Churning out no less than five films onto the Hollywood Halloween Horror frame in the same amount of years the Saw series knows its audience, its largely male, stumbling through adolescence onwards to the thirty something gore fiends looking for the latest offering in the now rapidly declining 'shock horror / torture porn' genre that the first film brought to prominence in 2004.
After the events of Saw III shook the franchise with its inventive ending and then, somewhat competently handled the aftermath in the fourth entry, Saw V begs to ask the question: Who's left to slice and dice? Saw V wants to be a reboot in a way, passing the baton from the events in IV and bringing a new fear and era of Jigsaw (in the inevitable Saw VI: The Search For More Money). Problem is, V is so bogged down in its past that the very essence of Saw is lost in its narrative. The set pieces are there; broken souls offered redemption through torturous and painful puzzles (including Julie Benz, who uses her cheap black wig to hide the fact that she's in it for the paycheck, her worst acting effort to date), they still pack a punch, but you can only see so many severed body parts and scorched flesh before it all becomes a bit passé. The roller-coaster only can maintain its pace for some time before you hit some slow corners and V is a sign the ride is coming to an end fast.
On one hand the film wants to be a detective thriller, yet is hampered by so many explanatory flashbacks sequences (to understand how the apprentice came to this point) that anyone not familiar with the events of the previous 3 sequels would develop an aneurysm from trying to put it all together. Tobin Bell is relishing fleshing out his Jigsaw/John character more, and he is at his most competent here, while Costas Mandylor's Detective Hoffman is all furrowed brows and menacing glares, a worrying problem when a central character is such a grinding bore that you feel no strong emotion towards either way. On the other hand the essence of Saw remains, pushing the very limit of its rating, the traps are indeed brutal, but seem more like detours into another film. The two stories driving this film do not intersect comfortably, leaving the film feel very disjointed at times, and with so many rapid edits and cuts it leaves the audience detached from the action on screen.
The ace up the sleeve since the first inception five years ago was the fantastic twist which flips the story on its head and drives the 'trust no one' themes each film presents, unfortunately Saw V is where the twist is indeed the weakest. The wow factor has truly left the building this time around, and yes, the door is truly left WIDE open for VI.
Saw V is the weakest entry in the series, the cleverness that brought the series so much attention over the past five years is lost in the lack of inventiveness and hapless direction. There are only so many ways to shock an audience, and the only true shock is here is how quickly a once genre defining series has become a near parody of itself. The parallels between Saw and other long running horror franchises is becoming more obvious. What's next? Saw VI: Jigsaw in Space? See you next October.
After the events of Saw III shook the franchise with its inventive ending and then, somewhat competently handled the aftermath in the fourth entry, Saw V begs to ask the question: Who's left to slice and dice? Saw V wants to be a reboot in a way, passing the baton from the events in IV and bringing a new fear and era of Jigsaw (in the inevitable Saw VI: The Search For More Money). Problem is, V is so bogged down in its past that the very essence of Saw is lost in its narrative. The set pieces are there; broken souls offered redemption through torturous and painful puzzles (including Julie Benz, who uses her cheap black wig to hide the fact that she's in it for the paycheck, her worst acting effort to date), they still pack a punch, but you can only see so many severed body parts and scorched flesh before it all becomes a bit passé. The roller-coaster only can maintain its pace for some time before you hit some slow corners and V is a sign the ride is coming to an end fast.
On one hand the film wants to be a detective thriller, yet is hampered by so many explanatory flashbacks sequences (to understand how the apprentice came to this point) that anyone not familiar with the events of the previous 3 sequels would develop an aneurysm from trying to put it all together. Tobin Bell is relishing fleshing out his Jigsaw/John character more, and he is at his most competent here, while Costas Mandylor's Detective Hoffman is all furrowed brows and menacing glares, a worrying problem when a central character is such a grinding bore that you feel no strong emotion towards either way. On the other hand the essence of Saw remains, pushing the very limit of its rating, the traps are indeed brutal, but seem more like detours into another film. The two stories driving this film do not intersect comfortably, leaving the film feel very disjointed at times, and with so many rapid edits and cuts it leaves the audience detached from the action on screen.
The ace up the sleeve since the first inception five years ago was the fantastic twist which flips the story on its head and drives the 'trust no one' themes each film presents, unfortunately Saw V is where the twist is indeed the weakest. The wow factor has truly left the building this time around, and yes, the door is truly left WIDE open for VI.
Saw V is the weakest entry in the series, the cleverness that brought the series so much attention over the past five years is lost in the lack of inventiveness and hapless direction. There are only so many ways to shock an audience, and the only true shock is here is how quickly a once genre defining series has become a near parody of itself. The parallels between Saw and other long running horror franchises is becoming more obvious. What's next? Saw VI: Jigsaw in Space? See you next October.
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