Sunday, October 28, 2007
Movie Review: Saw IV
Saw IV
Jigsaw and his apprentice Amanda are dead. Upon the news of Detective Kerry's murder, two seasoned FBI profilers, Agent Strahm and Agent Perez, arrive at the depleted police precinct and help veteran Detective Hoffman sift through Jigsaw's latest grizzly game of victims and piece together the puzzle. However, when SWAT Commander Rigg, the last officer untouched by Jigsaw, is suddenly abducted and thrust into the madman's harrowing game, the officer has but 90 minutes to overcome a series of interconnected traps...or face the deadly consequences. Rigg's citywide pursuit leaves a wake of dead bodies, and Detective Hoffman and the FBI uncover long hidden clues that lead them back to Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill. The genesis of Jigsaw's evil is unveiled, exposing the puppet master's true intentions and the sinister plan for his past, present and future victims.
Source: Cinema Source
Saw: brilliant, goes down as one of my favorite scary movies.
Saw II: not as clever, but still entertaining.
Saw III: God awful.
Saw IV: The worst.
Honestly, the series has a very clever premise: a "serial killer" who traps victims and gives them the ability to live if they complete his twisted task, and if they survive, they treasure their lives. These gruesome tasks include digging a key out from behind your eye socket or climbing into a pit full of dirty syringes to find an antivirus. Saw IV has veered from these crafty games and headed straight for the gore.
The movie begins with the original Jigsaw killer lying on an operating table with two doctors conducting a horrifyingly graphic autopsy. I can handle gore, but they literally showed every grisly body part in this. Cracking open a skull, ripping open the ribcage, pulling out a brain, etc. Inside the stomach of the killer, they find a tape with the notorious words “PLAY ME” written on them, and thus, the games begin.
This time, the officers and detectives who have been trying to catch Jigsaw are targeted, and Officer Rigg must play the games to save the lives of the others in 90 minutes. The Jigsaw killer still remains alive through flashbacks, and a lot of background is revealed about his thoughts and motives. The problem is that the screenplay tried to tie all of the four movies together, making it somewhat convoluted. For someone having seen all of the Saws it was confusing, so I can just imagine how lost a non-follower would be.
The Saw series is known for its surprising twists, but this one was so anticlimactic that people started cracking up as soon as it was revealed. The series is also known for the games the victims are forced to play because they are usually very clever. Besides the first game, none of the contraptions for the victims were too original. They are mostly all variations from the first three movies.
As for the performances, Tobin Bell as Jigsaw still remains to be horrifying and creepy and his character is the only interesting one in the whole movie. The rest of the cast is filled with D-Listers who do not give anything exciting to their performances.
I was willing to forgive Saw III and go see Saw IV in the theater. Hopefully, they do not keep getting worse and worse, since they are about to start shooting Saw V and Saw VI back-to-back.
