Pseudo Review: SAW V

There’s not much about the plot of the newest SAW film I can talk about without ruining a few surprises. Let’s just say that Police Detective Mark Hoffman secretly continues his duties as Jigsaw’s apprentice, while FBI Agent Strahm is hot on his trail. Oh yeah, there’s also a bunch of unlucky bastards locked up in a basement that have to play classic Jigsaw “games” (not half as fun as Reindeer games, FYI).

Kudos to the writers for being able to make different events in the SAW films seem connected, even if they were originally never intended to be. The series is constantly being retconned, but the writers always have a way of making it make sense (as long as you don’t think too hard about it). You don’t have to have seen the previous movies to enjoy SAW V, but it sure adds an extra layer of coolness to see how different events now interlock.

As usual, the film keeps you guessing and it’s always fun waiting for the dramatic SAW theme to play as the expected twist is revealed (although SAW V doesn’t really have all that shocking a climax compared to the other films). You‘ll also notice that the death traps are more brutal than usual, but lack the twisted cleverness we’ve come to expect from Jigsaw. Of course, this makes sense since it’s no longer Jigsaw creating them.  

One of the questions left unanswered from SAW IV was how the hell Hoffman ever got mixed up w/ Jigsaw. SAW V answers that question, and the explanation is more or less satisfactory. Of course, for every answer, SAW V poses a couple more questions. There are two fairly big loose ends left open at the end of the flick, and I’m assuming these will get explained in SAW VI. SAW V, more than any of the other sequels, really sets things up for the next installment. 

To be honest, I don’t know how much farther the series can go before it becomes self parody (some may argue it already has). Tobin Bell as Jigsaw is a huge part of what makes the series work, but you have to believe there are only so many more flashbacks left to show before they get silly. There’s also the danger that the more you explain about Jigsaw’s past, the more you hurt his mystique. Plus, I think that the whole franchise is guilty of killing off the more interesting characters. I’d much rather see Donnie Wahlberg’s Detective Matthews than the fairly bland Agent Strahm.

Speaking of characters I wasn’t too hot over, I was never terribly interested in the seemingly random (but not really random at all) group of strangers trapped together. I think this was due to the film never having time to explore them very much.   

The main gripe I have with SAW V is that Hoffman isn’t really playing “the game” fairly. Agent Strahm suspects Hoffman of being Jigsaw’s accomplice, so Hoffman wants to get rid of him. Killing someone to save your own skin seems very un-Jigsaw like to me.  

Bottom line, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll probably like this one. It’s not the best of the bunch, but the filmmakers are still doing a good job keeping the intricate house of continuity cards together. At the very least, I’m still not bored of the series and I’ll be back next Halloween to check out SAW VI.