Random Movie: Saw IV (2007)

Saw IV marks a turning point in the series, not only in the narrative sense but also behind the scenes; it is a changing of the guard if you will. Director Darren Lynn Bousman from Part II and III remains but gone is co-writer of the first three, Leigh Whannell, replaced by those Feast boys Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. I would imagine they were simultaneously happy and scared shitless to be taking over the writing duties but fortunately, they rise to the occasion as the fourth installment comes off much better than it should have considering the mess of a story that they inherited.

With Jigsaw “out of the picture” at the end of the last movie, Dunston and Melton come up with a very interesting way of keeping him in the thick of the events but yet moving along to branch out in new, more twisted directions. The target here is Sgt. Rigg, played by Lyriq Bent, who after learning of the good guy death from the last film (writing these reviews without spoilers is a pain in the ass!), becomes obsessed with locating the presumed dead, but still technically missing, Eric Matthews from Part II. It seems that Jigsaw is becoming more lenient with his assignment of games as Rigg is not a murderer, drug dealer, or dead-beat dad, but just a guy who is heavily involved in his work to the detriment of his real life.

Making a follow-up to the clusterfuck of carnage at the end of the previous film and yet still continuing a compelling story is a tough task but Dunston and Melton pull it off with a good mix of the previous Saw film ingredients: the manipulation of a linear narrative, recalling of past events in a new light, and of course flawed heroes with a story that is not as straight-forward as it would seem. Two FBI agents played by Scott Patterson and Athena Karkanis are brought in to investigate the Jigsaw shenanigans with lone homicide detective Costas Mandylor‘s Hoffman, whom you might remember from a very brief scene at the beginning of Part III. Their investigation runs just behind the wake of Rigg who has been tasked by Jigsaw to save a life after receiving confirmation that Donnie Wahlberg‘s Matthews is actually alive. Rigg is not really involved in the game as the previous participants were but is mostly an active observer as Jigsaw wants Rigg to read between the lines and see how he sees.

It might seem that this movie is really more complicated than it is as there are layers upon layers of story, some present, but most in the past. The blurring of what is now and what has happened gives this movie an edge as Jigsaw is more present here than any of the previous films. A large chunk is devoted to telling the origin of Jigsaw as we learn the identity of the mystery woman from Part III, his ex-wife Jill. After Jill suffers a miscarriage at the hands of society’s bottom-feeders, Jigsaw begins his elaborate plans of self-discovery which spiral out of control as he loses everything worthwhile in his life. It is commendable that the writers are able to take a character who has been in three previous movies and develop a backstory that is not only sad and emotional yet satisfying in its explanation of how he became the way we know him.

Just like the previous films, Jigsaw’s parameters are laid out, albeit rather cryptically, but Rigg ignores the rules and perseveres to find Matthews, almost in a futile attempt of salvation. I will say that this movie takes multiple viewings to appreciate as once I had watched it several times (even once with Bousman’s commentary), the essence of the story really took shape as in Jigsaw’s twisted logic, salvation is empty if it is not truly earned. Almost in an attempt to best Bousman’s previous best entry, there are multiple twists to the plot, some which are expected but some which are not as the franchise proves again that you cannot attempt to predict the lengths that a deranged man will go to enact his form of social justice. With appearances by other previous token victims, this film takes the mythology of the series into the same realm of Lost or Alias that will make your head hurt if you attempt to fully understand. Regardless, even with the emergence of random characters to the fore-front and a significant ramping up of gore from the last, the warping of time, the overlap with the previous films, and the new direction of the story make this a worthwhile watch.