Saw (2004)
Don’t waste your time or money. This movie will eventually be on HBO and you can almost consider it free at that time so it will be worth your money then (but still not your time) . This is a perfect example of the type of movie that pisses me off: a cool idea (although at least slightly stolen from other, better movies) that was messed up in almost every major category. The acting is okay at best, the direction is lame, and there are problems with the script that indicate it was never read by anyone with an eye for detail or it was never read by anyone who cared. Nor was the finished product ever watched by anyone who cared (other than those of us who were unfortunate enough to get tricked into watching it).
SPOILERS AHEAD:
This isn’t the worst problem with the movie (and I’m not sure what is, there is so much to choose from and I just want to forget it all), but it is typical: the guy chained to one corner is trying to reach a tape recorder in the right hand of the dead guy in the middle of the room. The doctor (chained in the other corner) tells him to use his shirt, so Adam removes his longsleeved shirt and uses it to get the tape recorder. Later, the doctor is trying to get the gun from the left hand of the same dead guy, but somehow doesn’t think to remove his own longsleeved shirt. Adam doesn’t think of that either. But every single viewer that is still awake probably thought of it. I gave him the benefit of the doubt (not sure why, though) and said that maybe he didn’t have a t-shirt on. But then he decided to saw his foot off. The guy is a surgeon. For some reason, he doesn’t even try to cut off his foot as close to the metal shackle as possible, which looks amazingly stupid (since he wouldn’t have to cut through as much and would lose less foot if he cut on the other side of the shackle or at least closer to the shackle). He is a surgeon, he knows better. And he lost his excuse for not using his shirt to get the gun when he takes that shirt off (revealing a tshirt underneath) and uses it for a tourniquet. But why would he use his shirt then? You know he is the type of guy that always wears a belt so why wouldn’t he use the belt for a tourniquet? The only reason I could come up with for all of this is that the writers, directors, actors, and editors just didn’t care about the story, the characters, or the viewers.