Leigh Whannell and James Wan picked up right where the previous film left off, with Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) yelling from the dark, damp room where he was left to reconsider his ways and hope for a way out. The story refocuses on Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his fight to survive the cancer that is slowly pulling him from the world. He has decided that his next patient will be an ER doctor (Lynn Denlon--Bahar Soomekh) and she, like the ones that came before her, will be tested and will have to fight for her life. While this takes place, Jigsaw and his new apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith) watch as another person is tested. Will all things come to a close, or will Jigsaw live to play more games?
The second installment in the Saw franchise was wonderful. It depicted raw emotion that viewers could connect with, and Whannell created a script that was full of unexpected twists and turns that added depth and character to the film. Saw II set the bar incredibly high for any and all sequels that would follow. That created a bit of an issue for this installment of the franchise. Wan and Whannell were unable to create a script that effectively lived up to the expectations. The events from the previous two films were connected flawlessly, and it created a sense of cohesion among the characters and the story. While this is great, it used a lot of what had already been done to build and carry this story forward, and, much of what they revisited were aspects that audiences were able to piece together on their own.
Much of this film was built on emotion and needed audiences to make a connection to the characters, particularly Jigsaw himself. However, the film lacked the necessary emotion for audiences to empathize with Jigsaw or Amanda. There was a severe disconnect between the audience and the characters in this film. Amanda’s frantic character development was a huge turn off and left audiences somewhat confused by how she changed in such a negative way from the previous to this point in her story.
With the exception of the minor twist at the end of the film (which was dull in comparison to previous installments), it felt like nearly everything took a step backwards from the film before. The emotion, the empathy and the suspense fell short of expectations and left fans feeling cheated. It was fun that everyone’s story from the first three films were ultimately connected, but it felt too plain and simple. The film lacked intelligence and passion and left viewers questioning the future of the franchise.
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