Saw 3 (2006) Review

Despite a bit of a break, I am back reviewing the Saw films and that continues here with Saw 3 and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees Jigsaw and Amanda kidnap a doctor in order to keep himself alive while another man must go through a test of his own. 

Main Character

Tobin Bell is back as Jigsaw and this is probably his most lacklustre performance. He still has that chill to his voice and he is a pretty calculated horror villain and that continues here. But the issue here is that he doesn't really do that much for the majority of the film, he just finds himself laid in bed and saying cryptic things which is just not as interesting as what we have seen in previous films. 

Supporting Characters

Angus MacFadyen and Bahar Soomekh play the two new people playing Jigsaw's game and they are just bad here. They are overacting and it is really hard to care about them even though the film really wants you too. the first film did this effectively but this film is more like Saw 2 in making it hard to care about them as characters. Shawnee Smith is back as Amanda and she is annoying, she is also really overacting and it just doesn't work, she comes across as the complete opposite of Jigsaw and while I was watching the film I just wanted her to go and have him take centre stage like he has in previous films. 

Story 

The story is a bit of a mess but there are some okay parts to it. Macfadyen's character Jeff has to go through a pretty emotional time of it and at times it works okay but then the film goes and screws it up. There is also a good explaining of Amanda's character and how she fits into the Saw history and mythos which I did like. But the main issue is that there is way too much going on, it feels like they had a few story ideas but only had one film to do it in which makes this feel like a bit of a Frankenstein of a film that is a bit all over the place in terms of its storytelling. Also the film feels like it has to deal with characters from the previous film and spends way too much time on it when it plays a pretty small part of this film's overall story. 

Script

The script is nonsense to be honest with dialogue that is really poorly written and makes this film go from having a bit of gory charm to cringeworthy. Plus the ending is absurd and feels like just a lazy excuse to keep the franchise going as characters start doing really stupid things. 

Style 

Saw has always been known for its gory death-traps and this film ramps it up and makes it feel more reliant on the gore then previously expected. They are entertaining in a terrible way and actually pretty ingenious which is the main thing that keeps you watching this mess of a film. But this film is way too long, it drags its heels in for probably 15 mins too long and with these different stories it just doesn't work. 

Overall

Overall, Saw 3 is a bad film that relies on shock gore to keep people invested. Saw started off as a pretty unique concept but this film is more like your generic horror film and not a particularly good one at that. 

Rating - 3/10