 As horror films go, Saw III fared fairly well with critics. Although they were not permitted to see it in advance of Friday's opening and had to buy tickets to do so like everyone else, their reviews failed to draw much blood. Gene Seymour in Newsday commented that the movie twists "the cringe dials toward ever higher frequencies." Ben Rayner in the Toronto Star praised it for being among "the rare breed that actually improves upon, rather than dishonors and degrades, the original. ... A good time in hell, if you're into that sort of thing." Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel concludes, "The Saw trilogy comes to a rip-cut, planed and sanded ending in Saw III." On the other hand, Wesley Morris on the Boston Globe wrote, "What's remarkable about these movies is how much the craftsmanship degrades with each episode." Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times dismissed the movie as "a deadening barrage of grungy rooms, mortified flesh and elaborate torture." And Lou Lumenick, in Saturday's New York Post, commented, "Saw III is nasty, repulsive, disgusting - and loaded with enough viscera to probably sell at least $30 million worth of tickets this weekend. Gorehounds, enjoy." |
