Saw 3D

Spoiler alert: This film may contain airborne blood and guts that fly in the third dimension. The seventh and final episode in the Saw saga is packed with so much death, the writers even created a dream sequence so they could kill one unlucky character twice.

Saw 3D was at times painful to watch—and not just because of the torture. In an impressively mature move for the series, Director Kevin Greutert only pulled 3D gimmicks twice, but the 3D polarization was sometimes off, creating the effect you see when you take off your 3D glasses. It’s as if the filmmakers didn’t watch the film. Add to that several actors who can evidently only act when in torture devices, and audiences will have just that more to cringe at.

Though the entire series has been somewhat self-referential, Saw 3D stages an ethical inquiry into the torture in the six other films. The victims of Jigsaw, the torture mastermind, actually get in a circle and talk about their experiences. Most rave about the saving graces of the games; for example, one woman found an excuse to violently murder her abusive boyfriend in the torture trap. There is, however, one dissenter who claims all she got was the privilege of parking in handicapped parking spaces.

Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes), the first Jigsaw survior and protege, also attends the meeting, adding bitter criticism of the traumatic process. In the film’s final moments, Gordon imprisons Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), the character guilty of the most needless killings in the series. Before locking Hoffman away for eternity, Gordon brazenly tosses the saw at the camera and out into the hallway, denying Hoffman the dignity of torturing himself. Gordon rejects the tenet of redemption by pain, throwing away Hoffman’s chance for life and giving the series a bizarre, inappropriate ending that seems to pay no credence to the series’ origins.

Saw 3D marks the conclusion of the film series that has come to define the term “torture porn,” an important addition to the portfolio of the Splat Pack. In the words of novelist and victim Bobby (Sean Patrick Flanery), “Our minds will heal, but these scars will never go away.” I’m not sure if my mind will ever quite heal.

­—Andrew O’Rourke