"Saw 3" made me wince more than any movie I’d ever seen when I first sat down to watch it.

OOOOOOOUUUUUUCH!

But we'll talk about those details later.

The previous movies had terror, death, and pain, but as far as watching people in prolonged agony nothing I had seen at the time made my bones ache in sympathy like this one. Since then movies like this have become so common that an unofficial subgenre called “torture porn” is something you'll likely hear discussed in movie circles with some frequency. I don't think the first couple of Saw movies fall into that description, at least not squarely, but the third one moves heavily in that direction.

Maybe I should consider "Saw" a guilty pleasure. I’ve enjoyed some aspects of the first few despite whatever I might have to say about the nature of some of the content. There have been some interesting characters and story elements that have kept me coming back for more. The over-the-top violence is a negative for me (which I'll get into later) but has been a draw for many fans. People like watching pain I guess, but there's a reason movies with that kind of content are labeled “horror.”

"Saw 3" takes the violent trend to the next level. There is some genuine character development and some redeeming themes, but the prolonged suffering is not something I find entertaining even though on some level the ability to create the illusion of such mutilation is interesting I guess in the same way that watching a surgery is (I love viewing any surgical procedures I can on myself out of scientific and perhaps morbid fascination). I mean hearing those bones crack sends psychosomatic sympathy pains through me, and on some level getting a reaction out of the viewer is what movie makers want to see happen.

As before, if you haven't seen the previous movies yet you may want to avoid reading any further. Part of the fun of these is being slapped upside the head with the unexpected. If you know what to expect the shock isn't as effective. The interconnecting nature of these stories makes it virtually impossible to tell you anything about the plot without giving something away about what has already transpired.

This part of the story focuses once again on Jigsaw and his assistant. This time they have kidnapped a surgeon who must keep Jigsaw alive or die alongside him if she should fail to keep his brain tumor at bay long enough. At the same time a man, Jeff, finds himself trapped in a puzzle house (similar in concept to Saw 2 but considerably different in execution). His life has been destroyed by the death of his son, and now, as he travels throughout the house, he confronts people that had a hand in the injustice of his son’s killer getting off with little more than a stern talking-to. Jeff holds the lives of these people in his hands. If he chooses to forgive them he can set them free, or he can let them die in the name of vengeance.

Along side these two interlocking stories are smaller subplots that will become relevant as they tie the 3 Saw movies more tightly together. We see the continued police investigation from movie 2, what happened after its ending, and what exactly Amanda's role has been behind the scenes of these events. It seems she's been a busy one even behind the back of her great mentor.

In true Saw fashion there is a lot more going on than what’s on the surface. There is a whole plot under the surface visible if you catch the clues but hidden by misdirection until the end. This is both good and bad. The twists are interesting even if overall not as good as the ones before. The pacing on the twists is the first real weak point. There’s reveal after reveal, some of them too drawn out with too many flashbacks mixed in. We, the viewers, can retain SOME of what we've seen, we don't need you to point out EVERY related event in all 3 movies for us to get the impact of the new revelations.

There is one last plot twist, which I'm not going to spoil, of course, that remains open at the end. When I first saw the movie I felt left hanging when this element didn't resolve. It felt like stopping in the middle of the chapter. Fear not, though, if you stick with the series until the end you will get closure on the loose threads.

There’s a pretty big contradiction that weakens what is otherwise a decent story. The filmmakers don’t approach the Jigsaw as a serial killer (this is not my observation but their own words). He essentially puts people in situations where they can free themselves or die. This time he is directly responsible for their deaths. Sure Jeff, his chosen player, has the opportunity to save these lives if he so chooses, but at most that makes Jeff an accessory, not an actual killer. If I push you off a cliff while calling on Superman to save you and he doesn't get there in time, I'm the one who pushed you to your death, not Superman. Maybe Jigsaw has rules, and maybe he’ll let the victims go if they win, but he most certainly is a killer and much more directly this time around. I’ve seen some describe him as “noble” for trying to make people appreciate their lives, but make no mistake, he is a deranged psychopath with the blood of innocent people on his hands.

The acting here is quite decent. Sure most of them don't have to do much more than cry and scream hysterically, but they do get the pain and terror across effectively. Tobin Bell (Jigsaw) and Angus MacFadyen (Jeff) are the stand out actors here. Shawnee Smith returns and proves why the filmmakers keep bringing her back. Several other actors from the first couple of movies return for small segments – more than cameos but not much more than bit parts. Donnie Wahlberg is perhaps my favorite of these.