Be warned, this is a long one...
This film feels like a turning point for me. The first three I enjoyed to an extent. The first two I thought were good, the third being a bit crap but a good way to end the trilogy. Well, it just so turns out Saw IV made Saw III look great by comparison.
I can’t quite tell what exactly makes me dislike Saw IV, but I’m going to go ahead and say everything. The directing and editing of this film was horrible. Remember in the Saw II review how I said that I fear of getting epilepsy? I may well have it now because of this films constant flashing. I also have motion sickness because the camera keeps moving around far too much.
The game this time seems completely ridiculous. It doesn’t feel like Rigg (Lyriq Bent) needs to be completing it on his own. He has to go outside, into the city, to complete some tasks, and yet he doesn’t get any help. At all. Also, the fact that he is no longer stuck in a single room or a building just doesn’t feel right for the series. Because outside there is no control over what happens, so it is only due to convenience that the game works.
The game, yet again, turns into a twist (M. Night Shyamalan would be proud). If he didn’t try to complete the game this time then everyone would have lived and it would have all have been fine. Oh, wow, you got me there that time, Saw.
But not only this, we find out that this film is a midquel. It takes place during the events of Saw III, meaning that it was Kramer (Tobin Bell) who set all of this up and not some long lasting legacy left by him, which would have been interesting. No, instead we are treated to a filler movie, which does a lot in ruining the story for us.
You see, John Kramer is a dick. OK, maybe he was already a dick, but he was kind of understandable. He thought people should start respecting their own lives more because he realised how truly precious it was. Fine. But no, it turns out he was to have a child, but his wife had a miscarriage. He then blocked her out of his life and decided to kill the guy who caused the death in the first game. This all feels so wrong and unnecessary, ruining a character as well as badly handling the death of an unborn child to the point that I am angry at the movie (and I won’t get started on the badly handled rape, which, again, angered me).
But on top of this we have Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) coming back from Saw II to die an anti-climactic death that I really didn’t think he deserved as well as Jeff Denlon (Angus Macfayden) from Saw III being killed in yet another anti-climactic fashion. These both take place in the ending of the film, which feels rushed and choppy, not really selling the over-complicated plot it was going for. Oh, and we now have another apprentice who has decided to follow Kramer because... he thought it was a good idea? I’m not sure, it isn’t very clear.
Then I got thinking: why does Kramer hate the police? All of his previous victims seemed to be people who deserved to learn the values of life and to care more, like a drug addict, an obsessed man who stopped caring about his family, and criminals in general. This time it seems to be a man who wants to help and save people. Several police get brought into the mix as well. It perplexes and puzzles me. I just guess the writers stopped caring.
On top of all of this we have other, more nit-picky issues. I saw a boom mic in an interrogation scene and during the opening autopsy I could see the facial mask that Tobin Bell was wearing. An issue with continuity is confusing, as Amanda Young is mentioned at a time before the autopsy and discovery of Amanda Young as an apprentice (because something tells me that Daniel from Saw II knew she was).
The editing was annoying, quickly flashing 5 different reactions to pain or someone’s speech, which just looked silly, and at one point an interrogator yells the same words 5 times due to the editing. It’s hard to put into words, but if you watch this film or have watched it then you might know what I mean.
Plus, and this is very nit-picky, the origin of the pig mask seems useless. The only reason it seems to be used is because Kramer wore one once when kidnapping someone, so thinks now it is a great idea to do it.
To be honest, though, when I say “if you watch this film” I’m being far too presumptive, especially considering what I am about to write.
DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM! It is really terrible. I had no fun, zero fun, watching this film. It takes the previous films and decides it doesn’t like them being good and decides to try and make you hate it. The torture porn is still prevalent. Tough issues are handled badly. Most of all, though, and I think this was my biggest issue, this film is completely unnecessary. It adds nothing to the series so far. It doesn’t take away, but it definitely tries to ruin it. This really is the worst Saw film so far.
Final Verdict: 1/10
Final Verdict: 1/10
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