Now that's overrated.

[yendi]

I finally got around to watching Saw this past Friday.

Wow.

Saw, in a word, sucks.

Could a movie have sucked any more?

Seriously, I'm not sure I've ever seen a movie with a dumber set of characters. And I've been watching horror films for 25 years.

Dumb victims are bad enough. But the cops in this movie -- particularly Sing and Tapp -- are the dumbest on-screen police officers this side of Cadet Tackleberry. There's an extended flashback scene involving those two characters that features the worst police work of all time. If I hadn't been watching it on my Tivo, I'd have thrown things at the screen. It was truly that bad.

My comment earlier this week about Dark Water being a better concept for an anthology series than feature film apply doubly here. Saw was about thirty seconds of great idea bogged down by two hours of bad writing, awful directing, and utter stupidity. I haven't seen the "original short film" from the DVD, but I have a hunch it had every good moment from the movie itself (which would, come to think of it, make it just like the trailer).

Good performances by Tobin Bell and (in the overacting vein) Cary Elwes. The rest of the cast mostly phoned it in, but frankly, with material like this, why bother putting any effort into it?

Comments

[philrancid.livejournal.com]

Glad to find someone else who found this thing irritating. And now my resolve has been bolstered, such that I can avoid the sequels.

Another one that irritated me? Hostel.

[yendi]

Glad another horror fan felt annoyed by it.

I didn't even bother with Hostel. Eli Roth's earlier movie (Cabin Fever) struck me as impressive, but marred by a major streak of self-indulgence (the harmonica scene, the entire ending). And everything I saw regarding Hostel led me to believe that he was more, not less, self-indulgent there.

Sharing the word (Mike Russell reviews "Saw")

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Yendi,

You might like this: Portland's Mike Russell re-posted his reviews of Saw and Saw II. ("Saw II is better. Not that that's saying much.")

He added them to his write-up about his reaction to Saw III. Check the comment I added to it (he said, shamelessly).)

Re: Sharing the word (Mike Russell reviews "Saw")

[yendi]

Thanks! I agree with him 100% on the first movie (other than on Elwes, who I thought handled things rather well).

[sistermaryeris.livejournal.com]

Ugh, agreed. I've seen Saw and Saw 2 (also not worth it). The endings SUCK too. I expected much much more.

[envoy.livejournal.com]

Saw had plot holes you could drive a mac truck through. In fact, it had plot holes that you could drive Optimus Prime through and while still within the hole he could comfortably transform.

And to divert from "Saw"...

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thought you'd like that.

And I've meant to ask: is that a raccoon or a ferrett or what dressed as Green Lantern? And where the hell did that come from? ;-)

[rafaela.livejournal.com]

I have my own rating system for movies. It goes something like this:

-Worth an evening show
-Worth a matinee
-Worth a second-run theatre
-Worth a rental
-Watch it on cable
-Can I have those two hours of my life back? Please?

I'm guessing this one fit into the last category.

[thelastrobot.livejournal.com]

I never watched Saw, but its true brilliance is in making a movie so cheaply that everything the movie makes is pure profit. Then they let you keep making your rubbish movies and no one complains.

Dark Water

[curt-holman.livejournal.com]

I watched half of the original 'Dark Water' a year or two ago (in advance of whenever the remake came out), and liked it fine (much more than the original 'The Grudge'), but for the life of me, I can't remember if I finished watching it or not. I think not, which does not speak well of it.

[averyslave.livejournal.com]

Yes. THANK you. Every Halloween, I am surprised all over again at how popular this series is, considering the state of the first one. Never saw the sequels, but I've heard they improve.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

The sequels deepen the mythos a bit — including more for Shawnee Smith to do — but it's still just the same implausibly diabolical crap.

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

Ick. I'll pass on the torture porn. The tongue scene or the tooth removal bits in Oldboy were about my limit of squick. I don't need two hours of that crap...

Re: And to divert from "Saw"...

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

It's Kiki! www.sluggy.com She's a ferret! She poings!

[amokk]

I think I'd be ok with the movies if they'd made the guy psychic instead of just terminal with cancer. At least then it'd make some sense.

[wakingdreaming.livejournal.com]

So completely disagree with you on this.

[yendi]

On which aspect of it? The plot, stupidity of the characters, acting, directing, etc?

Re: Dark Water

[yendi]

It was remarkably straightforward, and filled with only about fifteen minutes of significant plot, so I could easily see why it faded from memory.

Re: Dark Water

[yendi]

More Shawnee Smith is always a good thing (and I've read enough spoilers to know where things go with her character), but I'd rather see her in better films.

Re: Dark Water

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she's a good unsung actress (I enjoyed her in the Blob remake and The Stand), and she gets to play some interesting notes in the second and especially third Saw films, but she's better than that. She's got the chops to be the next Naomi Watts if some good directors pick her for choice projects.