Saw

Lions Gate Films | Release Date: October 29, 2004

8.3	USER SCORE Universal acclaim based on 940 Ratings

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cdougallAug 13, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. For James Wan’s feature film debut, Saw is more clever and thought-out than you might expect and shows that James Wan has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. This movie lacks clarity, explanation and context when it starts, but as you continue to watch it, everything becomes more and more clear and creative. Considering the premise of the movie, that component of ambiguity and confusion works really well and actually makes the movie a bit realistic. In other words, this is a film that forces you to watch it so you understand what’s happening. This movie is kind of a mix of genres: abduction, horror and escape room all in one, making it intriguing piece of work especially for a feature film debut. Saw makes nice use of flashbacks to give us the clarity and explanation that viewers will be looking for from the moment the movie starts, and manages to give us slightly more than we bargained for by giving us a backstory that has some interesting twists and turns and a very unique antagonist. The film also has nice transitions between past and present and in the end makes it all culminate in a great way that causes the ending to have a twist that caught me off guard and makes the film end on a cliffhanger. The cinematography is also well above average for a feature debut and gives the movie a nice and impressive touch to it. All that said, the acting isn’t too great and hurts the quality of some scenes and makes some moments feel a bit awkward and sloppy. The chemistry between the two main characters doesn’t work out too well and they feel out of place with each other even once we get context for both of them. There are times where the acting just doesn’t feel genuine or the actors feel like they’re overacting or underacting. Also, even with all the explanation and backstory we get, there are still things that could’ve been explored and developed a lot better, especially the antagonist who we don’t know that much about, and there’s a lot of ambiguity as the credits roll. I left this film still curious and confused about a lot of stuff that I would’ve loved to understand. Overall, though, while I can understand why so many people love this movie and think it’s one of James Wan’s best products, Saw isn’t a perfect film and has its flaws.… Expand