Surprise! There is a horror series that holds up well, even on the second sequel.
It's difficult to explain the plot in any detail without ruining the storyline, so instead, I give you small chunks. A doctor must keep Jigsaw alive. If he dies, so does she. A grieving father must decided what he will do when confronted with the people that changed his life for the worse. Saying anything else about the story line is just criminal.
Like the 2 movies before it, difficult decisions and some nasty secrets become a part of a much larger plan. It manages to explain events in Saw 1 and 2 that may have been considered plot holes. It spins the whole concept of the Jigsaw character and what he represents, and the message he is trying to say. By carefully placing events from the past in a certain order, and by introducing important sequences of the character's lives, Saw 3 manages to become a pivotal point to the series. It's not perfect, though. Constant flashbacks to memories becomes a bit tiresome. Some of the dialog could be a combination of dry, repetitive, or dumb, or all of the above. And oh yes, there will be the improbable & illogical. Big critics will focus on this, and consider the movie a waste of time.
Of course, you can toss out the psychological-babble, tell the critics to go back to their coke snorting, and just have fun watching the movie as pure horror. Of the three, this is ultimately the most bloodiest. Those of low tolerance of gore, medical procedures and general dismemberment beware: the movie theater I went to here in Winter Springs had one movie-goer faint and fall to the floor. They had to temporarily stop the movie and take her outside, an ambulance came, and took her away. Even with this interruption, the movie kept everyone awake, wanting to see more. By the end of the movie, the audience clapped. We liked what we had seen. "What has the world come to?", you say? Geez. You are in the wrong place. I'm sure there will be some Disney movie to your liking.
The traps were clever, original, and far, far deadlier this time around. To me, it beats out any psycho with a knife/ax/chainsaw crap movie that has been pumped out too many times. It's a shame that Saw producer Gregg Hoffman passed away before this movie was produced.
