Saw is a 2004 thriller/horror movie, directed by James Wan , and co-written by Wan and Leigh Whannell. It was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004, and saw an international release later that year.

A sequel has been announced for fall 2005.

Plot

The plot of the film is about a serial killer, known as "Jigsaw", who abducts immoral people, and puts them in deadly situations with only a slim chance of survival, in an attempt to make them appreciate life. It differs from other serial killer films in that Jigsaw doesn't kill his victims himself, he makes them either kill each other or themselves.

The movie opens with two seemingly ordinary people waking up to find themselves chained to rusty pipes at opposite ends of the room, in an old broken down bathroom with no windows. There is a dead man, in his underwear, lying in the middle of the floor in a puddle of blood, a pistol in one hand, a tape recorder in the other.

After considering the situation, Gordon decides he knows who did this to him, an infamous murderer called "Jigsaw", whom he only knows of because he was once a suspect. We flashback to see Gordon at his job. He is in a hospital room, showing X-rays to what appear to be medical students. In the middle of the room is an old man, lying asleep in bed. Gordon is trying to explain to them that the man has an inoperable frontal lobe tumor. He is interrupted by a Janitor named Zep Hindle, who remarks that the cancer patient is a fascinating man, but Gordon, obviously annoyed, dismisses him. As he continues, he is called to his office over an intercom.

At his office, two detectives are waiting; Detective David Tapp (Glover) and Detective Steven Sing (Leung ). He is escorted to the police station where he hears the story of the only Jigsaw victim to survive. We witness her ordeal through flashback: she awakes tied to a chair with a large metal contraption fastened around her head. A video tape plays, telling her that she has a limited amount of time to remove the device before it snaps open, like a "reverse-beartrap", tearing her jaw off. The tape then tells her the key is in the stomach of her dead cellmate.

She rips through the tape binding her to the chair and stands up, she triggering a timing device on the back of headgear. She moves to the body in a hurry and finds a small knife. As she is about to cut into it, the "dead" man wearily opens his eyes. Obviously pertrubed, she hacks into his stomach anyway and produces a key, unlocking the devices and tossing it away moments before it activates.

Back to the police station, Tapp asks if she is a drug addict and if she thinks that is the reason Jigsaw targeted her. She responds, "he helped me".

Back in the bathroom, Adam eventually finds a tape in his pocket, as does Gordon. Adam uses his shirt to reach the tape in the dead man's hand and drags it to him. He plays it.

Adam's tape reveals that he has been chosen because he has spent his whole life on the sidelines as a pathetic, perpetual bystander, and that he'll have to show some initiative if he wants to live. Gordon's tape tells him that as a doctor, he has countless times given patients the "bad news" and that now he is the one to whom the bad news is revealed. His wife and daughter are held captive and if he does not kill Adam by 6:00 P.M., they will be murdered. Gordon's envelope moreover contains a single bullet.

Adam and Gordon then try - in a race against time - to figure out the puzzle on how to escape from their cell.

Tagline: Every piece has a puzzle.

Cast

• Leigh Whannell – Adam
• Cary Elwes – Dr. Lawrence Gordon
• Danny Glover – Detective David Tapp
• Ken Leung – Detective Steven Sing
• Dina Meyer – Kerry
• Mike Butters – Paul
• Paul Gutrecht – Mark
• Michael Emerson – Zep Hindle
• Benito Martinez – Brett
• Shawnee Smith – Amanda
• Makenzie Vega – Diana Gordon
• Monica Potter – Alison Gordon
• Ned Bellamy – Jeff
• Alexandra Bokyun Chun – Carla (as Alexandra Chun)
• Avner Garbi – Father
• Tobin Bell – John

Similar movies

• Seven
• Phone Booth
• Mindhunters

External links

• Official site