Jigsaw: Let the Games Begin — Part 3 of 8

I’ve had seven years to solidify my opinion on the ranking of the first seven SAW films. With just under one month until the franchise’s return, I continue with the third film in the franchise. And ending with a relatively hot take of the newest film.

This series will summarize each movie’s plot / interesting points, with some commentary about why it’s silly or cool, etc.

Continuing the countdown of SAW movies, much like a clock ticking down in one of the many gruesome traps in the series, we head into SAW III, the final film saw in the series to feature original creator/writer Leigh Whannel, and the beginning of the franchise’s fulfillment of the ‘torture porn’ prophecy.

V. SAW III

In my experience, there’s little room for doubt over SAW V and 3D being the weakest films in the franchise but, beyond that it starts to become more loosely defined. Perhaps some people would argue this but, I haven’t met them so from my lived experience I don’t think the rankings thus far have been “controversial”.

SAW III is bad. I know people will ask why I think this film is better than SAW IV, or SAW VI but, god, it’s just not that great. This is the moment where these movies REALLY begin earn their “rotten” scores on Rotten Tomatoes. The first two films are violent, and incredibly disturbing but watching them now they seem tame compared to what followed.

And we have this film to thank for that. It starts out with a trap way more cringe-inducing and disturbing than those previously — a man has to tear hooks from his skin before he’s killed by a bomb. Even with the franchise’s predilection for gross ways to die and quick camera cuts, it’s hard to watch.

But setting aside the ultra-violence at an all new ultra-high… it’s a bad movie. Leigh Whannel helped write this entry but you can tell he did out of a morbid sense of duty.

SAW III is an angry film. One of the producers of the franchise, Greg Hoffman, passed away shortly after the release of SAW II. From what I understand his death affected Whannel’s willingness to depart from the writing duties after SAW II — leading him to write this film as a way to cope with the mourning. I could have this completely wrong. Either way, this is a film about anger, loss, and forgiveness more so than either film beforehand.

The traps are disgusting — a women is stripped naked and will freeze to death unless a key is grabbed but — the pipes in the room are so cold that you will stick to them and get hurt trying to tear yourself off them. That’s not even a “violent” one in this film. There’s a silo trap where a factory line drops pig corpses into a grinder and the guts fill the silo. The thing is… there’s a dude imprisoned in the silo and he will drown in the guts. Most disturbing of all is the crucifix trap in which a dude has his arms, legs, and head twisted off.

The victims in each trap are helpless — we see Jigsaw’s tests of worth mantra stretch here — with the idea being the protagonist, Jeff, having to forgive these people and risk his own life to save them.

Jeff, you see, lost his son in a tragic hit and run prior to the film. He’s been enraged by this, it cost him his marriage and his daughter seems upset by how angry her father is. His daughter is very young, and just so happens to be the young child Hoffman (the character, not the producer) carries out of the factory in SAW V.

Confused? It’s okay, SAW III setups confusion expansion to the series. Detective Hoffman is introduced in this film, with only one scene — he picks up a piece of evidence in the “flesh chain” trap, pockets it, and isn’t seen until SAW IV. That’s the first confusing point, and it serves only to let the franchise continue after this movie. Meanwhile — Allison Kerry, the Detective from SAW and SAW II gets her own trap, and she actually passes it.

But in a franchise “first” her trap can’t be won. We learn this just as Kerry does, horrifyingly realising that despite putting her hand in a jar of acid to grab a key and unlock a thing that’ll rip her ribcage open she’s still fucked and she sees the person responsible right as she dies. This doesn’t make sense — Jigsaw always has a way to win, I mean setting aside Adam’s trap being completely dependent on how calmly he can wake up in a tub full of water without the key to his chain falling down the drain in the first movie.

This setups a string of flashbacks giving light to how Amanda became Jigsaw’s apprentice. Cool stuff happens here, and some less than great stuff happens too. We learn why Amanda is cutting her wrists in SAW II (not so great or necessary, also generally and weirdly hypocritical given Jigsaw tests someone in the first movie for self mutilation), we learn she has some disagreements with her new teacher (namely, Adam’s fate) and about whether some people should have a second chance.

