4 out of 5

Director: James Wan

While the “two men in a room” story concept is obvious in its use as a springboard idea by writer/director Wan and writer/actor Leigh Whannell, ‘Saw’ finds that holiest of balances between fledgling enthusiasm and big studio presence.  When I first watched the movie in theater, amidst the sea of hype, I was both underwhelmed and impressed – the former by how heavy-handed the plotting was handled, and the latter by how clever and simple the core concept was executed.  My enjoyment of the experience started to crumble upon subsequent viewings, especially as my memories of film 1 began to be tainted by the sequels.  But time passed (as I’m told it does), and I decided to give it another go.  With fresh eyes, that original feeling returned, so it’s good to report that the seed which planted the torture porn tree was, indeed, a much different beast than its offspring.  The flaws still exist, of course – Whannel can’t carry the non-snide moments and Elwes can’t fake cry very well and the script’s attempts at levity (via Leigh) embarrassingly expose that this was written by then young 20somethings.  Plus the ‘two men in a room’ thing becomes most apparent once the final curtain is dropped, making some of the actions that take place outside of the room seem moderately superfluous even plot-holey nonsensical… not to mention our killer’s general pitch gets a little shaky when applied to each scenario.  And even though I questioned then and now the exposure of an actor’s face who is otherwise kept in shadow – dumb red herring? – stripped of pretense, ‘Saw’ is, at its core, a total shocker.  The gore and fast edits we would come to associate with the series were borne of necessity here, not just executed for panache, so though the 90 minutes isn’t without its dash of B-movie flavoring, the simple, honest energy definitely translates to the screen for a grossly entertaining flick.