Sunday, October 18, 2015

The Jigsaw Pieces: Revisiting the Franchise

I'm oddly particular about horror films. On the one hand, I find a certain exhilaration in the genuineness of characters in a life or death situation. Nobody has to be nice or worry about their careers, they just have to survive. It's simple and it's refreshing. But on the other hand, I've never been one to really get absorbed into the whole Roman Coliseum mentality of violent entertainment.

Now don't get me wrong, I love physical comedy. I can spend hours watching epic fail videos of skateboarders diving through restaurant windows, probably because I feel they deserve what's coming to them for getting off the couch and doing something productive. But the moment I see blood, it stops being fun for me.

Suffice to say, a horror movie/series has to really have something special about it to get me to engage, but once it has me it has to work really hard to push me away. The Saw franchise managed to do just that. I've seen the Halloweens, Friday the 13ths, and Child's Plays, but they were always in retrospect. Saw wound up being MY horror franchise; I discovered it at its beginning (on DVD, but still) and followed it through its highs and lows and lower lows to its repulsive conclusion.

Ultimately the Saw series feels like that 'wrong' relationship that was great in bed but you really couldn't imagine raising kids with. So being a mere two weeks away from the Elsas and Iron Men that are invariably going to be hammering on the front door demanding handouts that they'll never deserve, why don't we reflect back on one of our great modern horror icons?


Saw

The original film was actually a clever setup. It was 2004. The Room Escape game hadn't really sprung up in its full glory yet, but there's a universality behind the concept of being trapped in a dangerous situation where there IS a way out, if you only use your brain hard enough

A lot of people equate Saw with the torture porn subgenre. I don't think it's an accurate assessment, even if the films do cross the line. But in this first film, the violence is surprisingly limited. We see enough to make us feel like we're seeing even more. We see that reverse bear trap going off in Amanda's mouth, even though we clearly don't see it. The movie is psychologically terrifying. And Jigsaw is at his most enigmatic, being completely behind the scenes for the whole film.

I fell for the story because of how intricately creative it was. Are there plot holes? Yeah, of course. But the thing is done so well that they don't really matter. And I really liked seeing writer Leigh Whannell as a main character.

Highlights: The reverse bear trap. The twist after twist in the third act. The gallows humor. The claustrophobic setting. Billy the Puppet's introduction.

Lowlights: Not much. Dr. Gordon's meltdown at the end maybe feels a little forced.

Saw II

I know a lot of people consider this one to be the best in the series. I disagree, but it was a decent follow up. The big strength is Jigsaw's performance. They didn't have to cast an actor of Tobin Bell's caliber for the tiny amount of screen time his character got in the first film. But they did. Let's face it, the series never would have lasted without him.

Even after he dies in the series, Jigsaw remains the star player. He's the crazed chess master who anticipates your moves well into the next game. His twisted sense of morality is the primary reason I was so captivated by the series. He truly believes he's doing something positive, and it's an exciting horror to watch unfold.

So instead of two characters trapped in a room together, we have an ensemble trapped in a house. This story arc is never fully realized, as two characters essentially do nothing. And the filmmakers kept insisting in interviews that Obi (the arsonist) and his connection to Jigsaw was going to matter at some point. But that never got addressed except in the video game, which may or may not be canon.

Donnie Wahlberg is decent as Detective Matthews. He's not Cary Elwes, but he's effective as the new flawed lead. His story is particularly tragic in that he never finds out his son is still alive. Amanda is back, and Shawnee Smith is brilliant in the role. Dina Meyer reprises and expands her character Allison Kerry from the first film to a likable level, and Lyriq Bent makes his debut as Daniel Rigg. The story is expanding in really solid ways.

Highlights: The new cast. Amanda is a great villain. Jigsaw is incredibly charismatic. The traps are getting a smidge more clever

Lowlights: The B story arc feels really unpolished, they could have had so much more fun with the house. And what is it they're dying of? Also, the opening trap was just dumb, nobody would cut out their eye like that. That guy was dead from the beginning.

Saw III

Yilck. This is our first real misstep. We had three scenes in a row that were uncomfortably gruesome, bordering on abusive to the audience. First, Detective Matthews breaks his foot. Then we have the scene with Troy, that I'm just not going to describe here. Suffice to say, it started the trend of Jigsaw victims doing what they're supposed to do to survive and still being killed anyway, which undermines Jigsaw's appeal. And then Allison Kerry is killed, for reasons I still can't figure out, completely wasting a good character.

Then we get to Jeff Denlon's story, played by Angus Macfadyen. Macfayden is a decent actor but I never warmed up to his character, which meant I was never really invested in his story. And the traps this time around are just mean. I know later we find out that it's Detective Hoffman's doing, but it just doesn't feel justifiable. Story duo James Wan and Leigh Whannell were leaving the franchise on this film, and I kind of sense they intended this to be the last in the series.

We get to spend more time with Amanda, but she's become a little too crazy to care about anymore. And Jigsaw is on his deathbed, so he's not in top form either. Big cringing meh on this one.

Highlights: Hmm, let me think. Um. The single character walking through a series of horrifying encounters works as a formula. The series will do it better in the future.

Lowlights: Just about everything. Jigsaw is killed. Amanda is killed. Kerry is killed. Look, I know it's horror, but these movies still have to have a naughty fun factor completely missing from Saw III. Oh yeah, and the guy on the cross? Way over the line guys.

Saw IV

The most amazing thing about this movie is how the new production team was able to write themselves out of a blatant dead-end.

Okay, let's address the elephant in the room. There is a graphic miscarriage scene in this film. I wasn't bothered by it, but I have male anatomy. My wife was so unsettled by the scene that it put her off to the whole series. Now the scene is important to the plot, so it's not as simple as saying the scene shouldn't have been in the movie. It's also worth noting that not every female audience member will react as strongly to the scene as my wife did, but I do know that she wasn't alone in thinking it was too much.