The cool things are mostly things that are nice to know now that this is a franchise that relies on spinning things we’ve seen to trick us. How did Jigsaw wake up after countless hours at the end of the original film? We see that happen, and learn Amanda helped with that trap and met Adam before kidnapping him. She also kills him out of mercy.

These flashbacks are happening while Amanda forces a nurse at a local hospital to operate on Jigsaw’s brain tumor. You see he’s pretty much doomed at this stage and needs help fast. It’s the only grisly thing that isn’t also disturbing. It’s still unnecessary — having a sequence where we watch brain surgery happen with makeshift tools but, it’s less inherently fucked up than say having your head explode from a shotgun collar because of Jigsaw dying. The nurse, Lynn recognizes Jigsaw as John Kramer, saying he was Dr. Gordon’s patient. This is cool because it hints that Dr. Gordon isn’t forgotten (you have to remember, Cary Elwes was in dispute with Lionsgate due to money issues from the first film — him coming back seemed unlikely until after SAW VI) and that maybe he ended up working for Jigsaw? Obviously, director Darren Lynn Bousman consistently denied that intent even if SAW 3D said “fuck you” to that.

Lynn, we will later learn, is the estranged wife of Jeff. We’re not supposed to see this coming (it’s a “twist”) because the movie shows her with another man at the beginning. But come on, it’s telegraphed pretty quickly. Her part mostly serves as fodder for the final moments, and to let Jigsaw and Amanda get screen time. We learn Amanda has found a letter, and this letter motivates her to turn rather manic later in the film, feeling like she’s failed her mentor and getting violent. She shoots Lynn, and that’s when it comes crashing down.

Lynn gets shot. Jeff, who has just tried to pass his tests, even forgives everyone but fails to save any of them (well, he saves the man in the silo but he gets killed later), rushes into Jigsaw’s operating room, sees Amanda has shot his wife and kills Amanda on site. He realizes, also, that Jigsaw is there on the room, and kills him with an surgical buzz saw.

That shotgun collar I mentioned earlier? It activates, kills Lynn. Jeff finds a final tape from Jigsaw and we learn that not only was Jeff misunderstanding the point of this test… he’s also fucked.

I mentioned Jeff has a daughter, and we see Hoffman with that daughter in SAW V. Jigsaw’s first tape tells Jeff that if he passes he will “find the truth about who took his child from him” and you assume this means his dead son, but no! Jigsaw kidnapped his daughter.

SAW III ends with most people wondering where the next few movies go, because at this point we’re already aware SAW has been renewed for up to 8 movies total. It does give us more insight on the ending of SAW II though! Detective Matthews is smart, and we learn the pipes near the shithole bathroom from the first film are REALLY HOT. You see, Detective Matthews bashes his foot in (he’s near the busted hacksaw Adam had) slips out of the chain and follows Amanda before getting in a fight and somebody gets burned by a pipe. We believe he’s dead now though.

We also see, second victim in the house of SAW II, Obi, is in a fever dream flashback Jigsaw has of his ex-wife. We don’t know what Obi is doing there. Turns out we never will.

SAW III suffers from its overindulgence in violence. This is a violent, viciously pessimistic franchise and SAW III takes that to the next level, effectively dooming the rest of the series to a “bigger is more” mentality in the sense of “more violence and more complicated traps = money” sense. And, to some degree? It makes sense. If I remember right, this is the still the most commercially successful film in the entire series.

It’s also a massive jumping of the shark. We are expecting another five movies, knowing that the main character is dead? And his apprentice? Obviously, more is afoot — we know some dude stole evidence. And we also don’t know if Dr. Gordon has a role to play yet, regardless of if Cary Elwes would return.

Of course, on top of that it’s also the last film to feature the involvement of the original writer. New writers come in for the remaining films, and their previous work on a movie called Feast shows that they’re likely going to be good at ultra-violence.

Funnily enough, there first go at a SAW film holds a special place in my heart. Next up, it’s SAW IV — a movie that’s probably actually worse than the this movie but I still hold in higher regard.

The list so far:

1. SAW 3D: The Final Chapter
2. SAW V
3. SAW III
4. SAW IV (next!)
5. ???
6. ???
7. ???

(Sorted from Worst to Best)