Runtime:
93 minutes
Release
Date: October 26, 2007
Rating:
R
Director:
Darren Lynn Bousman
Following
the events of the last film, the police send John Kramer's body for
an autopsy after they find him dead in the room with all those other
bodies. The coroner finds a tape in his body and passes it along to
Detective Hoffman. Lieutenant Rigg later finds Detective Kerry and
begins his own investigation into the Jigsaw killings. This becomes
more complicated when a new body appears and he learns that a man
actually escaped the trap.
The
problem with the later Saw movies is that there is usually too much
going on. Most of the early films featured a few traps and gave us
more information about Jigsaw, which kept us interested and
entertained in the movies. This one had so much going on that I found
myself drifting off into la la land and trying to keep up when I came
back.
One of
the best scenes in the film is the end of Donnie Wahlburg, aka
Detective Eric Matthews. Though most of us assumed that he did in one
of the previous films, it turns out that he's still alive, for the
time being anyway. The new killer leaves him tied up on a block of
ice with a noose around his neck and Hoffman strapped to a series of
electrodes next to him. As the ice melts, he keeps slipping and
sliding, but if he falls off the ice, the trap will kill them both.
When he finally does slip and gets his head smashed in, it was
probably the best moment of the movie. Unlike poor Amanda's death,
this one really does fit the character.
Rigg,
who we barely saw in any of the other movies, suddenly becomes the
main focus of interest. The new Jigsaw killer sends him on a mission
across town, and he must complete a series of different tasks in the
hopes of saving Matthews. Given what I said in the last paragraph,
you can guess how well he does.
The
problem isn't Rigg the character, it's the fast that we don't really
know him. I wish they left Kerry alive long enough for her to get her
own movie. Since she really did have a connection to each film, it
would have been nice to see her stick around a little longer. Rigg
suddenly becomes our lead character, but I care as little about him
as I do about Hoffman. Speaking of which, Hoffman is no substitution
for the original Jigsaw.
I do
like Agent Strahm played by Scott Patterson. It's probably the
Gilmore Girls fan inside me, but I think he actually brought
something new/good to the series. Though watching Saw 4 now and
knowing what happens to his character later made me a little sad, it
was nice to see him in this one.
The same
can't be said about Jill Tuck. As the former wife of Kramer, she
should have a lot of insight into him, but she really doesn't add
anything to the film. She's really only there to talk about things we
already know and set things up for her role in the next movie. Her
character is completely bland and a little boring.
As much
as I love the first three films in the series, Saw 4 makes me wish
they had just made a trilogy.
No comments:
Post a Comment