Forums of Filth

I liked the first 4 movies in this series a lot! Last night I caught a midnight show of the new one and have to say I was pretty disappointed. There were some cool kills (including 2 graphic depictions of classic kill devices, you'll know what I mean) but the twists of the earlier ones were gone. Overall it just didn't flow well and the "payoff" of the ending just didn't have the wow of the others.

Wait for the DVD...

Oh man, that's disappointing to hear. I was looking forward to it. I suspect I'll still catch it in theaters (I think I can still get in for free, even though my nephew who work(ed) at the theater is away for college now). I just realized that I still never got around to getting the dvds for 3 and 4 either...

If you can get in for free, why not?

I must concur--the luster is off the blade by now. Sure, there's some nice cringe-inducing gore and everything LOOKS nice--kind of them to give the production designer (you know, the guy who built all the traps) the director's seat.

And oh, how encouraged I was when I saw how Agent Strahm managed to survive the "water tank" trap at the beginning of the film. Now, THAT was clever in addition to being nasty, so I settled down to see what new tricks this film would spring on me.

But I couldn't possibly have cared less about the new assortment of victims running the gauntlet. And while SAW 5 did, indeed, tidy up a few loose ends (what became of the little girl in SAW 3? exactly how did Jigsaw and Hoffman form an alliance?), it failed to come up with the traditional "zinger" that either made me WANT to see another installment or at least forced me to admit that the writers had "gotten" me yet again with their wordplay and mind screws.

No, not this time. What was in the box Jigsaw left for his wife? I neither know nor CARE. That in itself doesn't make me want to see SAW 6. But that's the sort of chance they always take. What REALLY let me down was the way the film didn't even TRY to defy my expectations. We follow Agent Strahm as he gradually pieces together evidence to incriminate Hoffman. Trouble is, we already KNOW Hoffman is the bad guy--so where's the revelation? Meantime, we see Hoffman setting up a diabolical turning of the tables... and since you know EXACTLY what he's setting up, shouldn't the film offer more than him simply DOING it? Where's the ironic stunner in the final five minutes--the one that should hit you like a slap in the face as the film replays all of the "clue" dialogue for you to reassemble in a new context? You GET the flashbacks, sure, but what's the point? They don't mean anything that they didn't already MEAN.

Sure, the ending is one of the grisliest yet. But there's no surprise to it. And when a film sells itself with "You won't believe how it ends," surely that wasn't supposed to mean "You won't believe how utterly transparent and predictable we've let this series become," was it?

I won't say I was utterly crushed. I knew it couldn't last. Hell, if I could stick up even halfway for SAW IV, then that's still one hell of a genre run. But now, even though I know there's going to be yet another (and supposedly 'we really really mean it this time' final) entry, my sense of anticipation has been blunted--and I can't picture SAW going out on a high note after this.

Saw this mediocre movie this weekend, and yeah, I'll pretty much agree with whats been said so far. I do have a question though, maybe one of you can help me out, the movie decided to break somewhere close to the end, one of y'all wanna run down the ending for me so I don't have to sit through that pile again?

I'd rather see this ....

Bloodiah wrote:Saw this mediocre movie this weekend, and yeah, I'll pretty much agree with whats been said so far. I do have a question though, maybe one of you can help me out, the movie decided to break somewhere close to the end, one of y'all wanna run down the ending for me so I don't have to sit through that pile again?

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Okay. The five dimbulbs in the gauntlet are boiled down to two. Ironically, it turns out that all five could have survived each and every trap if they'd cooperated. The final hurdle requires the two survivors to donate five pints of blood apiece (by sticking their hands into buzzsaws) in order to open the last door. They do so, but get utterly mangled and collapse in heaps for Detective Erickson to find (whether they actually live or die is left up in the air).

Erickson is on the scene because he traced Strahm's cell phone (stolen by Hoffman and planted at the scene of the crime). He immediately phones in an arrest warrant for Strahm.

But Strahm has blundered into the final chamber, which contains a large box filled with shards of broken glass. The recording informs him that the only safe way out of the room is through the box (despite the pain it will cause). But when Hoffman shows up, Strahm, like a idiot, jams HIM into the box and slams the lid shut, screaming "I got you, motherfucker! I know who you are!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

So of course, the room is instantly sealed shut... clever Hoffman disappears safely through the floor in his escape pod/box of glass, and the walls close in and smush Strahm into johnnycakes.

The End.

So it literally broke right before the credits??!! That was the fuckin end? What a load!

I went to see it today (still for free, yay!) and although I enjoyed it well enough, it's certainly for die-hards only. In fact, the entire film felt unnecessary. I felt like it existed only to fill in gaps from previous movies and the new victims were inserted simply so they could say "look, new victims" and justify having a whole new movie. Really, this is the sort of thing that usually get relegated to, to borrow a Star Wars term, an "expanded universe" entry. A comic book, a novel, a video game, etc.. .Of interest for fans, but don't waste everyone else's time.

They should have just left it at "Saw II",since all of the films have become too superficial and increasingly ridicilious for their own good and the twist ending thingy is getting too tiresome,for it's time to end the series and move on to something new(especially if Jigsaw is now dead and gone).

BTW:whatever became of that lead black dude from "Saw IV" that Hoffman left sitting alone by himself at the finale(of that previous outing) ?

steven_millan wrote:They should have just left it at "Saw II",since all of the films have become too superficial and increasingly ridicilious for their own good and the twist ending thingy is getting too tiresome,for it's time to end the series and move on to something new(especially if Jigsaw is now dead and gone).

BTW:whatever became of that lead black dude from "Saw IV" that Hoffman left sitting alone by himself at the finale(of that previous outing) ?

Well, you saw his photgraph during the memorial for all the dead cops--but yes, that confused me as well.