Saw (film)

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Saw
Saw film poster
Directed by	James Wan
Produced by	Gregg Hoffman Peter Block Lark Bernini
Written by	James Wan Leigh Whannell
Starring	Cary Elwes Leigh Whannell Danny Glover Monica Potter
Music by	Charlie Clouser Fear Factory Pitbull Daycare Front Line Assembly
Cinematography	David A. Armstrong
Editing by	Kevin Greutert
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release date(s)	October 29, 2004
Running time	102 min.
Language	English
Budget	$1,200,000 (estimated)
Followed by	Saw II
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Saw is a 2004 thriller / horror movie, directed by James Wan and co-written by Wan and Leigh Whannell. The movie took only 18 days to film and was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004 and saw an international release later that year on October 29. The film was originally rated NC-17 for strong graphic violence. This version is available as Saw: Uncut Edition, a DVD special edition of Saw released around the same time that Saw II was released theatrically. The difference between the R rated and the unrated version is minimal. The film is #3 on Bravo's 30 Even Scarier Movie Moments. A sequel, Saw II, was released on October 28, 2005 and another, Saw III, was released on October 27, 2006.

[edit] Plot

As the film begins, an unconscious young man is submerged in the water of an old bathtub. He soon regains consciousness, and thrashes out of the bathtub in a panicked state. After a voice speaks to the man, several ceiling lights turn on, revealing the area to be a grimy industrial washroom with a man on the opposite end. The man introduces himself as Lawrence Gordon(Cary Elwes), a surgeon. The young man who awoke in the bathtub is later revealed to be a photographer named Adam Faulkner(Leigh Whannell). The two are chained by their ankles to pipes, and in the center of the room, is a bloody corpse. The corpse holds in one hand a revolver, in the other a tape recorder.

Adam and Gordon soon both find envelopes in their pockets. The two open the envelopes to find cassette tapes labeled "Play Me". Along with the tape in Gordon's envelope is a key and a bullet. Upon eventually retrieving the tape player from the corpse, Adam inserts his tape, in which the ominous voice of an unknown man plays. The voice personally addresses Adam, telling him that the room he is in may be the one he dies in, unless he does something about it. As the tape ends, a frightened and confused Adam obtains Doctor Gordon's tape, and plays it as well. The same voice addresses Gordon, alerting him that his wife and daughter will die unless he kills Adam in a set amount of time. The shocked pair desperately tries to escape from their chains, until Doctor Gordon comes to a conclusion of who their captor is.

Adam Faulkner(Leigh Whannell) awakens to find himself chained in a large, industrial washroom, along with Dr. Lawrence Gordon(Cary Elwes).

Gordon explains that the only person capable of their trap is the Jigsaw Killer. Gordon then says that he was once thought to be the true identity of the killer.

In various flashback sequences, two detectives, David Tapp(Danny Glover) and Steven Sing(Ken Leung), are shown examining the aftermaths of the Jigsaw Killer's deadly traps and their victims. Later, Doctor Gordon is called away from his hospital work by the two detectives to discuss his place in the killings. Gordon pleads innocence to his lawyer, but is told to view and listen to Jigsaw's only surviving victim, Amanda Young. Shaken, Amanda explains how she narrowly escaped her gruesome trap. She states that she felt 'helped' by the killer, as it is revealed Jigsaw's true intentions are only to alert people of how they are throwing their lives away.

As the flashbacks end and the film returns to the present, Adam and Gordon discover a video camera in a one-way mirror, recording their movements. Meanwhile, Detective Tapp, still convinced that Doctor Gordon is the true identity of the Jigsaw Killer, studies more on the killer's location. It is revealed that soon after the film's flashbacks, Tapp's partner Sing was killed in one of Jigsaw's traps, and Tapp's throat was sliced by a cloaked figure.

In the washroom, Gordon finds two cigarettes, a lighter, and a cell phone that only receives calls. At this point, he regains his memory as to what had happened directly before being captured and put into the washroom. He soon gets the idea that he and Adam will fake the latter's death in order to escape. The plan backfires when Adam is given a jolt of electricity that surges through his chains. Afterward, Adam regains his memory as well.

Gordon soon finds that a photograph in Adam's possession reveals a man, Zep (Michael Emerson), an orderly at the hospital Doctor Gordon works at, holding Gordon's wife and child under hostage. Gordon is convinced Zep is the true Jigsaw Killer.

Soon afterwards, the time limit displayed in the room expires, and a panicked Gordon discovers that the only way to escape is to saw off his chained foot. Detective Tapp finds Zep, the two struggle, and Tapp is shot and left for dead. In the washroom, Gordon grabs the gun from the corpse's hand, and reluctantly shoots Adam. Sobbing, he cries out that he had completed his task and killed Adam.

Zep arrives in the washroom and tells Gordon that the time has expired, until an injured Adam springs to life and tackles Zep. Adam grabs the tank lid from the nearby toilet and smashes Zep's skull with it, killing him. Tearfully, Doctor Gordon tells Adam he needs to leave to find help, and crawls away, out through the open door.

Horrified, Adam soon reaches through Zep's pockets in order to find a key to escape from his own chains. Instead, he finds another tape player, revealing that Zep was in fact, not Jigsaw, but rather another victim in Jigsaw's games.

The body in the middle of the room rises, exposing the true identity of the Jigsaw Killer. He tells a deeply shocked Adam that the only key to his chains was in the bathtub, in which Adam recalls an object that was swept down the drain when he awoke. Jigsaw slowly approaches the open door, and tells Adam, "Game over". He slams the door shut, and the screen fades to black. Adam's anguished screaming echoes throughout the room as the credits roll.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Response

Saw was a financial success: shot on a meager budget of about US$1.2 million, it earned over $55 million at the box office. ^[1]

Critical responses were mixed: Saw earned a 45% rating from Rotten Tomatoes, and a 29% rating from the "cream of the crop" (the most esteemed professional critics), qualifying it as "rotten."^[2]

Audience response was positive, as Saw has both a 74% "fresh" user rating at Rotten Tomatoes, and a 7.6 score on the Internet Movie Database.^[3]

[edit] See also

• List of traps in the Saw film series
• Twist ending
• Saw II
• Saw III

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Saw (film)

• Official site
• Saw at the Internet Movie Database
• Saw at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official Message Board

[edit] References