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| '''''Saw''''' is a ] ]/] ], ] by ] and co-written by Wan and ]. It was first shown at the ] in ] ] and saw an international release later that year. | '''''Saw''''' is a ] ]/] ], ] by ] and co-written by Wan and ]. It was first shown at the ] in ] ] and saw an international release later that year. | ||
| Two ] were made, ] (which was released ], ]) and ] (which has yet to be released). | |||
| ==Plot== | ==Plot== | ||
Revision as of 01:24, 2 November 2005
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.
Two sequels were made, Saw II (which was released October 28, 2005) and S3W (which has yet to be released).
Plot
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.
The film opens with two seemingly ordinary people 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, Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Elwes) 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, Tapp asks if she is a drug addict and if she thinks this is the reason Jigsaw targeted her. 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 presumably killed while struggling with him.
Zep arrives at the bathroom and by this time, Gordon has sawed his own foot off, retrieved the revolver, and shot Adam. After checking to make sure Adam is dead, Adam – only wounded in the shoulder – suddenly attacks Zep and beats him to death. Gordon, now nearly delirious from blood loss and pain, crawls over to Adam and tells him he's leaving to get help.
Shortly after Gordon leaves, Adam searches through Zep's pockets and finds a tape recorder similar to the one he and Gordon used. Playing the tape, he hears a message from Jigsaw to Zep, revealing that Zep was not the Jigsaw killer, but merely another pawn in Jigsaw's game. The "dead" body lying in the middle of the bathroom stands up and the Jigsaw killer is finally revealed – John, the patient Gordon was discussing with his students. A rapid series of flashbacks recalls the various clues given to the audience throughout the movie, such as the Jigsaw killer claiming he's sick and one of Tapp's fellow detectives telling him that the killer likes having "a front row seat" to his games. Jigsaw/John tells Adam that the key to his chain is in the bathtub, but Adam recalls that the key went down the drain when he first came out of the tub. Jigsaw walks toward the large bathroom door and slams it shut, saying "Game over." Adam is still trapped inside.
Tagline: Every piece has a puzzle.
Cast
- Leigh Whannell – Adam
- Cary Elwes – Dr. Lawrence Gordon
- Danny Glover – Detective David Tapp
- Ken Leung – Detective Steven Sing
- Dina Meyer – Kerry
- Mike Butters – Paul
- Paul Gutrecht – Mark
- Michael Emerson – Zep Hindle
- Benito Martinez – Brett
- Shawnee Smith – Amanda
- Makenzie Vega – Diana Gordon
- Monica Potter – Alison Gordon
- Ned Bellamy – Jeff
- Alexandra Bokyun Chun – Carla (as Alexandra Chun)
- Avner Garbi – Father
- Tobin Bell – John/Jigsaw
Similar movies
External links
- Official site
- Saw at IMDb