Saw VII (Saw 3D, 2010)

Saw VII (I refuse to acknowledge this 3D nonsense) is (allegedly!) the last in the Saw series.

I’ve been following Saw since those tantalizing previews of Saw hit the Interwebz, showing Amanda in the reverse bear trap (RBT) mask. So, seven years have passed, the story has spanned six previous films and this, the seventh, promises to wrap it all up. We’ll see…

Jigsaw (John) is long gone, he died a couple of movies ago, but his legacy has lived on in former (?) cop, Hoffman. But Jigsaw’s wife (Jill) knows more than she’s letting on and Hoffman needs to be rid of her. In Saw VII, Hoffman is out to take Jill out. But this is the last Saw movie, so what will happen to Hoffman? This is a spoiler free review, so you’ll have to watch the movie to find out.

There are more traps in Saw VII than in any other Saw film, more gore too if I’m not mistaken. One particular (car) trap springs to mind. A man is glued (literally!) to the drivers seat, the car is up on jacks and under the rear wheel is a womans head, she’s strapped to the floor. Behind the car is a second man, he’s all strapped up too. And, last but not least, in front of the car is another man. I shant tell you the outcome, but oh, there will be gore.

If, like me, you’ve been a slave to the Saw story then you’ll know what the expected outcome of Saw VII will be, considering that Dr. Gordon makes a rare appearance. No, he’s not been behind it all! I’d hoped they’d pull a rabbit out of the hat and have a more unexpected ending, but at least it confirms/denies much of the speculation that’s been ongoing now for several years, but it’s good to bring it all to an end.

There was a lot of blood, plenty of scenes to make you winch, and a ton of gore, so I’d say it’s gone out with a bang.

So… when’s that prequel getting made?

I’m kidding, I’m kidding!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Saw VI (2009)

Who knew that a low budget film would spawn five sequels? Certainly not I, but I knew after seeing Saw that it we would end up with a Saw II. Fast forward five years and here we have Saw VI. If you read my review of Saw V, you’ll know I’m a bit of a Saw fanboy, and proud of it, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting Saw VI for several years, as it was announced that the same team of writers (Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton) would write Saw IV, V and VI and that Saw VI would effectively be the conclusion to the series (all be it that Twisted Pictures have since said that they’ll make as many Saw films as the fans demand), but, in this case, it seems like Saw VI was indeed written to be a bit of a wrap-up.

Like the title says, this is a spoiler-free review, so I’m not going to get too deep in to what Saw VI contains, but it does have enough to keep us Saw fans happy.

Gore. There’s quite a bit of it in Saw VI, the result of Strahm’s demise is shown, as is how Hoffman manages to plant things on Strahm. Several traps are quite bloody, especially some of the shots (literally!) in the now infamous carousel sequence.

Story. This, like Saw V (I think), is definitely a story orientated film as it shows us quite a lot of background detail involving Jigsaw and his cohorts, Hoffman and Amanda. And of course Jill. What’s in the box that Jigsaw left her in his will? What was in the letter that left Amanda so distraught? Saw VI tells all. And more.

The acting is good throughout, only a few bad performances from the I’m-thick-as-two-planks-and-dropping-hints-aplenty Fed.

I loved Saw VI, an hour after seeing it my brain was still in overdrive trying to place all the pieces into the timeline and trying to figure out what loose ends are left for the inevitable Saw VII.

If you love the Saw series, and are following the story closely, like I am, then you’ll love Saw VI.

Game Over.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Saw V

Readers of this blog will know that I am a self-confessed Saw fanboy. So I was eager to see how the Saw franchise would move forward with the death of it’s leading character.

Fear not dear reader, this review will be spoiler free, I will not be giving away any new plot details, I promise!

Saw V begins with a quick review of what we found out at the end of Saw IV, that Jigsaw is dead, Strahm is trapped in a room and the other players from IV are also dead. The only survivor is Hoffman.

Saw V starts with the pendulum trap that we saw in one of the first clips released. V spends half of its time jumping back and forth between the past explaining stuff (‘stuff’ that I shan’t expand upon), and the present, with five new players in a trap. This is the ‘five will become one’ clip that was circulating before the release of V.

A lot of questions are answered in Saw V, but – true to the series – more questions arise as the movie trundles along. Speaking of which, I found the first twenty or so minutes quite slow, but – true to form – picked up pace. This is definitely more of a story Saw, than a gore Saw.

‘You won’t believe how it ends‘ say all the posters. Well, I obviously won’t give away the ending, but it’s hardly earth shattering – still a nice twist though.

I breath a sigh of relief and say: I like Saw V, I’m still a fan. And well done Mr Hackl too, his first full film as a Director, and it looks good… has the continuity of Saw I – IV (hardly surprising since Hackl practically is Jigsaw!), it’s dark, nicely lit and gory when it needs to be.

I just worry that there’s an outsider lined up to Direct Saw VI. Oh well, won’t be long now ’til Oct ’09…

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132626/]