Movie Review - Saw VI

Saw VI

I think, now that we're up to the sixth film in the series, that you already know if you're going to like this Saw or not. Die-hard fans are as apt to change their minds here as Jason would be to turn down a nubile teenager. And those who have been turned off by the films' realistic gore and confusing plot twists won't find themselves any more engaged here. In fact, as the film series has become more complex, it has even gotten harder for the avid follower to avoid becoming slightly confused with all of the characters and relatings to the older movies, especially if one hasn't watched the series in its entirety in a while. So basically, what this review all boils down to is not whether those who have loved the series will love it some more (because you most likely will) or whether those who have never found the films truly spectacular will see a silver lining with VI (because you won't), but what the actual film does well and what it does poorly. Read away, but just remember that when you're reviewing a Saw, it's almost impossible to leave out spoilers.

The film picks up after Saw V, where Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) has just finished his game with Agent Strahm and is now literally picking up the pieces. But you know that secret box Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) left behind for his wife? That will come into play here, as a new game involving corrupt health insurance company workers comes to fruition, with the head honcho William (Peter Outerbridge) being the man of the hour who is faced with a series of tasks that force him to receive minimal physical pain but maximum emotional pain when he has to choose face-to-face who lives and who dies. Of course, the whole plot wraps around itself - which I won't divulge here. You can guess there's a bit of "ooh"ing and "aahh"ing going on in the theater.

It's an inspiring premise - after all, health insurance companies decide all of the time to decline patients based on how much money they may lose if the patient dies. Moralistically, it's the perfect revenge act for Jigsaw. While it makes sense, though, Jigsaw uses many people from the insurance company to make his point to William, sacrificing them in the process. Now it's hard to tell whether Hoffman, who has taken over Jigsaw's work after his death, has purposely rigged the traps so that one victim must die, or if it was Jigsaw's plan all along. This begs the question of Jigsaw's morals - will he sacrifice a relatively innocent person to change a corrupted one? Like I said before, it's unclear who has made these choices, and I lean towards Hoffman more than Jigsaw, since he has created unfair games from the start.

The atmosphere remains Saw at its Saw-iest, with moody, industrial complexes with "elegant" gray wallpaper and dingy, poorly-lit rooms. But at least director Kevin Greutert toys with different ideas and color-schemes; you can find a very interestingly-devised "fire trap room" which utilizes red lighting to its potential. It's nice to see a different color of drab in the monotony of cool dank cellars. Mainly, Saw VI remains the same as its predecessors in design and tension - we get an intense trap at the start of the film, a rundown of events, some more traps, and then we start the major game, interspersed with flashback, which results in a concluding segment that fills us in on the gaps we may have missed. Sound familiar? It's the same basic formula the Saw films have been using for years, just with new traps and some new story.

The traps are just alright this time - there's nothing too mindblowing about these, and there's certainly no mystery to them like the original Saw. If you break off your arm, you win - if you don't, some ridiculously gory death ensues. While this type of trap might be fun to watch (or painfully nerve-wracking), it doesn't have that draw like the mysterious traps of old do. I think the surprise of finding out what you could have done is so much better than the straightforward hurt-or-be-killed approach that these later Saw films have been taking. My favorite trap was the fire game that I mentioned above - it played out like a video game of some sort, two people working together to get through a fiery cage filled with skin-burning steel pipes. Otherwise, none of the games stood out too much to me - they were just renditions of the hack-and-stab that we've seen before, with a new spin.

One thing that I've noticed with Saw VI is that even though we have watched a 90-minute movie, the plot is barely furthered any more than we already know. At the end of the film, besides the death of some insurance company scums, we've advanced only a bit more than where we were at the beginning of the film. Of course, they've been able to make five other movies around this premise, but there comes a point where I start to tire of the run-around, especially at the end of VI, where it seems that the battle will NEVER be over.

Putting Saw VI's violence on a scale, it ranks considerably lower than the fifth but about on par with the fourth. I appreciate this as well; I much prefer Saw when it is creepy than when it is just flat-out gory. Greutert does try to throw in some stalking scenes akin to the first film, but they are much less effective. Still, it was nice to see an attempt at thrills that didn't involve some sort of blood-spilling.

Overall, Saw VI is doing what it needs to do to continue a cult series. It has a manageable plot that is weighed down by the need of too many flashbacks. It has its signature opening bloodbath. It has more plot twists sure to shock you. It has a conclusion that beckons the seventh film in the series. But what it doesn't have is that novelty that the originals did, and one can tell that progress in the series is slowly drowning. Unfortunately, the ending of the series leaves me questioning the motives of Jigsaw - if one chooses death to another, shouldn't they be punished for their unwillingness to forgive? I hope this will be answered in the seventh film, or else that is a giant plot hole I cannot overlook. I feel the end is drawing close to Saw, but based on Saw VI, I'm sure reception of this film will be pretty warm even with the lackluster traps, so expect Saw VII headed your way next Halloween.

Saw VI on Rotten Tomatoes