When I saw the previews for Saw, I was intrigued. I wanted to see it so bad I could taste it because it actually seemed to be a thriller with something new to offer. I was tired of the traditional Silence rip-off's, and this one seemed different. In some ways it was. In others, it just bit.

First off, the concept is very good. The idea of a killer who teaches moral lessons without actually performing the murderous acts is refreshing. The execution of that concept was very bad. Not only was there very little tension in the film, most of the dialogue was horribly bland and fell from the actors' mouths like lead. The acting, however was pretty good considering the material they were given to work with.

The first thing that should have clued me in that this wasn't going to be that great of a movie was the extreme use of MTV quick cutting. I know it's extremely popular to turn on a strobe light and speed up dolly shots, but it's become more cliche than the million Tarantino rip-offs after Pulp Fiction. I like cameras that shake about as much as anyone, and this movie proved that there can definitely be too much. I also noticed in a number of the crane shots in the bathroom that the crane seemed to need a bit of grease because it would slow and jitter a bit at timed intervals, which made it seem as if there was a mechanical difficulty with the crane. But it was the constant use of quick-cuts and long sped-up intervals that annoyed me. Transitioning in shows like Angel is often done via sped-up sequences and it works because it's roughly two seconds. Saw seemed to think that more is better and that 30 seconds wouldn't be boring. It was. And annoying.

The next thing that killed Saw for me was the huge and glaring plot holes. Caution, major spoilers to follow.

 How the **** did Dr. Gordon's wife know who Adam was? He was hired by Detective Tapp a few days prior to waking up in the bathroom. There is no indication that Tapp told Alison that Gordon was cheating and showed her the evidence (since it was still in Adam's apartment...and Tapp was in obsessive-creepy mode anyway and probably wasn't the most welcome guest in the Gordon household). Had Alison hired Adam, it would have actually made sense how she knew. Zep also didn't seem like the kind of guy who was really "in the know" (even though he somehow knew exactly where Dr. Gordon and Adam were). He also didn't seem to talkative, so how the hell did Alison find out that Adam had been taking pictures of Gordon? Did Zep even know? After all, he was taking care of Gordon's family and hooking up the surveillance equipment (which is another questionable element since Gordon had been working in the study next to the bedroom shortly beforehand) when Gordon and Adam were abducted and taken to the bathroom. He wasn't in all those places at once, which was (of course) a major spoiler when watching it because you knew he couldn't be the one that was in on it. Not only did they reveal him early in the film, but he was monitoring the family as the others were being captured and chained up. If it were a psychological drama like Manhunter, then the reveal would have worked, but after he was revealed, there was nearly no interaction with Zep and the house.

How did Zep know where they were located. Sure, he had a surveillance unit in the Gordon household, but the final reveal that he was also just a pawn didn't add up that well unless he was in on everything from the beginning. Considering he knew John (at least by name), it was well within the realm of possibility that he was in on it. But why put a slow-acting poison in his system? To make sure that he would go through with it? If John was so concerned about Zep going through with the plan, why did he show Zep where Dr. Gordon and Adam were located? Did he need Zep to close the door and lock it while he laid down on the gore in the middle of the room?

How did John use the remote control to shock Adam and Dr. Gordon when he was dead in the middle of the floor, a gun in one hand and a tape-recorder in the other? After all, Adam even commented that the body never moved and it was obvious at the end that he was no "in on it". But still, Adam was shocked...which we know from the end that John had the remote. On top of all of the surveillance equipment, did Zep also have access to a shocker? Did he know that John was on the floor? Did he know that John was the one who had poisoned him? From the tape played at the end, it didn't appear so. He seemed to be a captive audience member, almost hoping that the Doctor couldn't kill Adam (since he enjoyed torturing the child).  

Plus, it had the absolute worst line they could have put in as the final line. "GAME OVER!" That pissed me off in a way that hearing Stalone or Arnie in a 80's action-cheese fest using the same line could never have had. After all, it was supposed to be a thriller. We know that one-liners are the bread and butter of cheesy action films. Simply slamming the door as Adam screamed would have been 1000x more effective. 

**** this show annoyed me. It annoys me the more I think about it. Grrr!