“Live or die, Jeff. Make our
choice.”
Suddenly, after defending the
first two
Saw films, I begin to see a
justification for the term “torture porn”. This is a much, much nastier film
than its two predecessors, and the scene with Timothy Young and the “rack”, in
particular, is extremely difficult to watch. This film is as good, as
intricate, and as entertaining as its predecessors but the nastiness is
starting to become excessive.
There’s a very strong connection
to the first two films, as we see what happens to Matthews and the gruesome
death of Kerry; the police procedural element has certainly not lessened. But
the film centres around Amanda who, lacking Jigsaw’s “ethics”, does not give
her victims a chance of escape. I certainly wouldn’t say there’s any moral
distinction between them (they’re both sadistic serial killers who get off on
power far more than being inspired by their claimed motives), but Jigsaw would.
And he, of course, has set the whole thing up to see whether Amanda is worthy
to be his successor. She isn’t, of course, but the means by which we discover
this are the point.
So, yes, it’s good, as far as plot
and intrigue go, and those are the selling points here, not subtext, character
or moral profundity. But even in comparison to its predecessors it’s very dark.
And the gore has definitely stepped up. We have a trepanning, with a power
drill and no anaesthetic. We have, early on, the most sadistic scenarios yet,
and that horrible “rack” scene, seen in bloody slow motion. To me this crosses
some sort of undefined line. I’m a little nervous about proceeding with the
series.
Still- John Kramer dies at the
end. How can more films possibly happen?
