Saw III (2006)

Jigsaw kidnaps a doctor to keep him alive while he watches his new apprentice put an unlucky citizen through a brutal test.

Director:

Darren Lynn Bousman

Writers:

Leigh Whannell (story), James Wan (story),

Stars:

Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Angus Macfadyen

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tobin Bell	...	Jigsaw / John Kramer
Shawnee Smith	...	Amanda Young
Angus Macfadyen	...	Jeff
Bahar Soomekh	...	Lynn Denlon
Donnie Wahlberg	...	Eric Matthews
Dina Meyer	...	Kerry
Leigh Whannell	...	Adam
Mpho Koaho	...	Tim
Barry Flatman	...	Judge Halden
Lyriq Bent	...	Rigg
J. LaRose	...	Troy (as J Larose)
Debra McCabe	...	Danica (as Debra Lynne McCabe)
Costas Mandylor	...	Forensic Hoffman
Betsy Russell	...	Jill
Jane Luk	...	Nurse - Emergency Room

Storyline

Jeff is an anguished man, who grieves and misses his young son that was killed by a driver in a car accident. He has become obsessed for revenge against the man and reckless with his wife and daughter. When Dr. Lynn Denlon, who has troubles with her marriage, is abducted by the deranged Jigsaw's apprentice Amanda, she is brought to a gruesome warehouse to keep John Kramer alive in spite of having a terminal brain tumor. Amanda puts a necklace gadget full of explosives around Dr. Lynn's neck connected to John Kramer's life support system, and tells her that if he dies the device will explode. Meanwhile, Jeff is submitted to a sick game of forgiveness with surprising dark consequences.

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Plot Keywords:

doctor | brain tumor | revenge | torture | car accident | 

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Taglines:

Hast du das Leben verdient? Do you deserve to live?)

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong grisly violence and gore, sequences of terror and torture, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Saw Fan Club

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 October 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

El juego del miedo III

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$448,470 (Mexico) (17 November 2006)

Gross:

$80,150,343 (USA) (8 December 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twisted Pictures, Evolution Entertainment, Saw 2 Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min 114 min (unrated) 121 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS DTS (Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shawnee Smith mentioned in a commentary track on the Director's Cut DVD that she was certain she would receive an MTV "Best Fight" nomination for either her fight with Donnie Wahlberg or Bahar Soomekh, but neither made the nomination list. As it turned out the fight with Soomekh can only be seen in the Director's Cut.

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Goofs

When Lynn, the Doctor, is drilling the four holes in Jigsaw's head for the operation, tape is on the drill to mark the maximum depth. The placement of the tape changes positions throughout the scene, between 1/2 inch and 1 1/2 inches.

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Quotes

Jeff: [while the Judge is screaming for his life] Shut the fuck up...

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Connections

Referenced in Allemaal film: Tussen kunst en kassa (2007)

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Soundtracks

"This Calling"
Performed by All That Remains
Written by Jeanne Sagan, Michael Martin, Oliver Herbert & Phillip LaBonte
Courtesy of Razor & Tie Entertainment

User Reviews

On par with part two, but nowhere near as good as the original

"Saw III" is a classic case of an ambitious sequel that has a few really nice ideas and some scenes that will make fans of the franchise very happy, but in the end it doesn't, it can't hold a candle to the original. It's a rule of the series by now that a "Saw" movie must include a lot of gory deaths as well as an unexpected twist at the end. While the first thing isn't so hard to come up with - and the makers definitely do a fine job thinking of the sickest, bloodiest deaths possible - it's the twist that seems more forced with each entry in the franchise. It's a disadvantage that we know for a fact a surprise is coming. What's worse is that in "Saw III" the final twist doesn't resolve a question we've been asking ourselves during the whole movie. No, it's question and answer in one and that doesn't make it particularly interesting. It's just a lot of explaining over some annoyingly edited flashbacks.

Speaking of flashbacks, there are way too many in this movie. We see things that we really never needed to see. Loose ends are tied up that aren't actually loose ends. It's like the writers read too many threads on the IMDb message boards for the previous movies and decided to spell out everything that has been ambiguous until now to put an end to all discussions once and for all. It only goes to show that those things were a lot more intriguing when they were left in the dark.

Jigsaw himself won't ever keep his mouth shut in this movie. The guy has thought of many cruel traps but his constant blabbering is his most sadistic device. He's already been overexposed in part 2, and this entry in the series continues to make that mistake. After the revelation about his identity at the end of the original, there really weren't too many mysteries surrounding him anymore, but part 3 still tries to come up with some (mainly about his relationship to his accomplice). Again, this is unnecessary and not very interesting information.

Considering how quickly the "Saw" movies have been made, it's a little miracle that they still turned out to be quite entertaining. However, one wonders if the franchise couldn't be better if a bit more time was spent on developing the sequels. The production values in particular could use some improvement. The make up looks fine, but the stage design makes both sequels look like an episode of "Star Trek".

So, yes, "Saw III" is as fast paced as its predecessors and the gruesome torture scenes don't disappoint. See it, if you're looking for mindless fun, but don't expect it to knock you off your feet the way the original did. Apparently part 4 is already in the works. Now that's just going to be a waste of time as "Saw III" already ends the series. Guess, Hollywood never learns. "Halloween" anyone?