Saw is one of the better horror films I’ve seen in the past 10 years or so, and I really wanted Cary Elwes to escape (so he could marry Princess Buttercup and live happily ever after, of course). Contrast that with the sequels, wherein any given character might have three or four lines of dialog in which to build audience sympathy before they die.

But back to your observations…

I agree that Jigsaw is an anti-hero—I can even that appreciate that he’s trying to get people to redeem themselves—but to say that he “does not kill people” is a stretch. You may not die if you follow his “rules”, but when you do die, Jigsaw is almost invariably the person who killed you. His finger may not have been on the trigger, but he certainly set the trap.

You only did it to yourself, you know.

The first movie I don’t quite remember (except for the ending), but the second movie gives Jigsaw dimension, and reveals that he actually puts these people (as one of your guests said, are troubled in some fashion, be that drug-addicts, rapists, murderers, etc.) through these fairly gruesome “games” because he was diagnosed with cancer, told that he was going to die, attempted suicide, somehow survived, and now believes that the majority of humanity does not value Life.

The reason he chooses these troubled souls is because out of everyöne they value it the least, because they have thrown away their lives, whereas his was stolen from him.

To add an additional element, the “games” in themselves contain “rules”, that is, Jigsaw tells the subject (via video or audio recording) and all they have to do to escape death is follow the rules. Granted, most of these stipulations involve doing something cruel and/or painful in themselves (such as dig a key out from behind their own eye), but in the end their not dead. Given the atmosphere of the movies (or those I’ve seen anyway) most people do not follow the rules and end up dying in some horrible way.

Yes, its true, the Saw films cater to folks who want nothing but see traumatizing images that would make anyöne cringe, which means they ingore the story. But to me, Jigsaw is in some way the ultimate anti-hero, because he does not kill people, he gives persons whose lives are in self-imposed, lamentable states a way to redeem themselves, though the way he goes about it isn’t right.

(remember the scene in Fight Club when Tyler tells the gas-station attendant that he’s going to die unless he does something with his life? Same concept)

Again, I have no idea where the impulse came from to explain all that, but there you go.