The follow-up to the 2005 Saw II (itself a sequel to 2004's Saw) returns to a format that is a bit more like the original than the initial sequel.
In the first go-round, we were left a bit baffled, trying to figure out just what was going on. In the end, we were still left wondering, but in a good way. In the first sequel, it was mostly a horror-fest. This time, Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith) return to their testing ways, which is a whole lot more fun to watch.
Unfortunately, the film as a whole is a lot more difficult to watch because of the choice of filming technique employed. There are a bunch of in-and-out movements of the camera, a lot of flashes (not flashbacks - just flashes, almost like a strobe light), and just jumping around. Especially if you're watching in a darkened movie theater on a massive screen, this makes it tough to keep your equilibrium during the whole movie. It's just really disorienting, which is a shame, because the movie deserves your attention.
We start in the same dirty bathroom that we've seen before, with detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg), chained to the fixtures where the whole series started. He has a flashlight, and he eventually finds his way to a saw, and manages to see that at least one other person has cut his own foot off to escape, but he doesn't want to do that, so instead he smashes it to a pulp in order to pull it out of the bonds that hold him there. I would imagine that this probably keeps him from bleeding to death, but it can't be much less painful (it is certainly a bit difficult to watch, and is in fact one of the toughest parts to see in the whole movie).
Then we cut to two other scenes that appear to be the work of Jigsaw - first a man who is chained up, and offered the ability to escape, he just has to maim himself in the process. When he seems to do that, he can't escape the bomb because the door is welded shut (or perhaps he can't quite do it in time). Then we see Kerry (Dina Meyer), from Saw II, who has to stick her hand into a vat of acid to retrieve a key to free herself from her bonds. She does it, only to find that she can't escape, and dies anyway. It seems that perhaps Jigsaw isn't behind these games.
Next, we meet Dr. Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh), who seems distanced from her lover. At work, she is taken captive by someone, who we find out to be Amanda, and given a game of her own. She is instructed to keep Jigsaw alive so that he can witness his final test. The only problem is that it doesn't seem to be possible, but with a collar made up of explosive shotgun shells, tied to his heart monitor, she figures she must try.
The final piece of this puzzle is Jeff (Angus Macfadyen), who lost his son to a drunken driver and hasn't quite recovered. This is his chance. He is given the opportunity to meet three people who played a part in this drama, and see if he can make it through. The first is a woman who was the only witness, but instead of being a witness and doing something, she walked away. She is held captive, naked, in a freezer, and as she is sprayed with water, Jeff has the opportunity to free her, but it will take some effort. By the time he decides to help, she has already frozen into a block of ice.
Jeff's next step in his test is to meet the judge who sentenced the driver to only six months, and he is chained at the bottom of a drum, which is slowly filling with the remains of rotten pigs, churned into liquid by massive saw blades. He will drown soon. But the only way to free him is to ignite the stuffed animals and other mementos that Jeff hangs onto from his son, for the key to free the judge is hidden inside one of them. This he does with time to spare.
The final step of Jeff's redemption is to meet the driver himself, a young man who has turned his life around. He has become a medical student, and he has truly changed. But in a twist of fate, it is his life which is now turning around, for he is in a rack that turns his hands, feet, and even his head a little at a time. The only way to free him is to pull a key that will in turn pull the trigger on a gun - in other words, give Jeff's life for the man's. What I don't get is that if Jeff kills himself, there is no way he will save the guy. What's more, this thing is turning so quick that even if Jeff saved him, he wouldn't live anything like a normal life.
Jeff does manage to get the key without killing himself (the blast kills the judge), and he forgives the driver, but he can't get the contraption open, so the guy dies. Jeff's ordeal isn't over, however, for he isn't out yet.
Meanwhile, Dr. Denlon has managed to save Jigsaw by drilling a hole into his skull and relieving the pressure on his brain, and this has restored his ability to move and talk to some degree. But Amanda doesn't like this. It's like she's losing her beloved Jigsaw to this intruder. Something is bound to happen, and there is certainly a climax to be seen, but I won't give it away here. That would ruin the ending.
All-in-all, the movie was ho-hum. But the ending made it worth the effort, if you can make it to that point, with the violence, and the shifting camera angles. The first one is still the best. But this one isn't bad by any means.
Rated R for strong grisly violence and gore, sequences of terror and torture, nudity and language.
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