![]() ![]() In this way, John becomes Amanda’s surrogate father, teaching her his ways and worldviews like any other father would do for his biological daughter. Instead of judging her as so many others in her life have done, he offers her the ultimate act of love: a second chance at life and the chance to be part of his world as his apprentice. John does not stare at the drug track marks on Amanda’s arms or the cuts on her wrists, or berate her for being unappreciative of her life. Saw III doesn’t shy away from grim scenes of Amanda’s heroin use, cutting, and murderous tendencies, and it’s incredibly easy for these gory and hard-to-watch moments to overshadow what they really do in peeling back the incredibly deep layers of these two people. Glad I’m not in that situation!” Where the Saw franchise fails these characters, it’s in carefully constructing and layering those of John and Amanda that elevates Saw III to something greater.īoth John and Amanda are troubled characters, with the former reeling from the death of his unborn son and cancer diagnosis while the latter is a drug addict and self-harmer. In scenes with characters such as Michael’s ( Noam Jenkins) “Death Mask” trap in Saw II and Brenda’s ( Sarain Boylan) “Scalping Chair” trap in Saw IV, characters who are on-screen only for the duration of their trap, the audience has no chance to connect with them on an emotional level, nor are we given any reason as to why we should care about their success or failure other than thinking, “Gee, stinks to be them right now. While the Saw franchise features more than a few moments that inspire the audience to feel sympathy for the victims forced into life-or-death scenarios, what keeps the viewer from relating to them on a deeper, more human level is the lack of character development. ![]() RELATED: The Casual Jigsaw Scene From 'Saw 3D' Has Never Left My Mind The film absolutely features grisly traps, dismembered victims, and gallons of blood, but it’s how the film focuses on the complex relationship between John “Jigsaw” Kramer ( Tobin Bell) and his acolyte Amanda Young ( Shawnee Smith) that elevates Saw III to something smarter and more complex than is usually seen in the Saw series and successful horror franchises in general. While the series tends to get the bulk of its attention from its mind-bogglingly complex mythology, gory, peek-through-your-fingers contraptions, and signature twist endings, Saw III features an incredibly intense emotional core that tends to get overshadowed by the series’ penchant for blood and violence. With its nine films making a combined $1 billion at the box office, the franchise is still running full steam ahead with its Saw-adjacent spinoff Spiral: From the Book of Saw having hit theaters earlier this year. Nearly two decades after its 2003 debut, the Saw franchise has cemented itself as both a cultural and financial powerhouse.
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