Movies - Saw

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Saw (film)

	Movies - Saw

Saw is a 2004 thriller/horror movie, directed by James Wan and co-written by Wan and Leigh Whannell. It was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004 and saw an international release later that year. Saw was released in theaters on October 29, 2004. A sequel, Saw II
, was released on October 28 2005 and another, Saw III
, will be released on October 27 2006.

Plot

Tagline:Every piece has a puzzle.

The plot of the film concerns a serial killer known as "Jigsaw" who abducts morally wayward people and places them in deadly situations with only a slim chance of survival, in an attempt to make them appreciate life. It differs from other serial killer films in that Jigsaw does not actually kill his victims himself; he instead makes his victims either kill each other or themselves (although since his kidnapping leads to their death, he would be charged with felony murder if caught).

The film opens with two seemingly ordinary people (Dr. Lawrence Gordon, played by Cary Elwes and Adam, played by co-writer Whannel) waking up to find themselves chained to rusty pipes at opposite ends of an old, grimy bathroom with no windows. There is a dead man, in his underwear, lying in the middle of the floor in a puddle of blood, an empty revolver in one hand and a tape recorder in the other.

After considering the situation, Gordon decides he knows who did this to him; an infamous murderer called "Jigsaw" whom he only knows of because he was once a suspect. We flash back to see Gordon at his job in a hospital room, showing X-rays to what appear to be medical students. In the middle of the room is an old man, lying asleep in bed. Gordon is trying to explain to them that the man has an inoperable frontal lobe tumor. He is interrupted by an orderly named Zep who remarks that the cancer patient is a fascinating man but Gordon, obviously annoyed, dismisses him. As he continues, he is called to his office over an intercom.

In his office, two detectives — David Tapp (Glover) and Steven Sing (Leung) — are waiting. Gordon is escorted to a police station wherein he hears the story of Amanda, the only Jigsaw victim to have survived. Her ordeal is witnessed through flashback: she awakens tied to a chair with a large metal contraption fastened around her head. A video tape plays, informing her that she has a limited amount of time to remove the device before it snaps open like a "reverse beartrap", tearing her jaw off. The tape then tells her the key is in the stomach of her cellmate (who appears to be dead).

She rips through the tape binding her to the chair and stands up, triggering a timer on the back of the device. She moves to the body and finds a small knife. As she is about to cut into it, the "dead" man wearily opens his eyes. Perturbed, she hacks into his stomach and produces a key, unlocking the device and tossing it away seconds before it activates. Back in the police station, she confesses to being a drug addict and that she thinks this is the reason Jigsaw targeted her. When asked whether she is grateful, she nods and states "he helped me".

Back in the bathroom, Adam finds a tape in his pocket, as does Gordon. Adam uses his shirt to reach the tape player in the dead man's hand, drags it to him, and plays it. Adam's tape reveals that he's been chosen because he's spent his whole life on the sidelines as a pathetic, perpetual bystander, and that he'll have to show some initiative if he wants to live. Gordon's tape tells him that as a doctor, he has countless times given patients "the bad news" and that he is now the one to whom the bad news is revealed: his wife and daughter are held captive and will be murdered if he does not kill Adam by 6:00 P.M. Gordon's envelope contains a single bullet. The only way Gordon can kill Adam is to use the hacksaw provided by the killer to cut his foot off so he can reach the gun in the dead man's hand.

Through another flashback, we learn that Detectives Tapp and Sing traced Jigsaw to his lair, resulting in Sing's death. Tapp has now become obsessed with catching Jigsaw. While staking out Gordon's apartment, Tapp sees the face of the man holding Gordon's wife and daughter — Zep, Gordon's orderly at the hospital.

Back in the bathroom, the clock strikes 6:00 and Gordon has not killed Adam. Zep, watching them via security camera, leaves to kill Gordon's wife and daughter. Gordon's wife breaks free from her restraints and attacks Zep, and Detective Tapp rushes into the apartment after hearing gunfire. Zep is wounded and attempts to escape, and Tapp pursues. Eventually catching up to Zep, Tapp is shot and killed while struggling with him.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Saw (film) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Saw (film); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Movies - Saw

Plot

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay