Review #96: Saw 4 (2007)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Darren Lynn Bousman (Director): Saw 2, Saw 3
Tobin Bell (Jigsaw)

Shawnee Smith (Amanda)

Betsy Russell (Jill)

Costas Mandylor (Hoffman): Dr. Chopper (2005)

Scott Patterson (Agent Strahm): Gilmore Girls T.V. series

Athena Karkanis (Agent Perez): Saw 5

Justin Louis (Art): Dawn of the Dead, Saw 5

Simon Reynolds (Lamanna): Skulls 2 (2002), Cold Creek Manor (2003), Dark Water (2005), P2
Trailer:


Saw 1 Link

Saw 2 Link

Saw 3 Link

"I want to play game with you Mr. Director. For years now, you have reaped the benefits from making crappy Saw movies. There you wait, hiding behind the camera, directing bad movies and cashing in at the box office later. You take from the unknowingly and poor; only to benefit yourself. Now you've found yourself starring down the barrel of pissed off fans. Your choice: make a better Saw movie before next Halloween. If you don't: you directing career dies. You must choose..."

Plot:

While performing an autopsy on Jigsaw, a coroner finds a cassette tape encased in wax inside his stomach. Arriving to the scene is Detective Hoffman who plays the tape. The tape explains that he (Jigsaw) might be dead but his work will carry on.

The police finally find the dead body of Detective Kerry in a secluded basement. Also joining the investigation are two agents from the FBI, Perez and Strahm. Det. Hoffman, and SWAT leader Rigg are also present at the crime scene. Rigg is depressed and angry because all of his colleagues are turning up dead or missing. Detective Matthews (Saw 2) has still missing at this point. The FBI has been called in because Det. Kerry was one of their informants, and they believe that Jigsaw has another accomplice in his killings. They also believe that two other officers may be targets for his next game.

Obsessed with solving the puzzle, Officer Rigg has been dedicating his life to the Jigsaw case. Once he arrives home, he finds that his wife has packed her bags and is leaving for mother's house. She encourages him to come with, but he declines and opts to stay and work on the case. Bad move, because he becomes Jigsaw's latest pawn in his twisted game. Rigg is knocked out and awakes in a bath tub with the shower running. He slowly comes to a opens the bathroom door and triggers the famous instruction tape that tells him how he wants to save everyone, and has become his obsession, now he must learn to let go. Rigg is put through a series of tests that result in other's deaths. Meanwhile, back at headquarters the police believe that Rigg might be a suspect and arrive at his house to find him gone and a trail of Jigsaw traps and a death left behind.

Also, Det. Hoffman has been abducted and placed in his own trap. So the clock is ticking for Officer Rigg to find Det. Hoffman and Mathews before time runs out and they die. While Rigg plays Jigsaw's game, FBI agents are a step behind trying to catch him. Agent Perez, the beautiful Athena Karkanis pictured left.

After seeing Saw 3, my expectations for Saw 4 were down the tube. After all, Jigsaw and company had died. So how the hell was this gonna get pulled off? Throw in another accomplice, that's how. I give the movie credit for being a little bit better in its twist and thought process. On the other hand, the film lacked any plot and suspense. I guess when you've seen it all before in the other three movies.

Saw 4 also explores the past of Jigsaw. We learn that he was a renowned engineer married to a smokin' hot wife Jill (Betsy Russell...pictured left). Jill was a doctor who had opened a "help clinic" for the addicts of the world. Jill was pregnant with his child when one night a druggie robbed the clinic for drugs and accidentally smashed her pregnant belly killing the unborn. Jigsaw became vengeful and dark and started his ways. And then got diagnosed with cancer, survived a car wreck, and all other story lines that has been presented.

And on a personal note: F*CK YOU! executive producer, Peter Block. Throw some more salt on my wounds. While listening to the commentary feature on the DVD during the tractor-collar-pull, he made a painful reference. He commented that the blind guy in the fight was a no win situation. It was just as unfair and lopsided as the Red Sox beating the Rockies in the World Series. F*CK YOU! I was at the W.S. Game 3. I love the Rockies...once again...F*CK YOU! & SUCK MY C*CK!

Notable Traps:

-The Hair-tie trap: Brenda is strapped in a chair with her long hair caught in a vice that slowly turns and tightens causing her head to yank back slowly and eventually tearing the scalp.

-The Ice/Electrocution: Det. Mathews is hanging from the ceiling with only a block of ice to stand on. The ice slowly melts and the water runs down to his left into a pan where Det. Hoffman sits strapped in a chair. The trap is set like a scale, once the ice melts and water runs off Det. Mathews side lowers and Det. Hoffman side rises. Once there is enough water on Hoffman's side, a wire hooked up to a High Voltage electrical panel triggers thus shocking Hoffman to death. Also connected to this trap is that when the door opens to the room, a wire trips up two massive blocks of ice that would fall and smash Det. Mathew's head.

-Spike trap: a couple are bound together back to back. Long rail road spikes lodged close to the major arteries of the couples. The object is for the female to pull out the spikes, saving herself, but killing her abusive husband.

-Knife helmet: I think it's Jigsaw's first trap. A drug addict, Cecil is bound to a chair with spikes through various parts. A mask of knives on his placed on his head. His object is to lean forward through the knives which would cut his face, but spring him free. Otherwise bleed to death.

-Bed trap: A rapist is tied spread eagle to a bed. His choice, let hammers bash his eyes or let a device rip him apart limb by limb.

-Tractor collar pull: Two guys have chain collars around their neck. One guy has his eyes sewed shut, and the other has his mouth sewed shut. Once the device is tripped, a wheel slowly pulls the chain and each guy toward it's jaws of death. Around the room are weapons and on the back of each man's neck is the key to unlock the collar.

I'm really torn on where to put this one on my list. It's better than Saw 3, but still sucky enough to be pissed off at. Again, the pitfall of fast tracking the movie. I think if a little bit more time was put into the film, it probably would have paid off. The beginning is great, the end of the film is a little confusing, but overall good. And the middle falls under the category: "been there, done that".

"Game Over, Mr. Director. You lose."

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on October 26, 2007 and made $63.2 million at the Box Office ($31.7 million opening weekend)
-Sent to theaters as "Angel Fish"
-Beginning of the film was actually shot during Saw 3 and was intended to be the final scene of that movie, but opted to be the beginning of Saw 4
-Filmed in 32 days