Saw

Directed by James Wan, Saw follows two strangers (Leigh Whannell’s Adam and Cary Elwes’ Dr. Gordon) as they wake up in a dilapidated bathroom and must work together to find a way out. Filmmaker Wan, working from Whannell’s screenplay, does an absolutely stellar job of instantly drawing the viewer into the somewhat erratic proceedings, as Saw kicks off with a rather electrifying opening 15 minutes devoted entirely to Adam and Dr. Gordon’s stirring exploits with the aforementioned bathroom – with the effectiveness and impact of this stretch heightened by the leads’ compelling, sympathetic efforts. And while the movie’s midsection has been peppered with a whole host of enthralling digressions, including the introduction of Shawnee Smith’s Amanda and flashbacks detailing Adam and Dr. Gordon’s kidnappings, Saw admittedly does suffer from a handful of lulls as Wan offers up one too many narrative threads – with this especially true of most scenes involving Danny Glover’s disgraced police officer David Tapp. The degree to which the film’s tension palpably ebbs and flows throughout is hardly as problematic as one might’ve feared, ultimately, as Wan’s compelling visuals go a long way towards cultivating and sustaining a relatively consistent atmosphere of dread – with any qualms or concerns rendered completely moot by the picture’s enthralling, memorable climactic stretch. The end result is a top-tier horror endeavor that certainly makes the most out of its inherently engaging premise, and it’s not difficult, certainly, to see why Saw has managed to endure in the years since its 2004 debut.

***1/2 out of ****