Saw V Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 10.26.2008

Can a film that finds the infamous franchise running out of interesting characters still deliver?

Directed by: David Hackl
Written by: Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan

Starring:
Tobin Bell - John Kramer / Jigsaw
Julie Benz - Brit
Costas Mandylor - Mark Hoffman
Scott Patterson - Agent Peter Strahm
Betsy Russell - Jill Tuck
Mark Rolston - Dan Erickson
Carlo Rota - Charles
Greg Bryk - Mallick
Laura Gordon - Ashley
Joris Jarsky - Seth
Mike Butters - Paul Stallberg
Samantha Lemole - Pamela Jenkins
Sheila Shah - Agent Cowan
Meagan Good - Luba



Running Time: 88 minutes
Rated R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, language and brief nudity

When it comes to Halloween, Saw films have become an unquestionable tradition. The horror series, which began on October 29th, 2004 with a little 1.2 million dollar film that blew box office expectations wide open, has become as reliable a Halloween event over the last several years as little kids dressing up for candy. Riding along on the strength one of the most fascinating villains of all time in Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw, the series has made $431 million worldwide on a mere total of $25.2 million and, unfortunately, kicked off the infamous “torture porn” subgenre that has drug horror into new lows of quality. With that level of profit, it’s no wonder to see why Lionsgate films and the producers are willing to keep this series going, even after it seemingly peaked with the third installment—both from a financial level and audience enjoyment. One wonders how the studio can keep bringing new movies out, particularly after the death of Jigsaw in the third film; however, they appear to have enough ideas to last through VI, which is slated for next year. This year, of course, we get Saw V, which hits theaters this weekend.

The film starts, after a scene which showcases one of Jigsaw’s infamous traps, directly after the events of both Saw III and IV. FBI Agent Straum (Patterson) has just shot the ill-fated hero of Saw III, Jeff, and is locked in the room he’s in by Jigsaw’s secret disciple, Detective Mark Hoffman (Mandylor). Straum finds a way out, but in doing so he falls into a new trap—one intended, unlike most of Jigsaw’s traps, to kill him without a chance to escape. However, he manages to outsmart the trap and gets away. Hoffman gets a medal and promotion for helping track down Jigsaw—or, as he’s now known to the world, John Kramer (Bell). Meanwhile, Jigsaw’s ex-wife Jill Tuck (Russell) is given a box from her late ex-husband, which instructions that she will know what to do with the contents. As Hoffman tries to go back to his life and fulfilling justice as he and Kramer knew it, he finds a note from someone that states “I know who you are.” Is it Straum, who seems suspicious of him? Is it Tuck? Or is it perhaps someone else? Hoffman must figure out who threatens his anonymity before they put an end to him. While all of this is going on, a group of five individuals—real estate agent Brit (Benz), reporter Charles (Rota), fire marshal Ashley (Gordon), city planner Luba (Good) and trust-fund rich boy Mallick (Bryk) awake to find themselves in a Jigsaw trap. It tells them they have all used their natural-born advantages to the ruination of others, and that they must go against their instincts to survive. The five must make their way through Jigsaw’s trademark death traps if they expect to survive and, as Kramer explains to Hoffman in one of the films many flashbacks, “find rehabilitation.”

The Saw series has always succeeded largely due to the character of John Kramer and the inventiveness of its sadistic traps. The fourth installment of the series was, with little dissention from its fan base, a let down from the previous films by carrying itself into a too-complex storyline in order to keep things going after the events of the third. The writers of that film were Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan, the duo who wrote the disgustingly funny horror film Feast, and they take up duty again with Saw V. Melton and Dunstan continue their habit of playing with time by essentially combining three story arcs into one; the efforts of Hoffman to evade Straum’s investigation, the progression of the five individuals through the traps, and flashbacks to show how Hoffman was found and trained by Kramer. While the duo create a story that falters in its progression and seems lost at times due to the jumping from one storyline to another, it is still a cleaner tale then IV, and they take great effort to tie up loose ends in the previous four films. For those who are fans of the first four, it is quite satisfying to see several questions answered, even if they are blatant use retroactive continuity (or, as comic book and film fans known it by, “retcon”). The script succeeds more often than not when it is focusing on the flashbacks or the trap game; when it comes to Hoffman and Straum’s storyline however, it seems to fall flat at times. The traps, a hallmark of the series are not as inventive as previous ones—you won’t see anything as visually impressive or complex as the “angel wing” trap from III or the draw and quarter trap in IV—but they are all still quite satisfying and carry Jigsaw’s hallmark ideals with them. In this aspect, the film does succeed where its core audience will want it to.

Unfortunately, where it fails is in the acting. While the performances from Tobin Bell and Betsy Russell are as top-notch as they have been in the previous films, the film falls upon Costas Mandylor and Scott Patterson to carry it. In that, they fail by virtue of disappointment. Mandylor has the unfavorable task of having to be compared to both Bell and Shawnee Smith, while Patterson has a long series of good guys to live up to, including Danny Glover, Donnie Wahlberg, and Dina Meyer. Neither succeeds, simply because their characters and acting chops are not up to the muster of their predecessors. Hoffman seems like too much of a thug to match the razor-sharp intelligence of John Kramer or the manipulative zeal of Amanda Young, and Mandylor plays him in such a way that it is nearly impossible to see him as anything above the level of a mafia tough guy—he’s certainly nowhere near the villainy level of the others. While he manages to redeem himself somewhat in the last moments of the film, it simply seems like too little too late, and one wonders how long the franchise can continue under Hoffman’s hand. Patterson, for his part, seems simply uninteresting as Straum. He made a perfectly serviceable supporting character in IV, but falters under the strain of having to carry the good guy role. He talks with an annoyingly raspy voice due to an injury suffered early in the film, and worse yet the raspiness seems to fluctuate in and out throughout the movie. Meanwhile, the five people in the trap are quite decent, with Benz and Bryk doing the best work as Brit and Mallick. None of them fall into the annoying habit of screaming wildly from trap to trap, and while they all seem to know the rules a bit overly much—and in fact, at times seem to eager to play by them—this is an acceptable situation, as at this point Jigsaw is well-known to the public at large.

The gore will be disappointing for fans going specifically to see that. One of the elements that has set Saw apart from the torture porn it inspired is the deeper meaning behind the gore, and in this film, director David Hackl focuses more on the meaning then the visuals. While a very early trap—the “crowd pleaser” opening one—is quite cringe-worthy and the final two traps (one for the quintet, one for someone else) will provoke some squirms, the focus is clearly more on the traps and solving them then the bloody results. This works to the films benefit and, while audiences wanted blood and intestines and other such sundries may be disappointed, it results in a somewhat more satisfying experience then it could have.

The 411: The biggest problem with Saw V is simply that it has run out of interesting characters to focus on. As the series moves further and further away from the death of Tobin Bell's Jigsaw in Saw III, the ability to keep bringing him back becomes more and more difficult, and Costas Mandylor's Hoffman appears to be unsuited to the task of picking up the slack. The traps are good and the storyline is cleaner and less gimmicky then the fourth film, giving the movie a chance to succeed, but the poor acting by both Mandylor and Scott Patterson as Agent Straum drags this film down from the heights that it could have acheived. Saw VI is already slated to come out next year, and while the last scene with Hoffman gives me hope that the franchise could become great again, Saw V falls into the category of a slightly above-average horror film and a disappointing entry into the once-great franchise.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]