Saw V: Yah or Nah?

I know it has been a while since I have posted, been busy with the job and all. But I will make a conscience effort to make sure that I post everyday for here on out. With that being said, I got a chance to go to the movies for first time since Dark Knight this weekend with my girlfriend. The movie of choice...Saw V. That's right, you know that it is Halloween time when the boys from LionsGate and Twisted Pictures dish out their latest in this horror franchise. My girlfriend and I happen to be very big fans of these films; so, you can expect that we were very much looking foward to seeing this movie.

So, when the ending credits rolled, there was only one word that came to mind: disappointed. I went into this movie having such high expectations and with the hopes that most of the questions that were left unanswered in the fourth one would be answered. Needless to say, nothing really was answered, but let me start from the beginning.

From a tone and cinematography stand point, I thought David Hackl's debut was spot on. I thought he really captured that essence of the previous films. With each shot, you knew that you were watching a Saw movie. Although, there were some instances where you knew there was somebody new behind the camera than the other films but in a way it did the film some justice.

Now for the story itself. I was hoping to be blown away with this film, and boy was I wrong. The only thing this film answered was how Hoffman began to help Jigsaw which is what I was expecting. But come on, there is soooo much more that needs to be addressed in this franchise. I, for one, need to know JUST EXACTLY WHAT IS JILL'S ROLE IN THE WHOLE THING!!! You know that she has to know something. They build her up to possibly have such a big role in the franchise and then her screen time in the fifth one is equal to her screen time in the third one. This needs to be answered in the sixth...no questions asked.

Another thing that the writers need to address is Kerry's backstory with the FBI. You know that something else went on before the fourth that needs to shown. You can't just say that a major character through the first three films was helping the FBI and just dropped after the fourth one. You need to continue on that, there can be some good scenes with that that can help make some sense of the "bigger picture" as Jigsaw would say it.

I need to address the "twists" of this one. (WARNING: If you have not seen the movie, please do not read any further.) Coming into the film, I had read a few interviews with the director and he said that there would be two major twists in the whole film. Well, I'm still waiting for them. Strahm discovering that everyone involved in the Jigsaw case was meant to die in order to make Hoffman look like the hero was "eh." It does tie together why those particular characters were important, but I think the writers could have come up with something a little bit better.

The one twist I did like was Hoffman killing Seth in the beginning, under the notion that it was Jigsaw who did it. I was totally under the notion that Seth was a Jigsaw picked victim and it was just Hoffman carrying out the game. I was surprised to see that Hoffman set it up to make it look like a Jigsaw murder. That was cool in my book.

The whole 5-person game lack build-up but by the time we got to the end and learned what connected them all together I wanted more. Their connection was burning down the house from Saw 2 with the 8 people in it. They even had Strahm walk through the house at the end of the movie, looking much nicer than it did in Saw 2. I wanted more back story on this whole connection. I mean I have an idea but that's just my idea, I need concert facts baby. Really hope this gets explored more in the sixth one.

And finally we come to the end twist which I was really disappointed with. Hoffman just lying in the glass box from Saw 4 and watching Strahm get crushed to death...what kind of ending was that. I truly couldn't believe how it ended. I was expecting so much more from this ending. What would have really made the ending to the fifth one a great one would be to have played the autospy scene again. I say this because you would think that the fifth one happens after the autospy scene but that's never confirmed once in the entire film. I think by replaying this scene would have set up very nicely for the sixth and final installment.

Overall, I did enjoy the movie, but on the grander scale of things I was hoping for so much more and it was just missing something that I needed this film to have. Oh well, I guess I will have to wait until next Halloween to see how it all ends.

"You think it is over, but the games have just begun."
~Jigsaw/John Kramer