'Saw 3'
(Tobin Bell, et al / R / 89 mins / LGF)
Overview: This third part of the SAW franchise finds the evil Jigsaw (Tobin Nell) torturing some new victims in his trademark style.
Verdict: This time around, the rules of the first two films get tossed out the window. That's not a spoiler. They demonstrate the subversion of Jigsaw's "integrity" right off the bat. And, just like in the first two films, there's a nasty kick of an ending begging for a fourth installment. My only question is how Jigsaw's assistant, Amanda (Smith), got her engineering degree fast enough that she could design all these complicated murder devices?! Anyhoo, abandoning for good the idea of making the series frightening, the makers have decided that torture alone will make audiences happy. And they're right. The brutal machine-assisted murders are equal to — and sometimes even nastier than — the killings that occur in the first two movies. So enjoy yourselves, gore-o-philes!