Out of all of the horror franchises out there the Saw franchise has to be the most divisive one there with some either loving it or hating it. There is one thing however that can't be denied that being the fact that these films made a boat load of money so much so that the franchise is STILL going on to this very day with the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today however being one of the most forgettable ones in the franchise and so then join me I review the film that is the first Saw film in a while to take place after the events of the Saw III with the film in question being called simply just "Saw V" enjoy.
The plot of this film is Agent Strahm finds himself in the middle of another Jigsaw case and has to find out who this new Jigsaw killer is before it's to late all the while another deadly Jigsaw game has begun. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad with this films plot yes being the typical Saw plot at this point with the film not really deviating away from that which is something that does make this films plot seem forgettable at best as all it does is blend in with all of the other Saw films be they good or bad but in all fairness to this film it is something that does still work really well as the set up to all of the Saw films will always work no matter how many times that set up is repeated and watered down however tho when your five films in and you don't do anything new with the plot then that does mean that your not being creative and that is something that does ring true for this film as the plot of this film is just so forgettable and unimaginative that it could be the plot of quite literally any other Saw movie and you wouldn't need to change a thing about it's plot when the makers of this film could have added anything to the plot to help this film stand out from a plot point of view with this films plot not really being the strongest plot in the franchise but given that this film is just copying the plots of all of the other Saw films that is something that could also be said for those films as well and it's not something that's unique to this film with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Tobin Bell as Jigsaw / John Kramer , Costas Mandylor as Mark Hoffman and Scott Patterson as Agent Strahm. Also starring in this film is Betsy Russell as Jill , Julie Benz as Brit , Meagan Good as Luba , Mark Rolston as Dan Erickson , Carlo Rota as Charles , Greg Bryk as Mallick , Laura Gordon as Ashley , Joris Jarsky as Seth , Mike Butters as Paul , Al Sapienza as The Chief Of Police , Mike Realba as Detective Fisk , Jeff Pustil as Bernie , Dana Sorman as A Law Office Receptionist , Sheila Shah as Special Agent Cowan , Samantha Lemole as Pamela Jenkins , Lyriq Bent as Rigg , Athena Karkanis as Agent Perez , Justin Louis as Art , Bahar Soomekh as Lynn , Niamh Wilson as Corbett , Angus Macfadyen as Jeff , Tony Nappo as Gus , Tim Burd as Obi and Sarah Power as Angelina.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. Which is something that is to be expected from these Saw films as they are films that don't really require good acting in them to make them work as the stars of these films are never the actors there always the traps with the films acting taking a backseat to them but with that said those that you do expect a good performance like Tobin Bell and Costas Mandylor really are good in this film with them delivering the exact same performance that you'd expect from them and while that is a good thing as they are a pair of wonderful actors in there own right it's also a negative thing as well as it's the exact performance that you do expect from both of these actors with there being nothing new or interesting thrown into the mix with this being a result of the fact that these Saw films were produced very quickly and so the films actors would most likely have not have had enough time for a take to with this meaning that alot of this films acting does feel like the kind of acting that you'd see in a first take with the best actor in this film being Tobin Bell as even tho he's not really in the film all that much you can tell that he's having fun with the role and does love playing the character of John Kramer with him delivering a performance that can be seen as being really creepy with the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
Much like alot of the aspects of these films the films characters really do play second fiddle to the films traps. With all of this film newer characters being painfully bland and boring characters which is something that does make alot sense as they just there to die and don't really need to be all that interesting as characters but at the same time tho there should have been some effort from the makers of this film into making this films newer characters likable as then we the audience would have a reason to want to see them survive this films traps and to make it to the end of the film and yet the film doesn't really give us a reason to care for any of these characters when all of the best saw films do make an effort into giving us good characters that we want to see more off with the only interesting characters in this film being the returning characters from the previous films and that's really it and even that's more due to the fact that there helping push along the story of Saw's four through seven and that's really it where as the new characters in this film or the characters that are excusive to this film are left being less then one dimensional characters when it would have helped the film be less of a bore to watch if the films characters were likable and if we were given a reason to care for them outside of the fact that Jigsaw is the villain and there the good guys look the Saw films very rarely if ever give us good characters especially when there the ones that are going through the traps but even so there still needed to be effort put into them as otherwise all we have is death scenes that we don't really care about because of the fact that we don't care about the characters in them.
This if the first film since Saw III to take place after the events of that film as both that film and Saw IV take place at the exact same time as each other. With Saw IV only very briefly taking place after the events of Saw III with this being an interesting thing to do as now we get to see what a post John Kramer world looks like and while it doesn't really look any different from the previous movies as the only thing of note being the fact that the police hold a meeting to declare that the Jigsaw murders are no more and that's really it which is kind of interesting as the police side of things doesn't really effect the main game in this film where as it would have done in the previous films with this being due to the fact that they do believe that Jigsaw is dead and while the film really doesn't take as full advantage of the fact that the police don't really know that there's a new Jigsaw killer in town it really doesn't need to as to help to make this film work the police do have to fully believe that Jigsaw is dead and while we do have Agent Strahm still working the case for them it doesn't play in the main plot of the film until the third act with him mainly being concerned with trying to find out who Jigsaw's secret apprentice is and that's it but in saying this tho it would have been nice to see how alot of the other characters reacted to news of John's death as we know that he's always five steps ahead of everyone else and so it would have been interesting to see how characters from the other films felt about this man who had tortured them basically being killed of as it does beg the question would he be hailed as a hero by the public or would he hailed as the villain with this being something that no Saw film has dared to tackle which is a shame as it is an interesting take on the series mythology.