So who's to decide then? Well in the primary production team listing, I'm not seeing a single female's name. Would having that one vote of approval end the discussion? Of course not. But I have to say that my wife and the people who agree with her have a valid point, and it would go a long way to hear that the team really did have a similar discussion about where the line was before going that route.

But leaving that topic unresolved, the rest of this movie is really entertaining. The fun factor is back and the traps are starting to feel like they actually mean something. Realism may be slipping away, but we're getting a deranged Tex Avery cartoon feel to the proceedings, and it pays off.

Rigg is the central character in this one, and I really find myself rooting for him. Of course it's a Saw movie so it's not going to end well, but the guy really, really tried.

Highlights: We're moving away from horror and more into thriller territory, which gives us a freshness. The multiple story arcs blend together much more smoothly than ever. Both Rigg and Matthews meet tragic ends, and yet it's weirdly satisfying in a non-sadistic way.

Lowlights: The miscarriage scene. Leftover plot points from the past movie are unceremoniously discarded.

Saw V

Costas Mandylor is an underrated actor. But unfortunately, he is probably always going to be known for playing Jigsaw lite. It doesn't help that nobody really gives a shit about his character. Saw V focuses on Detective Hoffman as he takes over Jigsaw's.

But here is the first problem. Why? If his motivation were ultimately to find a way out, then I could relate to him. But he actually seems to want to become the next Jigsaw, and it doesn't make any sense. He doesn't have Jigsaw's twisted conviction to test the world. Instead he may just be enjoying the power to decide who lives and dies. If we were back in Saw I territory that might be an acceptable motive, but by this point we've grown to practically revere Jigsaw as the antihero of the whole franchise. It just feels like we're doomed now.

We've had a Saw movie every October now, which is basically like watching cinematic television, and this is the entry that really starts to feel like a dead horse. There's a plot involving one of the federal agents from the previous film, and some crap about an apartment complex that burned down. But the story is missing its focus, and its star. Damn it! I went to see the midnight showing of this!

Highlights: I'm not convinced there were any. Julie Benz was in it, and her character had some real potential. I think it would actually have been way cooler if the people going through the traps DID in fact figure out how to work together while they were all still alive.

Lowlights: Well, the movie for one. The whole franchise was just feeling stretched too thin.

Saw VI

Okay, how the hell did that happen? They pulled victory from the jaws of indifference. Keeping the movies going after Jigsaw's death was pretty creative, but Saw VI was a freaking magic trick. Unfortunately nobody went to see it.

In order for an audience to 'enjoy' a horror film, you have to make it 'okay' for characters to die. That's why in slasher films the victims have to be doing drugs, or having sex, or flashing their breasts (I've never been clear on why that last one is such a problem). This movie gives us the insurance company that denied a pre-Jigsaw John Kramer coverage for medical treatment that he needed. It's a great premise, and it probably gives Jigsaw his most screen time since Saw II.

But the predominant mystery here is about Jigsaw's wife Jill (not Hacksaw like we were hoping) and whether or not she is A: in on his life as a vigilante, and B: going to make it out of the plot alive. After Hoffman loses any sympathy we may have had for him, it's Jill to the twist ending, sticking the fallen detective in the infamous reverse bear trap. He manages to escape it, but not without permanently damaging his face. It's gratifying in a way, and Saw VI is the closest the series gets to a happy ending.

It really could have ended there.

Highlights: The traps have a metaphorical significance again. More Jigsaw! I happen to like Jill's character. Hoffman overestimated himself and got burned. The new characters are actually engaging.

Lowlights: I can only think of one. This wasn't the way the series ended.

Saw 3D

F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! Son of a f*cking- You HAD to do it! Didn't you? You had to ruin the whole f*cking series with this f*cking crash grab! Alright, let me take a minute to remember there might be children reading my review...(F****CK!!!!)

The Saw series is essentially for two audiences, the ones who love character studies (me) and the lovers of gore (people other than me). The original film found an audience in the former, then picked up the more mainstream second audience along the way. For several years they were doing a decent job appeasing both audiences. But then this damned thing happened with the studio telling my audience that we were no longer needed. Sorry, just one more. F*ck you a**holes!

Even director Kevin Greutert was appalled at having to fulfill his contract to do this movie. Former cop Hoffman is willing to kill every cop in his precinct just to get Jill, and I lost track of the body count, but he may have succeeded. Yeah, cops don't really last long in horror films, but there's a threshold where it just stops being okay.

And on top of everything else, Jigsaw's superpower is his ability to out-think anyone else. But his 'way out' that he provided for his wife is the very thing that gets her killed gruesomely in the reverse bear trap. Everything about this movie is unforgivable, and I have never gone back and watched any of the previous movies (that I used to love) since.

Oh yeah, there's another B story, with a guy who lies about being a Jigsaw victim to sell a fake memoir. This gets quite a few people around him murdered; including his completely innocent wife, who burns to death in front of him. I didn't just walk away from this movie heartbroken, I was honestly unsettled.

Highlights: None. Please refer to the profanity above.

Lowlights: I will never forgive this series.


Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan took over the writing responsibilities beginning with Saw IV, and the only happy ending I can pull out of it is their over the top gorefest The Collector and its sequel The Collection. The first movie was written as a potential Saw prequel but then became its own thing. I mention them because I just can't encourage anyone to even check out the earlier Saw films, thats how mad the last movie made me. But I can say The Collector/tion is the spiritual successor to that franchise. It's way bloodier if that's what you want, it has a really awesome protagonist to face off with the killer, and the single most satisfying ending to a horror story that I've ever seen.

Sorry Jigsaw, but I've moved on.

Game over.

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