Saw/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

* Why oh why did the executives have to push for ''Saw IV'', ''V'', and the inevitable ''VI''? ''Saw V'' was just awful and uninventive. Not to mention that Jigsaw winning as a twist has already gotten way too old.

** Duh! Because there are people who will pay to see these movies anyway! It doesn't have to be good. It just has to make money.

*** And ''Saw VI'' turned out pretty well all around. Whether this continues, well...it's Hollywood.

* I don't mean to sound dismissive of the entire series, but...doesn't Jigsaw realize just how hypocritical he is? Now, I know he's dying from inoperable brain cancer (which somehow was created through ''colon'' cancer...huh? What, did he ''literally'' have his head up his ass to contract it?), and his psychosis may not allow him to see it, and there ''is'' that deleted scene in the third movie where he realizes on his death bed that maybe he isn't the savior of humanity he thought he was, but...for someone who's trying to make people "live their life to their potential" and force them to realize how they're wasting it through their perceived vices (including ''social and personal stagnation''), he's surprisingly blind by those same vices developing in him via his own obsession with his "games". Considering he was already a skilled craftsman, and he learned several other skills during his run as a killer, he surely could've done ''something'' better with his life. Has there been a canonical point in his past story where he looked at his work, stepped back, and went "Wow, I have issues. Maybe this isn't such a good idea, after all..."?

** Minor point, but if a cancer has major access to a patient's bloodstream, it can spread practically anywhere with a little luck. Getting brain cancer as a secondary from an internal organ cancer isn't unheard of.

*** To go with this; Colon cancer is one of the cancers that sends secondaries to brains quite (relatively) commonly. Cancer doesn't have to spread by direct contact with the primary.

** ''You'' try analyzing a situation calmly when you're facing imminent death. (Sure, we would like to think that we wouldn't have the [[Idiot Ball]] glued to our hands when push comes to shove, but [[Reality Is Unrealistic]], after all.)

** A better question is why they think that cheesy performance by Adam would convince anyone.

** Fiction has led you astray. There is no "safe" part of the body to shoot someone in, and [[Improbable Aiming Skills|another problem, too]].

*** I know it's not all as easy as it sounds, but... still. At certain points they're at pretty close range. If they shot very low, one would think, they would have a large chance of missing him entirely, a decent-ish chance of hitting his foot, and a pretty small chance of killing him. Which would arguably be better than a 100% chance of him getting away. But of course, this could be completely wrong.

*** ''Saw V'' and ''VI'' have no relevant examples that I can think of.

 

** Actually, the movies do state he is rather wealthy. He even owns several abandoned buildings (which are presumably where the "games" take place). It's also not unlikely that Amanda and Hoffman help him financially.

*** Of course, him being wealthy undercuts his backstory, which was that he was denied insurance coverage for an experimental treatment. He certainly had enough wealth to have paid for the treatment in cash, all the more so since the treatment did not involve surgery, which is generally more expensive than pure drug treatments. (It was stated that his cancer could ''not'' be treated by surgery. )

*** If possible, that's even ''worse''; and sure saving only women and choosing at random didn't win him any bonus points with {{spoiler|Tara and Brent}}.

**** Why? Nothing in Tara/Brent's dialogue suggests they have noticed he tends to save the women, nor do they come across as militant men's rights activists. They kill him solely for the personal grievance against someone they knew. It's likely little he could have done would have stopped them from doing it, even if he'd spent every spare moment talking about how he donates to charities, volunteers at a homeless shelter and saves stray animals.

** But the fact that Saw VI has a lot more men die is literally the only example of possible anti-male sexism in a franchise that includes a man smacking a woman's head against a table while calling her a cunt, ridiculous views on prostitutes (Addison from II was originally meant to get a trap that scarred her face as punishment for coasting through life on her looks... yeah cause all prostitutes are lazy and beautiful), zero ''sexualized'' deaths of men (although I give the franchise credit for sexualizing relatively few women's deaths, it still pops up occasionally), and has far more significant male characters (i.e.: those that drive the plot). I wouldn't say Saw is egregiously sexist either way, but concentrating on this is a bit far-fetched, and it's on every single Saw sub-page, coming across as someone with an agenda.

*** Um, it has ''almost every single male character apart from the villain and [[The Scrappy]]'' die. Not just 'a lot more men'. And in all fairness, that was Eric after having been trapped by Amanda, and he was fighting ''against'' her. Are you ''seriously'' telling me he was ''wrong'' in being enraged against his '''captor'''?? Besides, notice how many women survive their traps against the men who do.

* It just kind of bugs me that the ''only'' survivor of any of Jigsaw's traps was Amanda, who arguably had the ''easiest'' trap of anyone else in the entire series. The only thing she had to do was cut open another person and dig for a key, which should have been a huge decision and a moral conundrum, but Jigsaw explicitly told Amanda that the person was dead, when they really weren't. Seriously, why did he tell her he was dead? And who was this person that Jigsaw simply chose to die? Did he fail a trap in a non-lethal way, with his "death" being used in this way?

** Probably because cutting someone open is still squick, and realising he's still alive before doing it, makes it nightmare fuel.

*** That doesn't quite explain why {{spoiler|a man with a newfound appreciation for his family's well-being would associate with a serial killer. Likely ending up with a life sentence and risking the wrath of a pair of [[Ax Crazy]] associates doesn't exactly help his family.}}

* As for the other plotline of ''3D''... {{spoiler|Why did everyone believe Dagen when he had no evidence of being in a trap? And who designed the traps in this movie, Jigsaw or Hoffman? The last film suggested that William and friends were the last advance victims Jigsaw had prepared, but that's definitely his voice on the tapes, and the grudge against Dagen is his.}}

** Or, you know, John ''had'' written a letter for Amanda, but Hoffman switched it with his own.

*** Yeah, according to the ''Saw VI'' commentary, that is the official explanation. It would have been nice to see some indication of that in the movie itself though. It would have only taken up 10 seconds or less of screen time to show Hoffman pull a letter out of the desk and replace it with his own instead of just showing him putting his letter in the desk.

** Apparently not in the ''Saw'' universe. See Tapp's treatment of Amanda in ''Saw'' for an example. In the real world, it probably depends on the jurisdiction.

*** Their lawyer, hopefully current with ethical theory, would immediately point out that a forced action is automatically morally neutral and secure their acquittal.

* If John is wealthy enough to own several large warehouses (with previous plans to redevelop them), buy expensive medical equipment, buy the materials and equipment to build all of his traps, why did he not put that money toward treating his cancer? Yes, medical treatment for chronic diseases is expensive, but it can't be more expensive than everything else he buys, can it?

** Could be a matter of what John finds to be worth the money. For John Kramer, what's more important: prolonging a life that's inevitably going to end no matter ''what'' he does, or using it to "help" as many people as he can in the time he has left? John's not afraid of death following his suicide, so lengthening his life isn't particularly vital to him. Especially once he has Amanda & Hoffman to carry on his work.

[[Category:Saw]]

[[Category:Headscratchers]]