Review: Saw III

Saw III (2006)

With the box office success of the first two Saw films, Lionsgate made the third with the fourth clearly in mind. Towards the end of the film you can see certain objects prevalent in Saw IV and the ending itself leaves the viewer on a slightly anti climatic cliff hanger. Saw III certainly divided opinion amongst fans of the series. Many praised it for its emotional story and rather epic turn of events, but others slated it as a boring film, moving away from the tense rush of Saw II and swapping it for more character development and time put into the storyline. 

The film entails the first ever “road to redemption” set of challenges which became standard issue in the later Saw films, but Saw III probably did it best. The protagonist is Jeff, a grieving father who lost his son to a careless driver and has been consumed with revenge for far too long. He has to forgive those who accidentally contributed to his son’s death by saving them from various traps. Meanwhile, Jigsaw is on his deathbed, and calls in a doctor to perform life saving surgery all while Amanda watches events unfold.

The characters are certainly some of the best the series has to offer, just shy of Saw II. Mark Hoffman fills the void of Eric Matthews as the new detective, but the police force doesn’t feature outside the first half hour. The minor characters also help move the story onward with the viewer really caring about who lives and dies. While, Jigsaw’s character further develops when he mentions his past and recalls some bizarre memories. Finally, Amanda completes the line up, returning in a far less likeable fashion that usual, going from the hero in Saw II to the villain in Saw III.

Saw III definitely serves up the best collection of traps the series has to offer. One that involves a man drowning in pig fat, while Jeff has to save him must be one of the most memorable Saw traps. Another, known as “The Rack”, which sees a man at the mercy of a bone twisting machine, also goes down as one of Saw’s greatest.

The ending of Saw III is another thing that gives the film an advantage. The twist at the end is excellent and gives this film the honour of best ending in the Saw series. However, it’s the ending that holds the film back from Saw perfection. Despite it initially being a fantastic ending, the last conversation leaves us a cliff hanger that just seemed unnecessary. Still, the ending remains dramatic and even the completely off beat choice of credits music doesn’t detract from the atmosphere.

Overall, I thought Saw III was a fantastic film, and truly the only Saw film that I would qualify as that. The set of characters is solid, the traps are the best in the series, and the ending is the best in the series. The gore returns as prevalent as ever, and a surgical operation never looked so interesting. It would be nice if they featured “the hunt for Jigsaw” a little more, since the new Detective Hoffman hardly features and neither does Rigg. However, Saw III is powerful and truly of the perfect length.

Score: 8.0

Recommendation: Buy w/ Saw I and II.