Saw
(2004) Starring:
Carl Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, Tobin Bell,
Leigh Whannell. Directed by James Wan. Screenplay by Leigh Whannell. Produced
by Gregg Hoffman, Mark Burg, Oren Koules. Music by Charlie Clouser. Run Time: 102
minutes. U.S. Color, Horror
In the spirit of the Halloween season, we’ve
been looking at horror films that have spurned franchises. More than any other
genre, horror films seem to spawn sequels and, as is usually the case for
sequels, the budgets get bigger and in the case of horror, oftentimes the blood
and gore get ratcheted up. As in the case of the Saw franchise, the subsequent
films got much bloodier, gorier and more brutal than the original film, or so
I’ve been told. The original film is more of a psychological thriller than I
understand the subsequent films prove to be.
Saw opens with two men trapped in a
dilapidated subterranean industrial-looking bathroom. One man, Adam Stanheight
(Leigh Whannell), who we later learn is a photographer, wakes up in a bathtub
full of water. Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Carl Elwes) turns on the lights. Both men
are chained at the ankle to pipes on opposite sides of the room. On the floor
between them is a corpse, lying in a pool of blood. In one hand is a revolver
in the other a microcassette player. Adam naturally pulls the plug in the tub
to drain the water and gets out.
 |
| Adam Stanheight (Leigh Whannell) is one of the men who finds himself chained up in a restroom. |
Both Adam and Lawrence find they have
cassettes in the pockets labeled “Play Me”. Lawrence also finds a key and a
bullet. They play the tapes in the player that Adam is able to take from the
corpse. Adam finds out that he has to escape the bathroom before he dies, while
Lawrence is instructed to kill Adam before six o’clock, or Lawrence’s wife,
Allison (Monica Potter), and daughter Diana (Makenzie Vega) will be killed and
Lawrence will be left to rot in the bathroom.
They also learn that the corpse on the floor
was another victim, who shot himself in the head before succumbing to a deadly
poison in his blood.
Lawrence plays back his tape and discovers a
secret message with clues that lead Adam to find two hacksaws hidden in the
toilet. But sadly, they discover the saws are not strong enough to cut the
chains, in fact Adam’s saw breaks. Lawrence comes to the horrible realization
that the saws aren’t meant for the chains, but for their ankles and that the
pair has been captured by someone known as the Jigsaw Killer.
In a flashback, we see Detectives David Tapp
(Danny Glover), Steven Sing (Ken Leung) and Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer)
recovering a penlight at the scene of one of Jigsaw’s “games”. The fingerprints
turn out to belong to Dr. Gordon, so Tapp and Sing go to the hospital to
interrogate him. They interrupt him while the doctor is speaking with medical
students and an orderly, Zep Hindle (Michael Emerson), about a patient named
John Kramer who is suffering from an inoperable tumor in his brain’s frontal
lobe. Zep reminds everyone that the
patient is also a real person.
 |
| Detectives Steven Sing (Ken Leung) and David Tapp (Danny Glover) were partners. |
After confirming his innocence, the detective
invites Dr. Gordon to see Amanda Young's story of how she survived one of
Jigsaw's traps. Amanda, a heroin addict, is the only person to have ever
escaped from the Jigsaw Killer. Amanda woke up with a Reverse Bear Trap that would
rip her jaws open. In order to escape,
Amanda had to kill her unconscious cell
mate, cut open his stomach and grab the key. Amanda used the key to unlock the
device and removed it just before it activated.
Meanwhile, back in the bathroom, Adam and
Lawrence discover that behind a mirror is a camera, and there is a man, Zep,
watching and listening to them. Lawrence recalls his last day at his home,
saying good-bye to his daughter and arguing with his wife. Unbeknownst to Lawrence,
Zep was hiding in Diana's closet and captured Lawrence’s family after he left.
