Starring: Cary Elwes, Leigh Whannell, Danny Glover, Ken Leung, Dina Meyer Directed By: James Wan Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Lions Gate Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: February 15, 2005 Running Time: 103 minutes Theatrical Release Date: October 29, 2004
Product Description: OBSESSED WITH TEACHING HIS VICTIMS THE VALUE OF LIFE, A DERANGED, SADISTIC KILLER IS ABDUCTING MORALLY WAYWARD PEOPLE AND FORCING THEM TO PLAY HORRIFIC GAMES FOR THEIR OWN SURVIVAL. FACED WITH IMPOSSIBLE CHOICES, EACH VICTIM MUST STRUGGLE TO WIN BACK HIS/HER LIFE, OR ELSE DIE TRYING.
Amazon.com: Adam (Leigh Whannell) wakes up in a dank room across from Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) and the body of a guy who has blown his own brains out. Not a happy place, obviously, and it gets worse when both men realize that they've been chained and pitted against one another by an unseen but apparently omniscient maniac who's screwing with their psyches as payment for past sins. Director James Wan, who concocted this grimy distraction with screenwriter Whannell, has seen Seven and any number of other arty existential-psycho-cat-and-mouse thrillers, so he's provided Saw with a little flash, a little blood, and a lot of ways to distract you from the fact that it doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense. Wan and Whannell (who's not the most accomplished actor, either) pile on the plot twists, which after some initially novel ideas become increasingly juvenile. Elwes works hard but looks embarrassed, and the estimable Danny Glover suffers as the obsessed detective on the case. The denouement will probably surprise you, but it won't get you back the previous 98 minutes.--Steve Wiecking
Untitled's Rants and Raves Defending The Ingenuity Of Saw Unlike some movies, Saw is one that I have wanted to see ever since I saw the trailer way back in 2004. Of course, my age is the only thing that was really setting my back, as there was no way a middle schooler my age was ever going to see it (at least in my household). Fortuntately, that disappeared quite fast, but it wasn't until yesterday night I finally got to watching the DVD (I also purcashed Saw 2 and I am already considering on getting Saw 3. I'm not sure about Saw 4 and Saw 5, however) a few weeks ago, along with Saw 2 and Fight Club (all less than [...] bucks! What a steal!)
Anyway, It seems like the wait was worth it. Saw, really on all parts, hits well, much more than the idiot critics who think otherwise. The acting certainly BIG TIME _________ exceeds High School Theater (meaning it's better than average, or at least GETS THE JOB DONE AND DARN WELL), and the sets and visual style are stylish. What makes it even more impressive is the budget of this movie, which is a mere 1.2 million (as much as Reservoir Dogs, which was released 12 years earlier). That makes this figure seem more impressive since this movie seems so polished and well-made. The sets themselves are gritty, industrial decayed, and grimy, just the way I like it! This movie shows that low budget doesn't automatically mean Ed Wood (though that's kind of unfair, because, come on, who doesn't love the hilariously so bad it's good flicks of Ed Wood?).
To be honest, I often don't feel that Saw is a horror movie. SOme people seem to _____ about Saw being more gruesome than scary, thinking it's trying to hard to scare. I say those people can go _______ themselves and go back to trying to submit yourself to the most extreme use of violence, gore, and $#%. YAWN. I also say that I view Saw as more of a thriller, with a psychological aspect and more emphasis on gore than a usual thriller. If anything, the pain some of people are subject to may be a horror element, but there not enough of that (at least in this movie) to make this a horror movie. I don't know, just my take on why Saw isn't as scary as people are making it out to be.
Jigsaw and the movie in general has been compared to Seven quite a bit, and while I think that they are somewhat similar in some senses, Jigsaw is a much more interesting and complex character. The "killer", John Kramer, actually has a shred of moral in him, at least showing some hope for the person, unlike John Doe did. Yeah, I'm kind of rambling on here, but I think Saw has some pretty good character development, and does a good job showing the vices of the characters Jigsaw picked to test. That's one reason why this movie has a psychological aspect to it, which makes it a lot better than the other lame "torture porn" (which is a silly and unfair label for Saw) films such as Hostel (I'll save that one for later?).
The movie even ends great, as it sets up the movie that it satisfies both the need for a sequel, yet if you think you understand the motives and characters enough, there's no need to really watch the other ones (I disagree with the latter, but that's only beacuse I find interest in the series more than others). It doesn't quite make a five star rating, but that doesn't really mean much anyway. There is nothing wrong with Saw, so that means you should see it and avoid all the negative baggage this movie gets.
B+
lossy audio and mpeg2 -- pass on purchasing until a re-issue 1. Saw is one of the early blu-ray releases, so it's a single-layer (25GB) disc. It uses a high bit-rate MPEG2 encoding, which just can't keep up with some of the finer details and fast camera moves. As such, it looks a little better than what you would see on your HD satelite service.
2. While the DTS-ES track is nice, it's still lossy audio. Given how dialogue driven this film is, this isn't too big of a deal.
If this bluray is on super-sale (<$8), and you LOVE the film, go for it. Otherwise, I would just record it on your DVR from whatever satelite/fiber HD service you have and watch that until a re-issued bluray with VC-1 and DTS-HD master audio comes out.
Saw 4 is a goo scary movie and a 4 star DVD At the time I watched this it was unlike a lot of horror movies that are out there. In fact it was better because it wasn't about going around and killing people with knifes this movie really messed with your mind, maybe you think because of all the twist and turns and was more of a sadistic killing then stabbing people. I really like this saw movie it ranks up there for me it's better than 3 for sure and I feel its tired with the fourth one. People will downgrade the movie now and saw it can get boring but these are the same people that were praising it when it came out. I believe the directors put a lot of time in the storyline and they were more active then the first movie. But this movie set the foundation for the saw series. It no dought I believe is helping save horror movies in the sense that it is bringing in a lot of money and the movie had a low budget. In the end this is a solid movie and you definitely have to pick it up most places you can find it for $6.99 a 4 star DVD for me.
THE DEAD GUY ON THE FLOOR ISN'T REALLY DEAD - HE'S THE KILLER & HE GETS UP AT THE END It's weird how the dead guy in the middle of the floor isn't dead & how he turns out to be the killer and wakes up at the end, it's a real surprise ending. Anyone who hasn't seen it would appreciate the surprise ending, it was a treat!
One of the best modern horror movies. In an age when a decent new horror movie far and few between, Saw is a godsend. This is an incredibly violent and gory movie, one of the goriest to make it into theatres in a long time. All of the deaths are incredibly unique using some crazy weird traps/tests. The plot is very original and takes some slight twists along the way with one major twist that absolutely nobody saw coming. Jigsaw is one of the coolest villains in a long time, and actually has reasons for these killings which is a nice change. The movie has a few shocks and scares and builds some suspense here and there, but it focuses more on how terrible the situation is the the two characters' attempts to get out of it. The acting is solid, nothing special but not bad considering it's a horror movie. The ending is one of the best I've seen ina horror movie as well. Overall it's a really great horror movie that at least deserves a rent.
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