Saw I/II/III (Blu-ray)
Picture: B-/B/B- Sound: B Extras: D/C-/C- Films: C/C-/D
The Saw films have all been hits, but it is
surprising how quickly the material has worn thin. The one time we looked at any of the films,
it was the second, though it also included thoughts on the first that
definitely extend to the third. You can
read about that at the following link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3378/Saw+II+(Widescreen)
Well now,
we get to catch up (lucky us?) with al the films and in the Blu-ray
format. The first film was in a cut
version shown in theaters, while the sequels are uncut. Fans might want the more graphic versions,
but when the writing is this obvious, does it really matter? Do you need to see all the parts of the
mutilation because it is that interesting or you are secretly hoping the
scripts will magically improve?
Sure,
seeing the graphic violence is actually a dare in these flicks, but they sadly
get worse and more boring as the novelty of doing stupid “Survivor/reality TV” things faced with the evils of the evil “game
player of death” Jigsaw, a character so screwed up by the third film that it
makes any point of watching it pointless. It is also the sloppiest of the three films,
showing that the studio and creators are bored and just coasting, with even
passive viewers complaining.
All three
are presented in 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition and the first is better
than the DVD, but not by much. The
second looks the best, which is a surprise considering how that DVD looked,
then the third is as bad as the first because of bad shooting, editing and
someone inane idea of playing with the colors like this was some laughable
Crayola horror. The sound is about the
same on the three discs, with regular DTS ES on the first and DTS HD
(96kHz/24-bit) ES on the sequels. Oddly,
they do not sound that different than each other, with the second once again
sounding the best, even in the lesser Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes provided. Perhaps an uncut Blu-ray reissue of the first
would perform better, but the second is the one fans will likely enjoy for
playback, even if the story shows signs of wear from the first films’ limited
originality.
There are
no extras on the first film, but the plethora for the sequels including two
audio commentary tracks for the second and three for the third (an in-joke),
three featurettes for both if you count deleted scenes for the third as a
featurette which you might since some of the others are as short as three
minutes to begin with, it gives those who enjoy the sequels a chance to wallow
in that silly world. There are also
trailers.
Yes, a
fourth in the series is already planned and that green florescent look will
return at least one more time, especially since Lionsgate only has so many
franchises to pull on. However, they
need to come up with twists that are interesting or Jigsaw may just cut off
those ties for good, wherever he is.
- Nicholas Sheffo
