With his health failing and the police closing in, the mastermind Jigsaw disappears, aided by his new apprentice, Amanda. From his deathbed, Jigsaw orchestrates his most complex game yet. He kidnaps Dr. Lynn Denlon, forcing her to keep him alive for the duration of a gruesome series of tests designed for another victim, a grieving father named Jeff. As Jeff navigates a maze of torture to confront the people involved in his son's death, Lynn must ensure Jigsaw's heart keeps beating, or the explosive collar around her neck will detonate.
Information |
|
|---|---|
Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
October 27, 2006 |
Running time |
108 minutes |
Genre |
Horror
Mystery Thriller |
Budget |
$10,000,000 |
Box Office |
$164,874,275 |
Crew |
|
Directed by |
Darren Lynn Bousman |
Produced by |
Mark Burg Oren Koules |
Written by |
Leigh Whannell James Wan |
Music by |
Charlie Clouser |
Cinematography |
David A. Armstrong |
Edited by |
Kevin Greutert |
Production Co. |
Twisted Pictures |
Distributed by |
Lionsgate |
Top Cast |
|
|
|
Official Trailer |
|
Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #03 in Saw Collection
|
The Plot
The Escape from the Bathroom
Picking up immediately after the events of the previous film, Detective Eric Matthews finds himself trapped in the dilapidated, subterranean bathroom, chained to a pipe by the ankle. Panic sets in as he realizes the gravity of his situation. Refusing to accept his fate, Eric resorts to a desperate measure to free himself. Unlike Dr. Gordon, who used a saw, Eric grabs a heavy toilet tank lid and repeatedly smashes his own foot, shattering the bone. Through sheer adrenaline and agony, he manages to slip his broken, mangled foot out of the shackle, freeing himself from the chain.
The Classroom Trap and the Impossible Escape
Six months later, the grisly legacy of the Jigsaw Killer continues. Lieutenant Daniel Rigg, along with Detectives Allison Kerry and Mark Hoffman, arrive at a crime scene located within an elementary school. They discover the body of a victim named Troy, suspended in a classroom. Troy had been subjected to a horrific trap involving chains pierced through his flesh in various places, including his jaw, hands, and Achilles tendons. To escape the blast radius of a nail bomb, he was forced to rip these chains out of his own body.
However, upon closer inspection, Detective Kerry notices a disturbing deviation from Jigsaw's usual modus operandi. Even if Troy had managed to mutilate himself to remove the chains, the classroom's exit door had been welded shut, making survival impossible. This leads Kerry to the chilling conclusion that someone other than John Kramer—someone who builds traps simply to kill rather than to test—is responsible for this murder.
The Angel Trap
The investigation takes a personal turn when Detective Kerry is abducted from her own apartment. She awakens to find herself suspended in a mechanical harness hooked directly into her rib cage. A video tape informs her that she has exactly one minute to retrieve a key from a beaker of acid suspended before her to unlock the device. If she fails, the machine will spring open and tear her rib cage apart.
Fighting through the pain as the acid burns her hand, Kerry manages to retrieve the key and unlock the device before the timer hits zero. However, the lock disengages but the harness remains firmly planted in her chest. Realizing the trap is rigged just like Troy's, she watches in horror as the timer expires. The device triggers, ripping her ribs open and killing her instantly in a spray of blood.
The Doctor and the Patient
Elsewhere, Jigsaw's apprentice, Amanda Young, abducts Dr. Lynn Denlon, a skilled but emotionally detached surgeon. Lynn is taken to an abandoned meatpacking plant where she meets John Kramer, who is now bedridden and on the verge of death from cancer. John presents her with a forced ultimatum: she must keep him alive long enough for another test subject to complete their game.
To ensure her compliance, Amanda locks an explosive collar around Lynn's neck. The device is wirelessly linked to John's heart rate monitor. The rules are strict and deadly: if John's heart stops, the collar will detonate. Furthermore, if Lynn attempts to move out of range, the device will also explode. Lynn is forced to begin treating the dying mastermind, trapped in a high-stakes medical emergency.
A Father's Vengeance
Simultaneously, inside the same meatpacking plant, a man named Jeff wakes up inside a wooden crate. Jeff is a grieving father whose life has been consumed by vengeance following the death of his son, Dylan, in a car accident three years prior. He has become estranged from his daughter, Corbett, and obsessed with the people he blames for Dylan's death.
An audiotape left by Jigsaw explains that Jeff will undergo a series of tests to confront his demons. He is told that if he completes the trials, he will eventually face "the man responsible for the loss of his child." Jeff begins his journey through the plant, armed with a gun he finds early in the game.
The Frozen Witness
Jeff's first test leads him to a meat freezer. Inside, he finds Danica Scott, the only witness to his son's accident. Danica stands naked, chained by her wrists within a metal frame. Because she refused to testify against the drunk driver, the driver received a light sentence, a fact Jeff has never forgiven. As the test begins, nozzles spray her body with water which instantly begins to freeze due to the sub-zero temperatures of the room.
