- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,067
Ohh yes, the Saw movies. The posterchild for wasted potential. Things just seem to keep getting worse and worse yet the slop keeps coming, and why do I keep watching it? The short answer is: I don't know. That's... pretty much the long answer to. Maybe it's because somewhere under the festering pile of crap, there IS something interesting going on, plus, by the time Saw IV came out, I pretty much just said "Well, I came this far, might as well keep on going." Dear GOD was Saw IV awful. That's not to say the others were exactly "great" films, not even the original that was actually at least GOOD and somewhat creepy, but Saw IV took a nose dive from "Bad" to "Painful," without at least having the mercy to stop at "Worse." So have things hit rock bottom for Saw V? Let's find out..
I have to admit, Saw V was a surprise. Maybe not a pleasent one, it's still a very bad movie, but its a GIGANTIC leap above its immediate predecessor, and the potential under the slop is starting to glint a little brighter. Saw V actually makes some attempt to recapture what made the original a creative film. As the series went on, it went further into the typical mode of "Gore, gore, gore" that plagues most American horror films. What made it interesting in part 1 was that it had the "games," but they kept getting more and more stupid and uninventive, losing the sheen that made them seem clever. In Saw V, things seem... smarter. That's not saying much, but it definitely seems so. In fact, I actually was SHOCKED in a GOOD way when a cop at the beginning of the film performs an impromptu tracheotomy to allow him to breathe as his head was stuck in a cube slowly filling with water. A character stuck in a trap who ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING SMART TO CIRCUMVENT DEATH? That's far and few between in most horror movies. Some of the traps in a later section also feel a bit clever, and I liked the "Team" dynamic even if it didn't totally work out for the characters.
Where Saw V fails though and loses all its potential is the way the story is told. I kind of like the story that's been set up over the sequels, but it is told in the worst way possible. It's like they took an intricate and clever thriller, cut it up to confetti, tossed it randomly across the floor and leaves it there while still expecting the viewers to piece it together again. This leads to a lot of random flashbacks that have absolutely no segue, meaning it can be very confusing whenever they switch from the current "plot" to the flash back. To make matters worse, once again there is ANOTHER sub plot. Couldn't they find a way to work the main plot and the sub plot into each other without setting them on two different and confusing wave lengths? It may not be as confusing as #4, but it still leads to confusion and it makes the story hard to follow, and obviously, hard to enjoy. There needs to be SOME linearity, but there simply isn't any. You can tell a story through flashbacks and fragments, but this is ridiculous. Even most stories that work like that attempt some linearity. This means that the somewhat intriguing story is even more occluded than before, even if its not as skewered as it was in Saw IV. In all honesty, I'd rather have a string of prequels setting the story up rather than a bunch of hacked up flashbacks forcefed in random intervals. Sure, it might sound strange having a Saw 0, saw -1 and saw -2, but I'd rather have that then this.
There's a new director behind the wheel, but you're not going to see much of a difference. It still has the "style" of having scenes twirl around and having people twitch around like the demons from Jacob's Ladder, and it still has a silly ending where it tries to tie up all the loose ends through flashbacks and realizations that, through better story telling, the user would've been able to figure out themselves have they an I.Q. over 2. Twist endings are fine, but you have to be able to make the twist intelligent. You can't pull a twist ending out of your arse for no rhyme and reason. In the first movie, the twist worked because they set up an elaborate story that played with your mind like a cat playing with a ball of yarn, it went back and forth and slowly unraveled, but twisted you in the process making the twist seem like it actually fit with the story. While the "twist ending" of Saw V works with the story, this time its not just stupid or out of nowhere like the other sequels, its predictable. You can see it coming less than 10 minutes into the movie, maybe not the way its delivered, but you knew it was going to happen. The ending was also unsatisfying because it left a GIGANTIC plot element hanging loose, with no attempt to tie it up. In fact, that plot strand was the ONE thing that actually had some mystery and build up, I kept watching with anticipation going "Whats in the box... whats in the box.... DAMMIT WHATS IN THE BOX?" and the movie gave me the middle finger. It's just lazy and rude to leave the one mystery of the movie unsolved. They probably just did it to set up Saw 6, and as much as I hate saying this... I'll be there once it comes to my rental store (I don't think it needs to be seen in theaters or bought, god no.) just like the last few installments.
In the end, Saw V is not surprising in any shape or form. While it shows that its attempting to clean up the mess, it ultimately just lazes off and falls asleep, leaving some pieces to fall back to the floor, once again masking the one thing keeping this series going. I can't recommend Saw V for anyone other than hardcore Saw fans or people who need a bland, gory diversion. The traps are more inventive this time, and so they might satiate gore lovers want for more inventive death scenes, but in the end it still just boils down to lame gore tricks and confusing plot devices. Saw V won't scare anyone unless you are too squeamish to handle some fake blood and guts, and it will leave you feeling empty if you want something more from your horror. I can't really pinpoint why I am compelled to watch the series, maybe its just because I need an ending, but as long as there is a halloween, there will be another cashed-in saw movie. I'll duck out once they bring Jigsaw back as a zombie or turn it into a musical.
