'Saw 3D': The Reviews Are In!

"Saw 3D" has nowhere to go but up. Last October, "Saw VI" managed to trap just $14 million over its opening weekend, fewer dollars than the original flick's debut weekend and about half as much as each of the previous four films in the series managed to gross.

"Saw 3D," by contrast, is expected to open somewhere in the low-to-mid $20 million range and top "Paranormal Activity 2" for the #1 spot at the box office. Mind you, that'll be in large part to its inflated ticket price, not an outpouring of critical praise — reviews are decidedly mixed.

The Story
"This time the game revolves around slimy self-help guru Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery), a Jigsaw survivor who has grown rich off his story and parading around fellow victims. Naturally, he's abducted and thrown into another series of morality tests in order to save his wife and fellow cohorts. Meanwhile, the sadistic Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) also plots revenge against Jigsaw's widow (Betsy Russell), who has been locked away in protective custody ever since trying to kill him at the end of 'Saw VI.' And yes, the fate of Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes, in a brief role) is finally revealed in the film's worst-kept secret.

But even though it's no longer a surprise, it's still great to have everyone's favorite Dread Pirate Roberts thrown back into the bloody fray." — Andrew Kasch, Dread Central

The Comparison to The Others"There is tension in the movie (and good thing), and it is grueling (not a good thing). While the script is tight, the direction is not. And it pains me to say so, because Kevin Greutert, who edited the first five chapters of the 'Saw' story and directed the sixth, is such a nice person ... But I can't candy-coat it: Greutert's two 'Saw's, along with (another nice person) David Hackl's, are by far the weakest in the franchise. Talking scenes go on for far too long (allowing one to see how poor some of the acting is), and there isn't much art to the set pieces. Visually-gifted storytellers James Wan ('Saw 1') and Darren Lynn Bousman ('Saws 2', '3', and '4') really set the bar."— Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com

The Traps
"How are the traps this time out? Decent, but again, a step down from 'Saw VI.' One, involving having to physically pull a key from a very difficult place, is pretty effective. Another, involving crossing an area where the floor is almost completely gone, adds a nice bit of adventure to the vibe (and gave me flashbacks to Flanery's days as Indiana Jones). But at the same time, there's nothing truly memorable in the way 'Saw III''s rack or 'Saw VI''s carousal were. One exception: The best trap here is probably the one involving a car and a neat/twisted domino effect caused when it falls from a jack. By the way, I know this is nothing new in this series, but watching 'Saw 3D,' I kept thinking how Jigsaw must have both the brilliance and bank account of Tony Stark, considering how elaborate, specific and complicated these traps are.' — Eric Goldman, IGN

The 3-D
"I'm sort of on the fence. It's technically great — this movie opens things up a bit (an outside trap, several exterior shots) and even the traps themselves are larger, so if any of the movies HAD to be in 3-D, it would be this one. And it was SHOT in 3-D (not a convert) so it automatically looks better than most of what we're seeing. But I'm not sure it's the right fit for this particular franchise — it felt sort of weird to have characters throwing things at you, as if they were sort of having fun too. Not that I always want a grim-fest, but it feels a bit campy at times. You may disagree, but I've always felt the series is much more intelligent than its given credit for, however this stuff gives it a slightly goofy tone, like a 'Final Destination' movie more than 'Saw' one." — BC, Bloody Disgusting

The Final Word
"Jigsaw's signature fiendish traps became the focus of the franchise at some point — you can rewatch the first 'Saw' and see how NOT the focus they were — and that means the films get less titillating as the traps get less inventive ... If we ever thought there was any profundity to Jigsaw's philosophy, surely we long ago realized it was B.S. It seems like we're watching now just because, well, we've watched this much, so we might as well finish. What reward is there for us? We can say we watched all seven of them. Jigsaw would be proud." — Eric D. Snider, Cinematical

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'Saw 3D' Director Takes Us Inside Series' Scariest Traps

Despite the seemingly endless number of tortuous traps, mutilated body parts and unceremonious deaths, the "Saw" franchise will meet its end with the opening of the final chapter, "Saw 3D" — or so we've been told.

Nevertheless, because the films are always shrouded in secrecy, MTV News sought out director Kevin Greutert to find out a few behind-the-scenes tidbits about the latest installment, beginning with the grisly details about that table-saw trap that opens the film.

"The trap that opens the movie ... was probably the most ambitious 'Saw' trap," Greutert said, referring to the two guys and a girl harnessed on all sides of a scary table saw and a cement-cutting gasoline-powered saw ready to hack them all to bits. "The idea is that it's a love-triangle soap opera played out in 60 seconds. Essentially, the jigsaw puppet Billy appears, announces both to them and to the huge crowd that starts gathering around them that they have 60 seconds to either kill one of the two dudes by pushing the saw into the other guy or letting the center saw cut in half the woman that they've both been toyed with by for however long.

