Reviews
Saw V
Reviewed by: Silas Lesnick
Rating: 6 out of 10
Movie Details: View here
Cast:
Tobin Bell as Jigsaw
Costas Mandylor as Mark Hoffman
Scott Patterson as Agent Strahm
Betsy Russell as Jill
Julie Benz as Brit
Meagan Good as Luba
Directed by David Hackl
Review:
There's something damned refreshing about the Saw franchise's sheer tenacity. Five years after the first film opened to a sizeable box office and ushered in a wave of mainstream "torture porn", we're five films into a franchise that shows no signs of slowing down. Say what you will about the series' merits, there's a honesty you get from Saw V right down to its title. We're not being offered "The Final Chapter" or some other trick to pull attention away from the number. It's there and it's there proudly because Lionsgate is one of the few studios around that seems to understand that fans like to go see horror movies in October. To that end, I'm happy to report that Saw V is one for the fans.
Beginning right after the events of Saw IV, Lieutenant Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) remains alive to continue Jigsaw's legacy. Hailed as a hero after the events of part IV, Hoffman finds opposition from a man who he never planned to have survive: Detective Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) whose investigation into the Jigsaw murders takes us all the way back to their grisly beginnings. (Giving us a chance to see a fair amount of Tobin Bell, despite his having died two sequels ago).
Meanwhile, there's another game going on as five strangers (Julie Benz, Carlo Rota, Laura Gordon, Greg Bryk, and Megan Good) awaken in a room of deadly puzzles and are forced to figure out what connection has brought them together and what they need to do to survive.
Like the previous films, both stories play out simultaneously and we're treated to a fair amount of gore in each. This time, though, there's a slightly different feeling to a lot of the traps and they wind up requiring more creative solutions than outright horrific ones. Sometimes it works great (Strahm's solution to his first trap is fantastic, maybe the best in the whole series) but others are a bit of a stretch and you find yourself wishing the characters were just a little bit smarter. Then again, what's a horror film where you're not shouting at the screen?
David Hackl, the once-production designer of the series, takes the director's chair for this one and it's a pleasant, if unspectacular change. Hackl has got a director's eye and a lot of the film looks great but there are some pacing problems, particularly between the two stories. The whole film comes off as feeling a bit rushed and there's never really an appropriate bridge between the two plots. It winds up being the five new characters that suffer for the pacing issues; They never really get a chance to flesh out much of back story or interact as much as they should and it's a shame because they're an unlikely and interesting group that would have benefited from a little more time exploring group dynamics.
Thanks to a great many flashbacks, nearly everyone who has appeared in a Saw movie previously gets to make a cameo. Though mostly old footage, it's a nice touch and serves as a wink to the fans, given the series' ever-more complicated continuity.
Despite some surface flaws, Saw V shouldn't disappoint anyone who has made it this far into the franchise. (Especially those fans who gathered for last night's five-movie marathon) To everyone else, be sure to keep your eyes open; Part VI is already planned for next Halloween and there are more than a few threads left purposefully untied for more Jigsaw outings.
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Comments
Posted by: Wow!!! on October 24, 2008 at 11:04:15
I can't wait for saw 16 to come out...
Posted by: Wow!!! on October 24, 2008 at 11:06:35
Oh, sorry, I mean Saw XVI...I wonder what the plot would be. Jigsaw gets his taxes done...Jigsaw gets a parking ticket...
Posted by: Cummings on October 24, 2008 at 11:12:41
this movie was absolutely terrible. I saw it for free luckily but I would not spend $9 to sit through this dumb and boring bullsht.
Posted by: Josh on October 24, 2008 at 11:31:14
For once an HONEST review. I'm sick of all the crap criticizing how the series has gone to crap. I loved the movie, and as a major Saw fan I can clearly see that this is one made for the fans. The end was awesome, and the acting was great. Can't wait for the sixth movie!
Posted by: chassidy on October 24, 2008 at 12:50:22
I can't wait to see this today! I hope its good too.