3.5/10
I have to admit, Saw V was a surprise. Maybe not a pleasent one, it's still a very bad movie, but its a GIGANTIC leap above its immediate predecessor, and the potential under the slop is starting to glint a little brighter. Saw V actually makes some attempt to recapture what made the original a creative film. As the series went on, it went further into the typical mode of "Gore, gore, gore" that plagues most American horror films. What made it interesting in part 1 was that it had the "games," but they kept getting more and more stupid and uninventive, losing the sheen that made them seem clever. In Saw V, things seem... smarter. That's not saying much, but it definitely seems so. In fact, I actually was SHOCKED in a GOOD way when a cop at the beginning of the film performs an impromptu tracheotomy to allow him to breathe as his head was stuck in a cube slowly filling with water. A character stuck in a trap who ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING SMART TO CIRCUMVENT DEATH? That's far and few between in most horror movies. Some of the traps in a later section also feel a bit clever, and I liked the "Team" dynamic even if it didn't totally work out for the characters.
Where Saw V fails though and loses all its potential is the way the story is told. I kind of like the story that's been set up over the sequels, but it is told in the worst way possible. It's like they took an intricate and clever thriller, cut it up to confetti, tossed it randomly across the floor and leaves it there while still expecting the viewers to piece it together again. This leads to a lot of random flashbacks that have absolutely no segue, meaning it can be very confusing whenever they switch from the current "plot" to the flash back. To make matters worse, once again there is ANOTHER sub plot. Couldn't they find a way to work the main plot and the sub plot into each other without setting them on two different and confusing wave lengths? It may not be as confusing as #4, but it still leads to confusion and it makes the story hard to follow, and obviously, hard to enjoy. There needs to be SOME linearity, but there simply isn't any. You can tell a story through flashbacks and fragments, but this is ridiculous. Even most stories that work like that attempt some linearity. This means that the somewhat intriguing story is even more occluded than before, even if its not as skewered as it was in Saw IV. In all honesty, I'd rather have a string of prequels setting the story up rather than a bunch of hacked up flashbacks forcefed in random intervals. Sure, it might sound strange having a Saw 0, saw -1 and saw -2, but I'd rather have that then this.
There's a new director behind the wheel, but you're not going to see much of a difference. It still has the "style" of having scenes twirl around and having people twitch around like the demons from Jacob's Ladder, and it still has a silly ending where it tries to tie up all the loose ends through flashbacks and realizations that, through better story telling, the user would've been able to figure out themselves have they an I.Q. over 2. Twist endings are fine, but you have to be able to make the twist intelligent. You can't pull a twist ending out of your arse for no rhyme and reason. In the first movie, the twist worked because they set up an elaborate story that played with your mind like a cat playing with a ball of yarn, it went back and forth and slowly unraveled, but twisted you in the process making the twist seem like it actually fit with the story. While the "twist ending" of Saw V works with the story, this time its not just stupid or out of nowhere like the other sequels, its predictable. You can see it coming less than 10 minutes into the movie, maybe not the way its delivered, but you knew it was going to happen. The ending was also unsatisfying because it left a GIGANTIC plot element hanging loose, with no attempt to tie it up. In fact, that plot strand was the ONE thing that actually had some mystery and build up, I kept watching with anticipation going "Whats in the box... whats in the box.... DAMMIT WHATS IN THE BOX?" and the movie gave me the middle finger. It's just lazy and rude to leave the one mystery of the movie unsolved. They probably just did it to set up Saw 6, and as much as I hate saying this... I'll be there once it comes to my rental store (I don't think it needs to be seen in theaters or bought, god no.) just like the last few installments.
In the end, Saw V is not surprising in any shape or form. While it shows that its attempting to clean up the mess, it ultimately just lazes off and falls asleep, leaving some pieces to fall back to the floor, once again masking the one thing keeping this series going. I can't recommend Saw V for anyone other than hardcore Saw fans or people who need a bland, gory diversion. The traps are more inventive this time, and so they might satiate gore lovers want for more inventive death scenes, but in the end it still just boils down to lame gore tricks and confusing plot devices. Saw V won't scare anyone unless you are too squeamish to handle some fake blood and guts, and it will leave you feeling empty if you want something more from your horror. I can't really pinpoint why I am compelled to watch the series, maybe its just because I need an ending, but as long as there is a halloween, there will be another cashed-in saw movie. I'll duck out once they bring Jigsaw back as a zombie or turn it into a musical.
3.5/10
