Saw - 80%

Ok this is a subjective score. I know most critics panned it. But I really dug it.

Story starts with 2 guys, waking up, each chained to one end of a room. In the middle of the room, is a bloody body of a dead man. One of the chained guys, is a doctor, the other a private investigator. The doctor is given a couple of hours to kill the investigator, or his family dies. Incidentally, they are both given a saw each, so they could also have the convenient option to saw off their own leg if they are desperate. The killer (who doesn't really kill), sets up his victims in scenarios where they will be given the choices to either do certain things or they (or someone else) would end up dead.

In a way, the story can only exist in the context that it is setup. It seems like the characters are created for the setups, not the other way around. So I can understand if viewers find the whole thing too "planned". But I felt it was the cleverness of the entire premise that held the show up. The writers were able to create the setups and planted the characters nicely for the story to unfold in its own universe. It does makes me wonder, if the killer has to do a lot of planning to find different personalities that somehow link and create those setups for them. Maybe it is like a game to the killer, but somehow it just seemed like he wasn't playing a game. Well, like I said, if you can forgive the absurdities of the story, you can appreciate the setups. :)

I'd recommend the show for people who would like a different kind of thriller, as opposed to those very formulaic slasher ones that we're used to seeing - Halloween, Friday the 13th, House of 1000 Corpses etc.