Zep, who is holding Alison and Diana Gordon
in their house against their will, goes near a window and David Tapp takes a
photo of him from his house. Tapp is now living near the Gordon's house and is
constantly watching their house because he is convinced Lawrence is Jigsaw.
 |
Zep Hindle (Michael Emerson) is holding Lawrence's
wife, Allison (Monica Potter) and daughter hostage for Jigsaw. |
Flashback to after Tapp takes Lawrence home after
listening to Amanda's story. Tapp discovers Jigsaw is hiding in a building. Detectives
Tapp and Sing arrive at the building and discover a man, Jeff Ridenhour (Ned
Bellamy), tied to a chair. Jigsaw arrives via an elevator as the detectives
hide. As Jigsaw is explaining his plans to Jeff the detectives emerge prompting
Jigsaw to activate his trap for Jeff. While Tapp holds Jigsaw at gunpoint Sing tries
to find the proper key for the lock at Jigsaw's suggestion, but ultimately
deactivates the trap by shooting it. Meanwhile Jigsaw cuts Tapp's throat while
he is distracted and leaves him to bleed out on the floor. Sing goes into
pursuit and after shooting Jigsaw in the back with his shotgun, Sing
unknowingly steps into a trip wire setting off a trap that fires shotguns off
from above, killing him. Jigsaw escapes
and Tapp is discharged from the police. But Tapp is still obsessed with
capturing Jigsaw.
 |
| Steven Sing doesn't have long to live. |
Back in the bathroom, Lawrence gives his
wallet to Adam, who finds a photo of Alison and Diana captured at the doctor's
house and in the backside there was a message that they must look with their
eyes closed. Following the instructions on the photo, Adam tells Lawrence to
turn the lights off. On the wall, next to Lawrence, there’s an X drawn with
fluorescent paint. Using a hacksaw, Lawrence breaks through the X and discovers
a small chest. Using the key he found in his pocket, Lawrence opens the chest
and finds a cell phone, a lighter and a cigarette. He tries to call the police
but the cell is made to only receive calls.
 |
| Fluorescent X marks the spot. |
The doctor remembers how he was captured: He
was on his way to his car when a man took a photo of him. Lawrence didn't see the
man. He tries to call home but the call fails to go through. Then, a masked
figure captured him.
A note in the chest informs Lawrence that he
doesn't need a gun to kill Adam. Lawrence turns off the lights to prevent the
kidnapper from hearing them and he tells Adam that they are going to fake his death.
Lawrence turns the lights back on and wets the cigarette with the corpse's
supposedly poisoned blood and then hands that and the lighter to Adam. Adam goes
along with the ruse and pretends to smoke the cigarette and dying of the poisoning
but someone actives a device in his chain and electrocutes him. The plan fails.
Adam then remembers his capture. He had been
sleeping when a noise in his apartment woke him up. He goes through his dark
apartment with a bat and uses his camera flash for lighting. On his couch, he
finds a puppet as a masked figure captures him from behind.
Back in the bathroom, the cellphone rings and
Lawrence answers. On the other end is Diana, who is being held hostage with her
mother. She is understandably scared. Then Alison gets on her phone and tells Lawrence
that Adam knows him and that he is a liar. Adam reveals to Lawrence that he was
following him for the last few days taking photos of him. He was the man who took
the photo of him in the parking lot and shows him all the photos that he took
to him, which were in the bag that contained the two hacksaws. Adam tells
Lawrence that he followed him to a motel that last day.
 |
| Lawrence stretching to answer the phone. |
Flashback to that night. Lawrence is going into
a motel room with a medical student from the hospital, Carla Song (Alexandra
Bokyun Chun). Inside, Lawrence tells her that he’s tired of her calling his
home and decides to leave. But the phone in the room rings. Lawrence answers and
hears a voice telling him that he knows what he is doing. It is after he
leaves, out in the parking lot, when Lawrence is captured.
Lawrence angrily demands Adam tell him who is
paying him and the young man reveals that is a tall black guy with a scar in
his neck. Lawrence recognizes the description as Detective Tapp. Lawrence tells
Adam he wasn’t cheating on his wife with Song.
Meanwhile, in the Gordon's house, Zep is
watching the cameras, while Alison unties herself and her daughter.
Among Adam's photos, Lawrence finds the one
that Tapp took of the man in his house. Lawrence recognizes the man as Zep
Hindle. Adam then notices that is six o’clock.
Back at the Gordon’s house, Zep tells Alison
that he must do his work and makes her call Lawrence to inform him he’s failed.
While she is talking on the phone, Alison attacks Zep and gets his gun. The two
fight for the gun. Gunshots are heard by Lawrence over the phone and by Tapp,
who runs with his gun to the doctor's house. The calls ends and Lawrence gets
electrocuted and throws the phone away.
