Review: Saw 3D

Saw 3D (2010)

Genre: Horror

Format: Theatrical Release

Director: Kevin Greutert

No, don't expect to see to see a giant statue of the death-traps obsessed serial killer being built in the movie - the posters for the recent Saw films have always been misleading - but you can certainly expect another round of delicious nastiness that you usually get from this impressive horror series. With its continuous success and its ability to defy the horror sequel curse with the movies getting better and better with each entry instead of the other way around, I don't understand why this movie is being marketed as "The Final Chapter", especially after seeing how everything ended. Still, if that claim did end up to be true, Saw 3D is certainly a worthy final entry into the best horror franchise ever made.

Saw 3D continued where Saw VI left off: with two of Jigsaw's "followers" trying to kill each other off. The internal struggle between the Jigsaw family members has been a very intriguing addition to the plot formula ever since it was introduced in Saw III. If you have been paying attention to it, you should get yourself ready for a cathartic payoff here thanks to a very special trap that seems to keep reappearing from one film to the next. Of course just because there is a dysfunction within the Jigsaw hierarchy, it doesn't mean that the "sinful" members of the public are safe from Jigsaw's wrath. This time, the main player of the game here is a self-proclaimed survivor of Jigsaw's trap who has found wealth and popularity thanks to his "survival" book publication and media appearances. The traps that this guy faces are truly no match in comparison to those found in part VI in terms of pure evil but there are couple of really horrific ones and just when I thought that things tamed down a bit at the very end, the sudden grandiose and exaggerated nature the final trap's closure will go down in history as one of the most sadistic deaths in horror cinema.

The movie was shot using a specialized 3D camera but more importantly, the 3D effects found in this movie are well implemented and done so in a subtle fashion. This is the first Real-D movie where the 3D looks very natural and there was no sign of that flat layering that I come to expect with this technology. Kudos to Kevin Greutert for understanding the importance of realistic depth perception: the 3D here is not just a distraction, but it is a natural part of the experience. This is certainly the best looking 3D movie I have seen thus far, second only of course to James Cameron's legendary Avatar. Though you should expect some blood and body parts to come splattering all over your face, the occurrence of that is set to a minimum and when they happen, they look quite realistic. Speaking of blood and guts, this is the goriest of all the Saw films. I heard that the movie had to be edited down rather heavily to get the "R" rating so I cannot wait to watch the original cut when the movie is released on Blu-ray.

Saw 3D is not the best of all the Saw films, but that is because it is probably impossible to top off part VI. It is however a well-made film that should never have been as good as it ended up being. We are talking about the 7th entry of a horror franchise here and if you look at all the past horror series that came before it, the Saw franchise is definitely a landmark achievement for the genre. I would say that if they could keep this up, there should be no reason why we can't have a Saw VIII, with or without the 3D.

RATING: 5 out of 5

Not all Saw films are equal to each other.

Here's how I rank them from top to bottom:

Saw VI

Saw 3D

Saw V

Saw

Saw IV

Saw III

Saw II