The biggest sin that this film could ever commit was the fact that it's forgettable as there's nothing all that memorable about this film. With this being odd as all of the other Saw films including the bad ones have at the very least one thing about them that makes you remember that film and yet here there's just nothing as the film is instead more focused on giving us some admittedly decent traps then it is in giving things that make it memorable heck even now it's hard to remember anything that happens in this film as it all just feels very samey like the film is more focused on being the typical Saw film that it's forgotten what it was that made the Saw films memorable in the first place with this now doubt being due to the fact that the director of this film David Hackl was making his directorial debut with the film after serving as production designer in Saw's two through four and second unit director on Saw IV and while him having been the production designer on the previous films does help to make the sets look good as he gets to film the traps in new and interesting ways it's that inexperience in making a film that really does let the film down as this is a film that would have benefitted from having a more experienced hand directing it as then whomever they got to direct the film would know how best to film this script and how best to make this film stand out from a visual standpoint and that's not something that David Hackle can do and while that's not his fault as he was making his directorial debut with the film it is something that should have been taken into account when the makers of this film were looking for someone to direct the film in the first place.
The one thing that this film does have going for it is the fact that we get to see just how far that Mark Hoffman is willing to go. Be it getting revenge for the death of his wife or for keeping secret the fact that he's the new Jigsaw killer which is something that is really interesting as it makes him look like someone who is always two steps ahead of everyone around him as he knows that Strahm would never have listen to the full tape to begin with as he's more concerned with catching Hoffman then he is is own safety with Hoffman playing into that aspect of his character with him making it look like that Strahm is new Jigsaw so regardless of if Strahm lived or died he was always going to get the blame for these new set of killings whilst Hoffman would have been recognized as being a hero and someone to admire but in saying this tho it makes no sense that John Kramer would have to secret apprentices at the same time as he is a character that would only work with one person at a time with both Amanda and Hoffman being the kind of characters that really wouldn't get along with each other regardless of who there common alley and friend is in the first place let alone the fact that it would mean that there would have been apprentices helping him at all times when it makes more sense for him to just be having the one apprentice with this being something that could have been fixed by showing John openly reject Hoffman's help with Hoffman becoming obsessed with copying John so much so that when John does infact die he doesn't become the new Jigsaw killer he becomes a copycat killer who believes that he's smarter then John because of the fact that he knows how the police work.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty five minuets and three seconds. Which to be fair to this film is pretty much the bogstandard running time for these Saw films to have and again to fair to this film this film really does have the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time even if it doesn't use it's running time all that wisely in the first place as the plot of this film isn't all that well developed with this films plot being at best paper thin as the film doesn't really focus on it's plot all that much with the police side of things feeling like an afterthought when compared to the films traps and so the makers of the film don't really take the time that they really could have done to fully develop the plot of the film as this is something that would then make the big twist at the end but because of the fact that the makers of this film cared more about the traps then they did about anything else with this even being true for the films characters as well as even the films returning characters get nothing in the way of character development with us knowing as much about the films characters coming out of the film then we did coming into the film and yet if the film bothered to give the characters some kind of character development then it would have the film alot more better because of it and while the characters in other films would get alot more better the ones in this film come across as being really undercooked with this being true for the films returning characters as well as the film doesn't bother to add anything to them that makes feel more developed as characters but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is a horror fil that really does mean that I have to talk about the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual kills that are actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With this films traps being the best aspect of the film with this being something that really does make alot of sense as by this point in the films the traps were the main reason to be going to a Saw film in the first place and while the traps in this film aren't as good as the traps in the other films there some decent traps in this film that are really effective in their own right with the best example of this film being The Bow Tie trap where the victims have to work together to get keys from a box to unlock the devices from around there necks and yet because they don't it ends up with one of them getting there head chopped off with the films best kill not even being in it's best trap as the best kill is when Luba gets electrocuted as the other victims have to cause enough voltage from one person to unlock a door with the visual of her hacking whilst this electricity is coming out of her being a very effective death however the best trap is ironically the one that comes right after where the remaining two victims have to put there hands in a container whilst a saws the hand in half as they have to produce enough blood to stop the trap itself something which they very easily could have done if they all worked together all throughout the game but because they didn't it know means that they two victims left now have to produce twice as much blood with them almost dying in the process with the sight of Mallick's half severed off hand being a really gory visual in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this film is nothing then the typical Saw film with the film having nothing new added to the setup that makes it feel unique as even the big twist of if Strahm had listened to the tape fully and got in the box he would then be OK feeling like something that's been done before in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in his very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very film from Tenor , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.
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