|
“Saw”
|
 |
Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Suspense
thriller |
| Video: |
1.85:1 Anamorphic
widescreen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
5.1EX, DTS 6.1 ES and 2.0 |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
100 minutes
|
| Rating |
R |
| Release Date |
2/15/05
|
| Studio |
Lion’s Gate
Entertainment |
| Commentary:
|
By director
Wan and actor/co-writer Whannell |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
“Making of” featurette,
“Making of” music video |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
Two versions of the music
video one unrated |
| Other:
|
Preview |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Cary Elwes,
Danny Glover, Leight Whannell, Ken Leung, Dina Meyer |
| Written
By: |
Leigh Whannell
based on a story by Whannell and James Wan |
| Produced
By: |
Mark Burg
and Gregg Hoffman |
| Directed
By: |
James Wan
|
| Music:
|
Charlie Clouser |
| The
Review: |
Saw cuts up many of the clichés
of the suspense thriller genre and puts them back together
in such an odd puzzle that it’s compelling watching even as
it can disgust you. Cary Elwes stars as Dr. Lawrence Gordon
a surgeon who wakes up one day in an old dilapidated, disgusting
bathroom handcuffed to a pipe. His only companions are Adam
(co-writer Leigh Whannell) a photographer also handcuffed
to a pipe and a dead body on the floor with blood oozing from
the head in an apparent suicide. The duo discover that they
have tapes on them from a strange serial killer who seemingly
picks victims at random. He doesn’t actually kill the victims
but sets up traps whereby they kill themselves or the others
with them in a bizarre contest. Gordon who ws a suspect for
earlier killings by this maniac and Adam tell each other the
last thing they remembered prior to ending up in the bathroom.
Gordon discovers they have a deadline; they have until noon
to kill the other or get out using a saw (hence the title)
that is too weak to cut through the metal chains. If they
don’t something awful will happen. ---
|
| Image
and Sound: |
Surprisingly
the transfer for “Saw” manages to cut through the dark look
of the film with a sharp and clear transfer. The look of the
film in both the theatrical version and DVD release is fairly
harsh (some would call it “gritty” or “documentary like”). There’s
noticeable grain in several sequences particularly those involving
bright or unusual colors other than that the level of grain
is kept to a minimum (which isn’t an issue in the DVD transfer
normally but can be if the transfer attracts attention to it)
and edge enhancement is minimal. I’m surprised the DVD came
out looking as nice as it did given the harsh lighting schemes
and many poorly lit sequences in the film. The DTS 6.1 ES and
Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtracks both sound great with nice
warmth and depth the surround channels are used particularly
well during many sequences. --- |
| The
Extras: |
It seems
as if Lion’s Gate elected to cut off the extras in order to
allow this title to “escape” to retail. The “Making of” featurette
runs less than three minutes and there’s no substance to it.
In fact, it plays more like a mini-promo piece that could
be aired as part of a commercial for the movie rather than
an actual “extra”. There’s also a “Making of” featurette on,
of all things, the music video for the film. Ironically enough,
it’s longer than the featurette on the movie and almost the
same length as the music video included as an extra here.
Lion’s Gate films typically don’t have much in the way of
extras perhaps that’s due to the licensing factor or the cost
at bringing the product to market, I’m not really clear on
this aspect of the business. ---
|
| Commentary:
|
The feature
length commentary track is, at turns, funny and insightful with
both director James Wan and writer/actor Leigh Whannell participating.
Curiously, neither Cary Elwes nor Danny Glover participate and
that’s too bad. It would have been interesting to find out specifically
from the actors what truly attracted them to this independent
feature and their specific roles in the film. Still, Wan and
Whannell give a truly fun and informative commentary track with
plenty of background on the origin of the project, through financing
and finally promotion of the released film. It’s one of the
better commentary tracks I’ve heard. Evidently many of the rehearsals
were ilmed and some of them were used in the final film (which
might explain some of the bad performances in the movie). ---
|
| Final
Words: |
It’s a pity
that this discs comes with as few extras as it does. Although
the premise of the movie starts imaginatively enough, the film
can’t cut through the clichés of the genre that Wan and Whannell
use throughout the film. Clearly Wan was shooting for impact
of a “Seven” but he’s pretty far from his target. A promising
debut designed to get the attention of Hollywood with as little
money as possible, “Saw” accomplishes this task but little else
of note. |
