One of the best things about “Saw III” is that it provides plenty of flashbacks to the previous two entries in the franchise. This allows people who have not seen the first two films to go ahead and enjoy the film without having to commit to seeing the full trilogy. This third film has a few big differences from the first two films, not the least of which is the fact that the illness of torture master Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) plays a crucial role in the story.
Jigsaw has a brain tumor that is slowly killing him, which is why he has taken apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith) under his wing. She is a very eager learner and is ready to do anything to keep him alive in a way that a wife might fight for the life of her husband. That includes kidnapping brilliant surgeon Lynn (Bahar Soomekh) to save Jigsaw’s life. Poor Lynn, who is having big marital problems, has a bomb strapped to her neck. The bomb is connected to his heart rate monitor and will go off if his heart stops beating. His brain tumor is critical, so even with her skills, he may not survive, which puts Lynn in a rather dire situation.
Meanwhile, Jigsaw and Amanda have rounded up a new set of people who they deem are unworthy of the life they have been given. They put them in a dark warehouse full of tests to see if their near-death experiences will get them to appreciate life more. The victims include Jeff (Angus Macfayden), a father whose child was killed in a car accident. It is hard enough for a parent to mourn the loss of a child, but even harder when the person responsible is still at large. In his lust for revenge, Jeff has lost sight of his wife and other child, so Jigsaw and Amanda take it upon themselves to put him in life-or-death circumstances to make him love life again.
Meanwhile, Lynn stays much calmer under pressure than most would be in her situation as she tries to save Jigsaw’s life. This would be much easier to do in a hospital, but they can’t leave the warehouse, so she has to make do with what is available. This includes using carpentry tools to perform brain surgery in an effort to save Jigsaw, herself, and Jeff as well. Time is running out for everyone as the film draws to a very surprising and suspenseful conclusion.
Director Darren Lynn Bousman expertly handles the torture scenes as Jeff and a few other unfortunate souls have to navigate Jigsaw’s warehouse of horrors. Though “Saw II” was fairly gory, he really ups the ante here, including sequences in a tub filled with slime and rotting pig carcasses that is as gross as any scene in “Hostel,” which is pretty much the cream of the torture film crop. He also does an excellent job of balancing the storylines, expertly cutting from the torture scenes back to Jigsaw’s deathbed.
Tobin Bell has a face that is made for scary movies, because he looks creepy and has eyes that are very hard to read. Nonetheless, Bell manages to make Jigsaw seem very empathetic here as a man facing his own mortality despite the fact that he feels he has a lot left to do in the world. His scenes with Smith are particular touching, since the two actors seem to have a very real chemistry. As Jigsaw’s condition worsens, he and Amanda share a few tender moments that will make viewers wonder if their relationship goes beyond a master teaching his apprentice.
Although Bell and Smith turn in great performances, the real gem here is Soomekh as Lynn. A normal person would probably cry, beg, and plead for his or her life, but Lynn rarely does any of these things. She displays a mostly cool demeanor because she can see that Amanda is coming more unhinged the closer Jigsaw gets to death. Soomekh displays some real acting chops here, her first big role in a major film. Before this film, she had mostly done small guest roles in television series, so she is something of a revelation on the screen here.
” Saw III ” feels like the closing of a trilogy, like it could be the final chapter of a franchise that started in 2004 with the groundbreaking “Saw.” The producers of the film were wise to include a surprise twist in the end that can serve as both closure or as the beginning of a new series of films. Either way, it is a satisfying conclusion to a franchise that brought torture and gore to a new cinematic level while managing to add a sprinkle of morality in at the same time.
