Over the years I have been a dedicated Saw fan. Having seen every film on opening night, I stood by the series as public interest began to stagger. A final chapter tagline had me in a predicament as I wanted another film, just not a 'final' film. But here I stand, shortly after seeing Saw 3-D (aka Saw VII) and I am officially ready to throw in the towel.
While the first six films were story centric, the latest installment was nothing more than an onslaught of traps that bore little meaning to the overall story that we had been following over the past seven years. New characters were brought in from every which direction, confusing story lines were left in limbo, and the initial reappearance of many stars from previous films created the opportunity for countless reveals - there were ultimately none to be had.
I hate when twists are brought out from left field in order to get an actor into a movie, and the film turned into a power trip by those vying to continue Jigsaw's legacy. Both of these factors serve as huge turn offs for the series' most faithful followers. Combine that with the fact that our legacy holder begins doing everything that Jigsaw preached not to do and the film lost its entire focus.
I will say that a few of the traps were well played out; however, for the most part, they were quite uninteresting. In a nutshell, there were simply too many. The film appeared to venture from one to the next with little to no downtime, making the film seen very structured and formulaic.
The mere absence of Jigsaw in hardly any new footage takes this film down several notches, especially considering how much of a staple he is to the overall series. I did enjoy the central story of a writer who is making it big with his story of survival; however, again,it deterred from the main focus of the series.
Saw 3-D is a terrible final chapter to one of the most highly addictive horror franchises of my lifetime. I can only pray that they either make another one (without Kevin Greutert behind the lens), or that people forget that this one even exists. Hopefully I'll venture to watch it again on DVD and enjoy it much more. It is doubtful, but here's to hoping!
