Review of Saw III (2006) by Wilman A — 16 May 2015

This is the edition where I first thought the franchise had finally come to an end, and those who have seen it will understand why. It links in very nicely with the previous instalments, but this time, with jigsaw bed ridden, you sense it's just a matter of time before the games are well and truly over.

The traps are somewhat more tamer than previous ones, albeit still as gory as ever, but the bar has been set so high that this struggles to maintain that standard at times. The main pawn in this story has to come face to face with individuals who all contributed to the death of his son, so it becomes a case of revenge or showing mercy in certain scenarios.

At the same time, a separate lady is being threatened to operate on Jigsaw and keep him alive from his brain tumour long enough to witness the end of this main mans maze. As we come to expect, it all gets rather twisted as we approach the end, so it's good to keep a clear head in order to understand the true extent of the situation as there are more pawns being manipulated than we can first imagine.

It keeps that balance of torture and credibility so it's not just a case of how much can it shock us visually, as I never ceased to be shocked by its imagination and twisted ideas. To generate such a complex sequence of events that all eventually tie up cannot be an easy feat, especially given that critics will be trying their upmost to catch people out wherever possible.

It's not going to be the most memorable of the series, but like many of the others, it's a small cog in a large wheel that wouldn't make sense without its inclusion.