"That's all well and good on paper, but as it turns out, this device was actually really difficult to build. ... You could position the things so that the blade would conceivably miss all three of the [actors]. This is kind of a good example of what happens on almost every 'Saw' trap," he explained. "Because they're very well-designed machines, but you really have to be very careful when you're conceiving and designing these things that there aren't loopholes for getting out. We have to do a lot of duct-taping on the set just to make sure that all the issues have been addressed."

Greutert said the duct-tape solution has come in handy over the years, making what looks absolutely terrifying onscreen a lot less scary on set.

"The machinery often doesn't work at all, and it's all just done with smoke and mirrors, really. In 'Saw VI,' there was a machine; Peter Outerbridge's character William and then his janitor wake up in these two traps, they have gas masks over their faces that are monitoring their breath, and then these big, metal wedges that are clamping them over the sides," Greutert recalled. "And it looked fantastic, but really, to operate the thing, we just had prop guys with metal rods that are just kind of pushing things into them. There were no working motors of any kind on the trap. It was all just kind of jerry-rigged, and so often it's like that. If the camera pans to the right just a little bit, you'll see a bunch of stage hands just physically turning gears with their fingers."

Movie magic aside, "Saw 3D" was not without a few actually frightening moments. "There's a character who is tied down with barbed wire underneath a car that's raised up on some very frail jack stands," Greutert described about one particular trap. "The car motor is running, and it's a big '70s-era El Camino, and the rear tire is inches above this person's head. When I looked at it on the set before we brought the actress in, I just said, 'How are we ever going to get this person to lie under that while we start the car and let the engine shake it on the jack stands?' I was assured that it was safe, but I wouldn't have done it for all the tea in China, to be honest," Greutert admitted. "And this girl, she agreed that it was really terrifying, but she did it, and more power to her. She screamed her head off, and I don't think they were fake screams."

Check out everything we've got on "Saw 3D."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Are Robert Downey Jr. And Zach Galifianakis A Good 'Due Date' Duo?

In the upcoming film "Due Date," Robert Downey Jr. plays the straight man to the zany antics of Zach Galifianakis and a scene-stealing French bulldog named Honey (renamed Sonny by Galifianakis, we're told).

If you've seen the trailer, you know that Downey's character is trying to get home to his wife, who is going to have their baby very soon. Zach's character comes into the mix as an alternate mode of transport, which naturally turns out to be a cross-country road trip that destroys cars, friendships and nerves.

When MTV News caught up with one-half of this new comedic duo at the Los Angeles premiere of the film recently, we asked Downey to compare his two co-stars: Galifianakis and the French bulldog.

"Well, actually, Sonny is supposed to be a boy [and] is largely played by a female dog," the "Iron Man" star explained.

"Honey is her real name," Downey's wife Susan chimed in.

"Right. Honey is a bitch. Sonny is supposed to be this meat stick in the movie, so they pulled in a male dog, and that's how I think of Zach: He's kind of a hermaphrodite hound," Downey said with a smile.

Somehow, we imagine Galifianakis would take that assessment as a compliment. But where might he and the "Hangover" star rank among the great comedic duos in film history?

"I'll know a lot more in a couple hours, but I would say kind of Ashford & Simpson right now," Downey said. "We'll see if we get to Hope and Crosby."

Check out everything we've got on "Due Date."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Kristen Stewart's 'Welcome To The Rileys' Cheat Sheet

You can go with the conventional wisdom that Kristen Stewart truly arrived as a Hollywood player when "Twilight" whipped up a $70 million opening in the fall of 2008. She's gone on to star in subsequent Twi-flicks as well as mature roles in films like "The Runaways" and the upcoming "On the Road."

Or you could take something of a contrarian stance and argue Stewart began her ascent as an A-list star before "Twilight" hit theaters, when the then-18-year-old threw herself into the role of an emotionally scarred stripper in "Welcome to the Rileys," proving, to herself and others, that she had the chops, maturity and creativity to accomplish anything she wanted onscreen.

Fans and critics, however, didn't get to check out her "Rileys" work until the Sundance Film Festival this past January. Now audiences in select cities will get to take in her work, in which she plays a 16-year-old (real name Allison, working-girl name Mallory) who flees to a New Orleans strip club and meets a man (James Gandolfini) who becomes her father figure and attempts to help her pick up the pieces of her broken life.

Whether you're lucky enough to have a theater near you showing the movie or simply want to know everything there is to know about it, MTV News has got you covered with our "Welcome to the Rileys" cheat sheet.

