Starting just where we left the surviving characters from the last go around, Agent Strahm finds himself in a precarious situation by the hand of Jigsaw’s emergent successor, Detective Hoffman. Hoffman’s intentions were for everyone to die (which they mostly did) so he can be declared the hero and deflect any suspicion from himself as he carries out more of the deceased Jigsaw’s plans. After Strahm survives with some impressive cognitive skills on his part, Hoffman scowls and probably wishes he had just shot the FBI agent rather than abducting him and sticking his head in a box (no, not the SNL digital short type).
The common perception among even hardcore fans of the Saw series is that this installment is the worst. Two years ago I could agree with that statement but my viewing of Saw 3D renders that scandalous accusation hilariously inept. The problem with Saw V is not that it is a bad movie, only that there is no point to it. Perhaps returning writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton were attempting to create a Star Trek-like pattern of the odd-numbered movies being god-awful while their even-numbered counterparts fare much better (fortunately the series is over, otherwise Saw XIII would have been fucking ridiculous). My main issue with the movie is the severe downgrade in villains we suffer as while Hoffman is a twisted guy, and played well by Costas Mandylor, he is no Jigsaw. For a guy who has supposedly investigated every one of the previous murders, the fact that he was promoted from random bit cop character at the start of III to Jigsaw’s apprentice is one of the biggest arguments for avoiding retcons that were not at least hinted upon from the start. Hell, it would have been much better in the grand scheme of things if Hoffman and the mystery guest at the end of 3D had traded places.
Scott Patterson returns as Strahm who leaves behind his impressively questionable deductive skills from the last movie and his innovation from the first few frames of this one to lurk around in dark offices hunting for evidence of Hoffman’s involvement, only stopping to look distractingly into the camera as he verbalizes his discoveries. In and of itself, this could have been a compelling part of the story but since we know that Hoffman is in fact involved, it all seems anticlimactic when Strahm finally catches on to Hoffman only to suffer a crushing defeat before telling anyone. Historically, the Saw series has been noteworthy for its keeping the characters in the dark along with the audience so this is a disappointing break from form as we grow tired of watching Strahm catch up to us. Even more baffling is that the trend of having deceptively arranged scenes is removed here as everything is straight-forward chronologically except for the opening kill.
As bland as the investigative side of the movie is, the torture-porn part is worse as they take the problems from II and further degrade them. Our participants here are morally-grey characters who barely receive first names that are guilty of something that is not only irrelevant to the movie but something we do not really care about to begin with. Just like Hoffman’s character, his traps have no ingenuity other than including explosives and wiring doors to open on timers. The actual concept of the trap sequence is cool (five douchebags who must work together to survive) but it is wasted on boring kills and irritatingly-mundane characters. Despite being involved in all the previous movies, director David Hackl either did not pay attention to the care involved in the first four installments or did not have the talent or the control to craft a tale that can exist as more than a filler movie, sandwiched between two largely superior installments.
So while others may say it is the devil, V was not bad per se but it was just largely forgettable in the grand scheme of the Saw series. At least 3D had some of the worst acting this side of Twilight to distinguish itself.
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