Saw IV

"It's smart that this movie tries to wrap everything up before the films wear out their welcome, and if Lionsgate is smart, they'll leave it at this instead of trying to find a way to milk more money out of it". - A quote from my review of Saw III

Oh, how young and foolish I was just one year ago. I forgot the most important rule of horror franchises. The villain is not dead until the box office returns start to dwindle. Saw III ended with the notorious serial killer, John Kramer (aka Jigsaw), meeting his end. The story that began back with 2004's Saw had concluded, and I was naive enough to figure studio heads would agree. But, the movie made money, so here I am reviewing Saw IV. Up to this point, I've mainly been able to support the franchise. But the latest sequel just smacks of desperation and money grubbing instead of having an actual story to tell. When the evil voice of Jigsaw states ominously in the opening scene that the games are not over, we feel like it's not the character himself giving us this dire warning, it's the greedy studio head at Lionsgate who greenlighted this project speaking.

The film opens with a lengthy and graphic autopsy scene where a small tape player is discovered within the stomach of the corpse of John Kramer (Tobin Bell). Just as Jigsaw's voice on the tape proclaims, the games are not over, and there's someone else out there all too willing to take his place. A police Detective named Riggs (Lyriq Bent) is deeply affected by this, as he has lost many friends to this madman over the years. But now, Jigsaw (or whoever is taking his place) is willing to give Riggs a chance to face his obsession with saving others. It seems that Riggs is the latest victim to go through the killer's twisted mind games, where he must face his fears and insecurities. If he succeeds, he has a chance to rescue forensics specialist Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and one of Jigsaw's earlier victims, who is still alive, Eric Matthews (Donny Wahlberg). As Riggs races about the city, following the killer's cryptic clues, a pair of FBI Agents (Scott Patterson and Athena Karkanis) try to sweat some information out of John's ex-wife (Betsy Russell), since they feel she might know something that might lead to clues as to who is behind the most recent series of deadly "games".

In the past, I have admired the Saw franchise for keeping at least some level of consistency. Given the fact that each film has been released exactly one year from each other, that's no easy task. Saw IV is the point where the series has finally broken down into utter desperation. While not completely unwatchable, this is such a convoluted and messy attempt to keep the story going that it's almost laughable. The movie throws numerous flashbacks, flash forwards, flashbacks within flashbacks, and multiple plotlines that are never developed to any degree of satisfaction. The Saw films have always been uncomfortable to watch, but this time it wasn't the grisly images that unnerved me (though I certainly could have down without the opening autopsy sequence that seems to go on much longer than it needs to), it was the confusing and often muddied storytelling that made me squirm in my seat. So many characters, plots, and twists are introduced that it just stops being fun trying to figure it all out. Rather than feeling like pieces of a puzzle falling into place, it feels like returning director Darren Lynn Bousman is trying to make the awkward pieces of the plot fit together by bashing them in with a hammer. It doesn't help that the film's awkward and rapid-paced editing seems to have been pieced together with...well, a saw. A chainsaw to be more specific.

The movie retains the same dark and gritty look of the past films, and has a couple nice surprises and explanations for viewers who have been with the series since the beginning. But this all falls apart when you begin to realize that not much of interest is happening in the film's main narrative. Characters are sketchily developed, and seem to exist either to be tortured, or attempt to explain the overly crowded plot through a string of flashbacks. When the characters in the flashbacks started to have flashbacks themselves, I couldn't help but laugh. It was all I could do to stop myself from screaming out in frustration. The flashbacks that hold the most interest for fans of the series (the ones that are supposed to talk about the relationship between John Kramer and his ex-wife, and what led him down the path of madness) is disappointingly simplified and predictable. Never mind the fact that the ex-wife can frequently flashback to events that she didn't even witness, the entire story itself seems to be too undernourished to give it the tragic feel that the filmmakers are aiming for. We don't feel for the characters, just like we don't feel for anyone else in the movie.
Saw IV retains all the visual qualities of its predecessors, so it at least feels like a continuation of the other films at least on the surface. But there's something very weak and shaky at the central story level, and it just can't support the movie. When the identity of the new killer is revealed during the film's final moments, I didn't feel anything. I felt as indifferent and toyed with as I did throughout the rest of my viewing experience. The movie is bound to rake in the cash with the horror movie crowd this weekend, and I have no doubt I'll be watching Saw V a year from now. The filmmakers had a chance to leave with dignity. That ship has sailed, and the franchise has decided to pursue the all mighty dollar instead.

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