Wait, Bella's Playing a Stripper?
The fact that Stewart was playing a stripper/prostitute flew mostly under the radar — aside from a few quotes she dropped here and there — until the first photos popped up online in late 2009. One photo showed Stewart in a string bikini top, another the actress as she cowered next to a bed

Sundance arrived the next month, and Stewart made clear audiences shouldn't characterize the film as simply one about a stripper. "[The shocking thing is] maybe that it's not, like, shocking," Stewart told us. "It's really not a stripper movie at all."

Instead, she explained, "Rileys" is best understood as a story of a girl trying to make it on her own — and lacking the skills to pull it off. KStew called it the most personal role of her career.

"It's about understanding who you're playing and you have a responsibility because you feel like you can't let them down," she told us. "[My character] really became a part of me. I haven't felt so personally involved in something."

Stewart Grows Up
Months passed without much "Rileys" news. Then in July the trailer hit the Web, showing the world a very un-Bella-like character. We then brought you a slew of new photos. As Stewart explained to us, she dove into research for the role — and almost ended up with a new job.

"One shocking thing was to find how easy it is [to flaunt your sexuality]," she explained. "Like, I went to a strip club with the director and the costume designer and it being an odd grouping of people going into a strip club in the middle of the afternoon, I was, like, straight-up offered a job."

We're glad she didn't take them up on the offer. Stewart was coming into her own, and she looked and sounded as confident as we've ever seen her when she hit the "Rileys" red carpet earlier this month.

"She's grown up. She's a woman now," "Welcome to the Rileys" director Jake Scott told us, adding that she possessed the seeds of that maturity in October '08 when production on the movie kicked off. "It was an act of courage on her part, especially when you consider she was just 18."

Check out everything we've got on "Welcome to the Rileys."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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'Captain America' Shows Off His Shield In First-Look Photo

Spies on the set of "Captain America: The First Avenger" have been snapping photos and recording shaky videos of Chris Evans and his co-stars since shortly after the production got underway in the U.K. this summer.

But now we have our first, Marvel-approved look at Evans as Captain America in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly. The cover image showcases the actor in his World War II-era, stars-and-stripes outfit and clutching that iconic shield at his side. The look on Evans' face tells you all you need to know: Do not mess with the Captain.

Evans admitted to the magazine that he had a ton of apprehension about accepting the role, a move that required him to sign a six-picture deal with Marvel. "At the time, I remember telling a buddy of mine, 'If the movie bombs, I'm f---ed. If the movie hits, I'm f---ed!' " he said. "I was just scared. I realized my whole decision making process was fear based, and you never want to make a decision out of fear.

"I can't believe was almost too chicken to play Captain America," he added.

The film is set in 1942 and tells the story of how Steve Rogers (Evans) goes from a skinny kid with an itch to kill Nazis to a superhero called Captain America, thanks to a top-secret military program called Project: Rebirth. Haley Atwell plays his love interest, Major Peggy Carter, while Sebastian Stan has stepped into the role of sidekick Bucky Barnes. Hugo Weaving, meanwhile, plays Red Skull, Hitler's über-evil weapons chief and, inevitably, the Captain's adversary after he forms plans to use a fantastical device called the Tesseract to conquer the world.

"The interesting thing about [Captain America] is that he's an everyman who, in the course of a few minutes, become a perfect human specimen," said director Joe Johnston. "That has to create some interesting personal issues. I saw it as an opportunity to make a superhero movie that felt real, that didn't have to rely on an overabundance of fantasy elements."

Check out everything we've got on "Captain America: The First Avenger."

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

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'Hangover 2' Director Addresses Mel Gibson Switch

After news broke that Mel Gibson's cameo in "The Hangover 2" had been scrapped, observers tried to figure out why the Australian actor had landed on the cutting-room floor. But the film's director, Todd Phillips, wants the public to know that Gibson wasn't fired.

"No one was ever fired," Phillips said, according to MTV Radio. "It's a term that is so obscene to me."

Gibson was slated to play a tattoo artist. But shortly after "Hangover" star Zach Galifianakis said during a radio appearance that he was in a "deep protest right now with a movie I'm working on," Liam Neeson replaced Gibson.

"Someone was doing me a favor to come in for a two-minute cameo, and we changed it," Phillips explained. "It wasn't like we fired somebody. [Gibson] was just doing a favor from the beginning."

Phillips recently released a statement saying that he had wanted Gibson in the film, but that not everyone agreed with his decision.

"I thought Mel would have been great in the movie," read the statement. "And I had the full backing of [Warner Bros. Pictures president] Jeff Robinov and his team. But I realize filmmaking is a collaborative effort, and this decision ultimately did not have the full support of my entire cast and crew."

What do you think of Mel Gibson being cut from "The Hangover 2"? Let us know in the comments!

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