Posted by: Jason on October 24, 2008 at 12:50:58
Saw the movie last night and I feel this review got it right. As much as I hate waiting for some movies to come out I feel with the Saw franchise that they are becoming a little rushed. When Saw VI is done I think they should take next year off and do a story with it because if you think about it with all the flash backs the movie was really only just about an hour long. Especially with the lets just throw in the game story I think they really crapped out on that part. So as a fan of the Saw Franchise I believe it is ok if they take a little bit longer to start making Saw VI because Saw V was really just thrown together just because they could.
Posted by: Matthias on October 24, 2008 at 14:25:14
where the **** is Doctor Gordon?!!! i mean ****ing A, 4 yrs have gone by and they still have not showed even a damn body! I really thought they would use him for this one, but NO, again they decide we're just gonna make up another dumb depressing ending. lol and ya, i cant wait for Saw XIV. Jigsaw starts torturing Movie Monsters like Freddy Krueger and Jason. **** Saw!
Posted by: Matt on October 24, 2008 at 15:30:18
I saw it last night along with all the others at the marathon. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I liked that it focused more on the story instead of the onscreen violence. People forget that Saw 1 (which is the best of all of them) wasnt about the traps. It was about the 2 guys survival and there happened to be one grisly scene at the end involving a foot =P. Unfortunately people gravitated to the traps and took away the best part of Saw, the suspense. This one seems like they are trying to tread away from that so i hope that the 6th one is a fleshed out suspensfull story with a conclusion for the ages! Cheers!
Posted by: Axel on October 24, 2008 at 19:36:54
Saw V was one of the best films in the series and ties with Saw II for me as my all time favorite.
This film was not as gory as previous Saw films but what brings me back to he series is not just what inventive kills there will be but the story. They did another excellent job of tying up all the loose ends from the previous films.
Bring on Saw VI
Posted by: Spaghetti_Cat on October 24, 2008 at 21:50:03
This movie was awesome I am a loyal Saw fan and have seen all the movies at the movie theater and i wil continue to watch them for as long as i live......or until tobin bell dies because the movies wouldn't be the same without him. XD
Posted by: Salsa Shark on October 24, 2008 at 22:44:48
Strahm's solution was "fantastic"??
Are you kidding me?
Spoilers aside...
...the "trap" only had a rubber seal around his neck!
Posted by: Marc C on October 25, 2008 at 04:01:51
You have to understand their rating system on this bad website. Any movie rated 5, 6 or 7 is a really bad movie.
I guess these "CRITICS" are paid by the studios to not give bad reviews. At least I hope they are. That would explain how clueless & bad they are.
IF YOU want REAL reviews go to DREADCENTRAL.
Saw 5 was 1 of the worst movies i've ever seen. A 6 out of 10??? WHAT??? Dreadcentral gave it 1/2 a star out of 5. A REAL REVIEW. Much more realistic.
Another example: They gave MIRRORS a 5 of 10. LOL...LOL...LOL!!! Mirrors is a 2 at least. So unbelievably boring, terrible script, bad acting, etc.
Please can I get a job here writing reviews!!! Its tooo easy. I have higher than a 5th grade education & might give you clowns SOME type of credibility in your ratings.
Posted by: To All Haters! on October 25, 2008 at 09:28:30
To all haters of Saw, Nightmare, Friday and Halloween also have there bad moments but look at them now, they are legends, adn Saw is on the same level as them, and i'm pretty sure that Saw V will be pretty awsome, and it will maybe be a good idae to take a yeah of and made the Final, the best and the ultimates Saw movie ever in 2010.
Posted by: rocknroll84 on October 25, 2008 at 10:19:22
why is this reviewer stating that its been five years when the first one came out only four years ago....when you look at it from that perspective it really hasn't been that long...
and stop complaining about what the movie gets...if you wanna see it...just see it...stop complaining...its not like this is gonna have any affect on me or millions of people anyway...we're all gonna see saw V regardless and ya...we'll all go see the sequels that are yet to come...like man...you guys take this crap too seriously...just a little horror movie guys
Posted by: JasonVoorhees on October 25, 2008 at 10:34:49
"where the **** is Doctor Gordon?!!! "
You are kidding right? Saw 3 dummy. Go back and watch it when Amanda goes back to kill Adam Faulkner from the first movie.... she shines a light on a corpse with a missing leg.... WONDER WHO THE HECK THAT COULD BE?
