Fans of gore will find clever, disgusting 'Saw' a cut above the rest

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

SAW (R) Two-and-a-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good) James Wan's grungy, clever, disgusting movie about a psychopath who puts his victims through complex entanglements that'll end in violent death if they can't figure the solution. Cary Elwes and Danny Glover co-star. Lions Gate, 100 minutes.

Two strangers (Leigh Whannell and Cary Elwes) awaken in a dingy basement cellblock, chained by their ankles to opposite walls. A body lies on the floor just out of reach between them, with a gun in one hand and a tape-recorder in its other.

The two men are given a few vague clues along with small hacksaws. The saws won't work on the chains, but they'd work if they decide to cut off their own feet to get out of the chains. And that, folks, is just the start.

Danny Glover co-stars as a cop in the outside world, pursuing a frightening psychopath who sets up various puzzles and physical entanglements that'll result in death unless the victims can figure out the solution.

Several people have already met gruesome deaths. The two men in the cellblock are the latest victims and have a puzzle of their own to work out. The result is an exhausting combination of the refined and the primitive; blood and guts fans may find the plotting too smart (and slow-moving) for their liking, while admirers of clever storytelling may be repulsed by the violence. Only the rare filmgoer who enjoys both elements will feel at home in James Wan's grungy, clever, disgusting movie.

Rated R, with strong violence and gore.