Saw (2004)

Saw is a 2004 American horror film directed by James Wan, written by Leigh Whannell from a story by Wan and Whannell. It's the first installment of the Saw film series. It stars Whannell, Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung and Tobin Bell.

Plot
Doctor Lawrence Gordon and the photographer Adam Stanheight find themselves chained inside a dilapidated industrial bathroom with an apparent corpse. They soon learn that they have been placed into one of the macabre "games" of Jigsaw, a mysterious serial killer who kidnaps people and subjects them to lethal traps to test their will to survive so they can appreciate life.

Why John Kramer Will Want to Make You Play a Game With Him

 * 1) The story is intriguing and full of suspense.
 * 2) Good acting, especially from Elwes and Whannell.
 * 3) James Wan has good directing skills, as this film was his directorial debut.
 * 4) The film's non-linear narrative plays off amazingly, forcing the viewers to connect the events chronologically by themselves, but with little difficulty.
 * 5) Jigsaw's traps are creative and realistic.
 * 6) The Jigsaw Killer's motivation is interesting and complex: a criminal who believes that by torturing people he can help them to appreciate their lives more, not enjoying seeing his subjects failing.
 * 7) The design of Billy the Puppet is terrifying.
 * 8) The film's pacing is perfect.
 * 9) Amazing soundtrack by Charlie Clouser.
 * 10) *Especially "Hello Zepp".
 * 11) The plot twist at the end, which reveals to us that the corpse in the bathroom was actually the Jigsaw Killer all along, who in turn is John Kramer, one of Dr. Gordon's patients.
 * 12) "I want to play a game" and "Game Over!"
 * 13) It provides a good moral for all viewers: appreciate your life and don't waste it, as life is the greatest gift of all.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The film can be too "gory" or nauseating for people who don't like gore, even for horror films.
 * 2) While the plot twist is great, the character of John Kramer isn't fully fleshed out other than his motivation being "it's unfair that people who don't have cancer can waste their lives but I who appreciate mine can't". This was rectified in the subsequent sequels which followed, however.

Critical response
Critical reception to Saw was mainly mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 50%, based on 185 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Saw ensnares audiences with a deceptively clever plot and a myriad of memorable, nasty set pieces, but its lofty ambitions are undercut by a nihilistic streak that feels more mean than profound". On Metacritic, it received a score of 46 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Some felt that the film tried to copy Seven. However, the film was much better received by audiences and horror film fans, who praised it for its nonlinear storyline and plot twists. The film helped to launch the careers of James Wan and Leigh Whannell in Hollywood, who have made amazing films since then like Aquaman or The Invisible Man.

Box office
The movie was a box office success, as it earned $103.9 million worlwide against a production budget of $1.2 million.

Trivia

 * The film was originally going to be released direct-to-video, but was ultimately released theatrically on Halloween after its positive reception at the Sundance Festival.
 * Linkin Park lead vocalist Chester Bennington considered Saw one of his favorite horror movies and one of the best films of all time. He was later featured in Saw 3D as the racist skinhead Evan.