Posted by: lasthavoc on October 25, 2008 at 16:35:19
Did the reviewer (Lesnick) not happen to see ANY of the previews or movie posters? he talks about admiring their "honesty" for not saying "Saw: The Final Chapter"...the tagline for every preview and poster was "You'll never believe how it ends." or "See how it ends."...gee that doesn't sound like a conclusion to the franchise. thanks for the "honesty" they should end the film with "JUST KIDDING!!!" and then show a Saw VI teaser.
Posted by: ico on October 25, 2008 at 20:47:45
What do you think is the timespan of this series? How long is it from Saw 1 to Saw 5? If you remember Saws 3 and 4 take place at the same time and Saw 5 starts like 3 seconds after Saw 4, so, how long has it been?
I don't exactly remember the specifics of Saws 3 and 4 so maybe they answer in one of those but i was just wondering.
Posted by: Gercis on October 26, 2008 at 13:33:40
Ok, Cummings, if you only watched this movie just to say you watched it along with no interrest, you'll obvously think of this movie to be horrible & bull****. The Saw series have what you called a STORY, a plot etc, it's like Survivor but in a movie-based version of reality. It's made to be understood that way. If you watched all the movies so far in the Saw series & you liked them, I'm sure you wouldn't mind it at all. Saw is a very interresting comlexe figure story. I went to see it last nigh & i loved it.
Posted by: JT on October 26, 2008 at 20:41:31
I hate the Hills Have Eyes and Hostel franchises, but the Saw flicks are a guilty pleasure. Any Saw pic is better than all of the Friday the 13ths. Now I'm hoping they can do justice to the planned Nightmare on Elm Street reboot.
Posted by: mike on October 27, 2008 at 00:15:44
lol, you really dont need much of an education to give a review on a movie.... thats just how this website feels the movie is. i liked it and ..again just because there are crazy people out there who love seeing people get ripped apart and just because saw 5 actually put the story of the movie first this time doesnt mean its a bad movie. i mean i kinda liked the traps in 3 because it freaked me out and i do wish they had more original traps in this movie but it was still good. especially for saw to have gone this far.. at number 5 and make it better then what they did with 4 i thought was pretty good. i do think it should have made more money tho, i read halloween made about the same as this and i thought this was alot better to watch then halloween. so again this actually talked about the plot not just people getting killed. i give it 8 stars and that doesnt make me stupid, thats my opinon, i liked the movie so im gonna say what i thougt of it, if some one else doesnt like it thats fine
Posted by: mike on October 27, 2008 at 00:45:51
ill take a little back with what i said. i admitt i like seeing what traps they have and i like watching the people set in them, but i think just because it was a little toned down this year doesnt mean it cant be appreciated.
Posted by: Robert on October 27, 2008 at 09:59:49
I expected more blood, but I liked it. I hope Saw VI ties all loose ends once and for all.
Posted by: Racer_X on October 27, 2008 at 12:51:08
As much as I love Saw, which I do, I just hope they end the series on a high note. Not like some franchises out there that are still churning out sequel after sequel when its' steam ran out out long ago.
Posted by: blackaciddevil on October 27, 2008 at 12:53:41
I agree, Racer. I can think of a few myself. Saw is a great series that's deserving of going out on a high note.
Posted by: jwaters on October 27, 2008 at 18:01:01
I am glad to hear your review
being a huge fan of the series
i walked away friday night with a smug smile
on my face knowing there was no complicated
plot twist in the end and hoffman walked away
being the new jigsaw--i am glad they didn't
make things too complicated but yes---they shouldn't empasized a bit more on the new characters. thank you for the review and i am slowly becoming more of a fan to your website rather than the pompous a-holes at bloody-disgusting who couldn't even say one positive thing about SAW 5.
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