Jeff holds her fate in his hands; he can leave her to freeze or retrieve a key hanging behind frozen metal bars to save her. Despite Danica's pleas that she has changed and her attempts to convince him to help, Jeff hesitates, consumed by his bitterness. By the time he finally decides to retrieve the key—suffering ice burns in the process—it is too late. He unlocks her chains, but Danica has already frozen to death, becoming a solid block of ice.
The Vat of Decay
Continuing his path, Jeff encounters his second test involving Judge Halden, the man who presided over the court case regarding Dylan's death and issued the lenient sentence. Halden is chained to the bottom of a deep vat in a room filled with rotting pig carcasses. As the timer runs, the vat slowly fills with liquefied, rotting pig intestines, threatening to drown the judge in the vile slurry.
To retrieve the key and save the judge, Jeff must incinerate a box containing his late son's possessions—toys and photos he has clung to for years. It is a test of letting go of the past. After a painful period of hesitation, watching the sludge rise around Halden's neck, Jeff activates the incinerator. He burns the memories of his son, retrieves the key, and successfully pulls Halden from the vat, saving his life.
The Rack and the Accidental Casualty
Jeff and the rescued Judge Halden proceed to the third test room. Here, they find Timothy Young, the drunk driver who killed Dylan. Timothy is strapped into "The Rack," a terrifying mechanical device designed to slowly twist a person's limbs and head until they snap. The key to the device is tied to the trigger of a shotgun mounted in a glass case.
Confronted with the direct source of his pain, Jeff struggles with his desire for revenge versus his humanity. Timothy pleads for his life as the machine begins to twist his arms. Jeff eventually decides to save him. He attempts to grab the key, but in the chaos, the shotgun triggers. Judge Halden, who had stepped into the line of fire, is shot in the head and killed instantly. Jeff frantically tries to unlock the device, but the twisting mechanism is relentless. He fails to unlock the trap in time, and the machine completes its cycle, snapping Timothy's neck as Jeff watches in horror.
Surgery, Hallucinations, and Secrets
Back in the makeshift sick room, John's condition deteriorates rapidly due to brain pressure. Dr. Lynn Denlon decides that a crude brain surgery (a craniectomy) is necessary to relieve the pressure and keep him alive. During the tense operation, a semi-conscious John hallucinates and professes his love for another woman, stating, "I love you." Amanda, watching nearby, mistakes this as affection for Lynn and is consumed by jealousy and rage.
Distraught by John's impending death and her own insecurity, Amanda retreats and cuts her thighs to cope with the emotional pain. Through a series of flashbacks, the audience learns the extent of her involvement. It is revealed that she has been working with John since her own survival, helping him set up the bathroom game from the first film and even returning to suffocate Adam Stanheight as an act of "mercy."
The Standoff at the Meatpacking Plant
The surgery is successful, and John stabilizes. However, Amanda discovers a letter in her desk drawer—the contents of which cause her visible distress. She returns to the sick room just as John instructs her to release Lynn, announcing that Jeff has completed his final test. Amanda, now unhinged, refuses to unlock the collar. She pulls a gun on Lynn, defying John's direct orders.
John tries to talk Amanda down, but she snaps, confessing that she no longer believes in his philosophy of rehabilitation. She reveals that she rigged Troy’s and Kerry’s traps to be unbeatable because she believes people don't change. She also admits that she encountered Eric Matthews after he escaped the bathroom; they engaged in a brutal fight which ended with her leaving him for dead.
Collateral Damage and The Final Lesson
John warns Amanda that her own life depends on Lynn's survival, but his words go unheeded. Just as Jeff bursts into the room, Amanda shoots Lynn in the back. As Lynn collapses into Jeff’s arms, it is revealed that they are husband and wife—a fact unknown to Amanda. Enraged, Jeff raises his gun and shoots Amanda in the neck.
As Amanda bleeds out, John reveals the true nature of the game. He tells her that the test was not just for Jeff or Lynn, but for her as well. He knew she had been manipulating the games to commit murder and refused to let a killer inherit his legacy. Her test was to keep Lynn alive; by shooting her, she failed.
The Final Test of Forgiveness
With Amanda dead, a distraught Jeff turns his weapon on John Kramer. He attempts to fire, but the gun is empty. John remains calm, offering Jeff one final choice. He promises to call an ambulance for the dying Lynn, but only if Jeff can overcome his vengeance. "I can get her to a hospital," John says. "You can kill me... or you can forgive me."
Jeff stares at the man who orchestrated this nightmare. He quietly says, "I forgive you." However, overcome with rage, Jeff grabs a nearby power circular saw and slashes John’s throat open. As John begins to bleed out, he pulls a tape recorder from his robe and plays a final message. The tape reveals that by killing John, Jeff has failed his final test.
The recording explains that Jeff's daughter, Corbett, has been abducted and locked in a room with a limited air supply. John was the only person who knew her location. To save her, Jeff will have to play another game. As the tape ends and John's heart rate monitor flatlines, the signal triggers the collar on Lynn’s neck. The device detonates, blowing her head open and killing her instantly. The door to the sick room slams shut and locks automatically, leaving Jeff alone in the darkness with three corpses, screaming in anguish as the screen fades to black.