Tapp enters the house and starts a shootout with
Zep, allowing Alison and Diana to escape. Zep hits Tapp with a vase and runs to
his car to go kill Lawrence and Adam. Tapp recovers and follows him. They
arrive at the sewers and start a race to the bathroom. Lawrence recovers and
the phone starts ringing. As he is unable to reach it, he starts screaming and
then he takes off his shirt. Rather than try and lasso the phone, he ties his
shirt around his leg and bites the sleeve. Grabbing the hacksaw, Lawrence starts
cutting off his chained foot.
 |
| Dr. Lawrence Gordon gets ready to saw off his foot. |
Finally free, Lawrence reaches the gun, loads
it with the bullet he found and shoots Adam. Lawrence then demands to see his
family. Tapp reaches Zep and the two start fighting. Zep shoots Tapp in the
stomach and Tapp dies.
Zep arrives at the bathroom and prepares to
kill Lawrence. Just then, Adam stands up and throws Zep to the ground. Using
the toilet lid, Adam hits Zep in the head multiple times until he kills him.
Lawrence then tells Adam that he’ll go get help and will come back, before
crawling out of the bathroom.
 |
| Zep arrives at the restroom to kill Lawrence. |
Adam searches for the key of the chains in
Zep's clothes. But instead, Adam finds a tape player that informs him Zep was another
of Jigsaw’s victims. Zep had a slow acting poison running through his blood
system and if he wanted the antidote, he had to kill Alison and Diana.
Shocked, Adam watches as the dead body stands
up and reveals himself as John Kramer (Tobin Bell), the real Jigsaw Killer.
Kramer tells him that the key for the chain was in the bathtub and Adam
remembers that when he woke up in the bathtub, the key flushed away with the
water. Adam tries to shoot Kramer but the killer electrocutes him with a
control and Adam throws the gun away. Jigsaw then turns off the lights and
seals Adam inside the bathroom, leaving him to die.
 |
| John Kramer aka Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) leaves Adam to die. |
So as you can see, this is not really family
entertainment. But the film is not as bloody or gory as the poster with a
severed foot would lead you to believe. Gratefully, the sawing off of
Lawrence’s foot is mostly done off camera or else I don’t think I would have
made it through to the end. I don’t like piercing flesh, let alone severed
limbs.
This horror is more psychological than gory,
but it leaves a lot of open questions. I have the same problem I had with the
Joker in The Dark Knight. John Kramer, aka Jigsaw, seems to be everywhere at
once and still has plenty of time to devise things like backwards bear traps
and keys on the tub stoppers. But like The Dark Knight, you’re not supposed to
think about such things because you’re supposed to take it as it comes.
While I knew going in that Cary Elwes was in
this movie, it still struck me as an odd role choice, considering he’s perhaps
best known as Westley in The Princess Bride (1987), which is about as far away
from Saw as you can get. (Regrettably, he is also in 2012’s The Oogieloves in
the Big Balloon Adventure which should just be kept far away from everyone.)
But diverse roles are part of any successful actor’s work life. He would later
reprise his role as Dr. Lawrence Gordon in Saw 3D (2010) and no, I didn’t see
it.
 |
| Carl Elwes as Westley in The Princess Bride. |
And there were a lot of sequels to Saw that I
did not see and don’t plan to, namely all of them: Saw II (2005), Saw III
(2006), Saw IV (2007), Saw V (2008), Saw VI (2009) and finally ending with Saw
3D. The films have been dubbed Torture Porn by some critics, but at least the
original Saw is really more about sadism and masochism, which isn’t my usual
fare. While people are kept against their will and there are killings, the
torture is more of the mind than the body. Never a critic favorite, the films
in the franchise were a financial success, grossing over $873 million worldwide
and spawning ancillary products such as Saw: Rebirth, a comic book; two video
games, toys, costumes and even theme park rides. Look for the inevitable reboot
in about ten years.
While I might have been covering my eyes from
time to time, my ears were open to the soundtrack, chiefly written by Charlie
Clouser, a mix of alt rock and electro-industrial. Clouser, a former member of
the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wrote music for all of the Saw films.
For the most part, the score has received positive reviews and I would have to
agree with those.
But honestly, I can’t recommend you watch
this film. There are too many other films you should watch before this one. However,
if you do find yourself being forced to watch it by some guy whose name reminds
you of puzzles, know that it is not as bad as you might think it’ll be. Saw is
more about the psychological torture than the physical.
