By Eric Polk of http://anotherdescentinto.blogspot.com/
I've often equated the Saw franchise with Nightmare on Elm Street. By that, I mean an original idea that has been milked until even the cow's spirit is mooing. I had no expectations with the latest incarnation featuring Jigsaw and his latest traps. Afterall, I didn't care much for V and I was ready to take my own saw to this movie. For now, I can put it back in critic's toolbox.
Saw VI begins rather politically enough, two predatory lenders wake up with harnesses attached to their heads. The game involves tipping a scale with some part of their body in order to live. From there, old friend Lieutenant Hoffman is called to the scene when Peter Straham's(from IV and V) fingerprints are found at the scene. It is also discovered that Lindsey Perez is still alive despite what happened in IV.
Jill Tuck, Jigsaw's former wife, meets with the lieutenant at her clinic to inform him he's taking over the game. This is where a slimy health insurance exec comes into play. After informing a policy holder a discrepancy was found in his application thus cancelling the policy, eventually ending in the holder's death, insurance guy is kidnapped and his tests begin.
Meanwhile, Hoffman is informed abnormalities were found in Straham's fingerprints and that the scrambled voice from the Seth Baxter(murder of Hoffman's sister) did not match Jigsaw's.
The movie's confluence merges when the sister of insurance boy and the mother and son of the dead policy holder are found locked in cage. This while Hoffman(fresh from performing a cover-up) discovers in the observation a letter written to blackmail Jigsaw's daughter.
The climax is rather gory, hard-hitting, and touching in a peculiar sort of way. The strengths of this film lay in, of course, the graphic horror scenes and the slimy insurance exec. What doesn't work is the seemingly never-ending flashbacks that really make you dizzy after awhile. As far as where to put this movie in the Saw pantheon, it is much better than V. It has a topical message without being too overly preachy. The door isn't quite as open for a seven(though I did discover there will be come October) as it has in previous films. All in all, not a bad effort for the franchise.
8.5/10
4 comments:
i did SAW, then SAW II, then gave it away. as an aussie boy myself, we're kinda proud of the 1st 2 movies, but then Hollywood took over, and put it's 'spin' into the franchise, and well, it sorta lost it's 'down under' roots for many horrorheads in australia.
that all changed for me when i went to the USA in Jan 2010, and my GF & I did the whole SAW series back to back. all 6 movies straight.
i guess it did a lot for me as far as the SAW mythos goes, and gave the whole Jigsaw story a much needed boost for myself personally. it gave a series that i'd basically given up on a breath of fresh air, a new perspective, and helped revive my appreciation for post 80's horror movie "series" flicks.
SAW VI wasn't the best of the series, but def not the worst either. i would def do the series again back to back, but i must admit i'd find it hard to think that a SAW VII would be able to 'value add' to what's already been covered.
but then again, i never say never....
From what I understand,*spoiler alert* Saw VII is suppose to bring back the survivors of Jigsaw's games, for what I have no idea.
This is allegedly the last of the Saw movies and again, I'm not expecting much.
Ok, Im biased as hell here...Im a SAW fanatic and I liked them all. People hate that I loved them all, but idgaf ;) I will admit some of them weren't as good as they could have been *Cough 5 Cough* but I can't stop myself from watching them over and over! lol
lol...Rhonny, I for one don't hate the fact you enjoyed them all. Horror movie fans analyze their beloved genres differently but it's awesome we both aren't fans of V. It is the Nightmare on Elm Street 5:The Dream Child of the franchise! (not a good thing in this bloggers opinion!)
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