Saw IV review by The Grim Ringler
Saw IVOk, let’s face the facts, you’re only here, watching Saw if you liked the previous installments so I’ll say this – if you didn’t like the other movies, you won’t like this one. Hell, I’ll go so far as to say you’ll outright hate it. So be it. It is what it is. What I say is this – for me, a fan of the series, there was good and bad, and definitely enough to make me want the next two to come out immediately.
Saw IV opens with the autopsy of Jigsaw, the man behind the deaths that have been plaguing a city and its people. During the autopsy one last tape – the means in which he conveys the rules of his sadistic games – is discovered inside his stomach and it appears that indeed, the games are still continuing. Jigsaw takes people who he feels are taking their lives for granted and he puts them through certain trials in which they must choose to sacrifice a bit of themselves in order to live. Jigsaw’s aim is to make people better appreciate what they have and to take this second chance at life and make the most of it. Unfortunately, most people fail the tests he puts before them and he has become known as a vicious murderer. This time it is the police themselves who shall be put to the test. After finding one of their comrades dead due to a device constructed by Jigsaw, two men working in different departments for the police decide it’s time that real answers were found. One man, a detective looks to the ex-wife of Jigsaw for clues; the other though is pulled into the game himself. His obsession with Jigsaw and what has happened to the dead officer they’ve found and another officer that has yet to be found has lead him into the world of the games, and this time it is he who will be tested. He must learn to let people go, learn to let go of his friend, if he is to learn. To teach this lesson, Jigsaw has constructed a series of tasks for him to perform that, should he fail, or choose not to perform, will doom two friends, both officers. As he progresses through the game though, the FBI begin following the trail of bodies that are left in his wake, and the question becomes whether this man is being set up to be Jigsaw’s next accomplice. Time is running out though, and there are lives hanging in the balance, and whatever happens, everything will change once the last trap has sprung.
The thing with the Saw films that appeals to me is the mystery. In essence, this is like an Italian giallo film which are basically violent murder mysteries. As violent as the Saw films are, the heart of them is the mystery that has been created in the first film – who is Jigsaw, and why is he doing this. We have since learned that, but with every successive film another puzzle piece is presented implicating other people, creating accomplices, and widening the scope of what the game truly is and means. Time has become part of this puzzle and since the second film the timeline for the films is as much a trap as the trials the characters are put through. The WHEN of something is as big a piece of the puzzle as the WHY. Here, the when is more important than anything else.
The traps are not as original or nasty as those in previous films but there are a lot of nasty surprises in store. The acting is decent though no one is apt to get an Oscar here. The story is the most convoluted in the series but I have a feeling that it will make more sense once the fifth and six entries are released. Fans of the series should be pleased with the film but will leave theaters frustrated, which is intentional, and I hope people don’t forget this. This is a series set up for at least six entries – two trilogies basically – so you must be patient. Naturally, this isn’t the film for newbies to try to get into the series with. And if you never liked the movies in the first place, this won’t change your mind in the least. It is though, a violent, dark tale of obsession and letting go and, as with each of the films, there is a lesson, if you can see it through the blood. A step back for the series because of how confusing it is, but still a solid effort.
c
7 out of 10 Jackasses
