“Saw III” opens with Detective Mathews, played by Donnie Wahlberg, chained up in the bathroom with a handsaw and a choice of how he wants to proceed. To help him make his decision he has flashbacks of a foot from the first movie and a body from the second movie.

The games that are orchestrated by Jigsaw, played by Tobin Bell, are psychological as well as torturous and full of gore.

Jigsaw is on his deathbed and his apprentice Amanda, played by Shawnee Smith, kidnaps a brain surgeon, played by Bahar Soomekh, and forces her to keep Jigsaw alive. The surgeon is also a part of the game and the decisions that she makes will determine her future. The movie jumps around with Jigsaw’s struggle to live, his latest victims progress through the funhouse and flashbacks that fill in some of the holes from the previous two movies.

While this is going on, the surgeon’s husband Jeff, played by Angus Macfadyen, is playing one of Jigsaw’s games. He sees a series of individuals being tortured in different ways who are connected to the hit-and-run death of the couple’s son. The game is to test Jeff’s level of forgiveness. The decisions he makes will determine his future, the same as his wife’s decisions will determine her future.

The victims of the games are given the rules and the participant’s actions in the game will determine their consequences.

The methods of torture that have been devised by the filmmaker are quite unique in nature. One such instance is having the victim retrieve a key at the bottom of a jar of acid.

“Saw III” is like the other two “Saw” movies, in that you believe you have the plot solved and then it turns to something totally unexpected. This movie is appropriately rated R with all of the gore that is seen. I like this movie and would recommend it to anyone who likes scary and diabolical movies.

“Saw III” is directed by Lynn Bousman and produced by Mark Burg and Oren Koules. It lasts 107 minutes.

—

Jessica Wright is a senior at Pendleton High School.