extras comes in the form of three commentary tracks. We get:
–Commentary by Director Darren Lynn Bousman, Writer/Executive Producer Leigh Whannell and Executive Producers Peter Block and Jason Constantine (who wanders in accidently 30 minutes into the track): This is relatively entertaining, and reminds me a bit of the Rabblecast here at Inside Pulse.
–Commentary by Producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg: This track is a bit more laid back than the first, but provides a lot of the same information.
–Commentary by Director Darren Lynn Bousman, Editor Kevin Greutert and Director of Photography David A. Armstrong: This track is, in large part, redundant.
The Deleted Scenes consist of a couple of minutes worth of unfinished scenes, most notable of which is a fight between Amanda and Lynn.
“The Props of Saw III” featurette and “The Details of Death: The Traps of Saw III” featurette are both mostly about the physical effects of the flick. Each runs about 10 minutes.
“Darren’s Diary: Anatomy of a Director” consists of about 10 minutes of camcorder backstage stuff with the director (i.e., nothing special).
