Review #125: Saw 5 (2008)

Cast/Notable Credits:
David Hackl (Director)

Tobin Bell (Jigsaw)

Costas Mandylor (Det. Hoffman): Saw 4

Scott Patterson (Agent Strahm): Saw 4

Betsy Russell (Jill): Saw 3

Julie Benz (Brit): Rambo (2008), Punisher 2 (2008), Buffy & Angel T.V. series

Meagan Good (Luda): Venom

Laura Gordon (Ashley): Piranha (2007)

Carlo Rota (Charles): Mission to Mars (2000), 24 T.V. series

Greg Bryk (Mallick): A History of Violence (2005)

Mark Rolston (Erickson): Aliens

Saw Link

Saw 2 Link

Saw 3 Link

Saw 4 Link

Trailer:


Plot:

Saw 5 picks up right after Saw 4, Det. Hoffman survives his game and saves Jeff and Lynn's little girl. With Jigsaw dead, the F.B.I. and police wrap up the case. While Agent Strahm pursues the investigation on his own looking for a secret Jigsaw accomplice...Jigsaw the Third.

Jigsaw the Third abducts a new group of people to play another game. Trapped in a sewer, five people (Brit, Luba, Charles, Ashley, and Mallick) awake in a room with collars around their neck with five glass boxes each containing a key in the far end of the room. Billy the Puppet comes on a T.V. and explains to them the new rules of the game.

Villain:

There are multiple villains in the film, but mainly it's (Det. Hoffman as Jigsaw's apprentice or Jigsaw the Third). Yes we get Jigsaw back, but it's through a series of flashbacks as he teaches his new apprentice the tricks of the trade.

Honestly, I haven't been too impressed the past two films with Jigsaw the Third. In my opinion he hasn't brought anything new or exciting to the table. His moves in this film were easily predictable and not well thought out. And what the hell happened to Jigsaw the Second (Amanda)? It's like she's been completely phased out of the past two movies.

Cast:

There were many previous Saw movie returnees through the help of flashbacks and current story lines. As far as the new batch of cast members go, my favorite was the beautiful Julie Benz (Pictured left). I've always liked her since her early days in the first season of Buffy. She plays one of the new batch of captives, Brit. All of the new captives have hidden stories behind them, so I won't indulge too much into her character or past. But I will say that the new cast didn't excite me at all.

There were two other characters which I liked from the movie. The first one is F.B.I. boss Dan Erickson who was played by Mark Rolston (Drake from Aliens). Man was he such a tool. His character was nothing special, but I ended up liking him because he was such a tool. Clearly you can see it that he was being set up for something big in Jigsaw's game. He was pathetic and gullible. Don't ask me why I liked him, but I just did. I hope he comes back for Saw 6.

The other character I liked was Charles, one of the five captive. He was sneaky and ruthless, and I loved it!

SFX/Gore:

One thing that has always intrigued me from the Saw series was it's ability to come up with fun, cool looking traps to provide the victims the choice of life or death. I was a little disappointed with the majority of the traps in the movie (and deaths). Cool traps and deaths are highlighted in Red, and the lame, cheesy deaths and traps are in Yellow.

Traps:

Pendulum Trap: The movie starts off with this trap. We find a captive victim (Seth) strapped down to a table with a swinging pendulum above him. His choice is to push buttons with his hands to prevent the pendulum from lowering and cutting him in half. The only problem being that his hands must go through a closing vice to push and hold the buttons.

The Cube Trap: The second trap involves a glass box over the head of (Agent Straham). The head is secured in a cube glass box with water filling in from the top. It's a "no escape" situation.

Collar Trap: We find our five captives in a dark room with collars secured around their neck. There are little pad locks to unlock the collar, and on the back of the collar are metal wires that lead back into the wall. At the other end of the room are 5 stands with glass boxes on them. In each of the boxes lay a single key (to unlock the pad lock).

The wires on the back of the collar actually connects back to another participate in the room. It's based on a pulley system. As one person goes forward, another one goes backwards. The only problem, if someone goes back to far, the meet the edges of a razor sharp blade that decapitates the head.

Jars Trap: The survivors of the collar trap step into the next room and find themselves in a room with glass jars with keys in them hanging from the ceiling. Along the sides of the room are three chambers with locked gates leading out of the room. In the corners of the room are jars full with nails attached to bombs. The object for the captives is to find the keys to the gates and hide in the chambers before the bomb goes off.

Bathtub Trap: The bathtub trap is...well...pretty gay. In another room, the captives find a bathtub filled with water (or blood) and five power cables that are too short to reach the tub. The door is electronically sealed as they entered the room. Each cables, along with the correct voltage unlocks one of the five locks. It is required for all five cables to be touching a person in the water filled tub in the room to unlock the doors.

Blade Table Trap: In another room, the captives find themselves locked in with a table with five holes on the sides. Sealed in the middle of the table is a jar that captures blood. Once the jar has accumulated enough pints of blood, the door exiting the room opens. Inside the holes on the side are spinning table saw blades meant to slice and dice someone to accumulate the blood.

Coffin Trap: The coffin trap is a full size glass box (coffin) in the middle of the room. Inside the box are shards of glass. The trap works by...well let's just say watch the movie. I'll give you a hint: it has something to do with a trash compactor.

TNA:

Hey, we get three beautiful little honey's in this one. Of course we have the previously mentioned, Julie Benz supporting a different look with dark black hair. Personally I love her as a blonde. Just in case you need some persuasion...Julie as a blonde below:

Next we get Meagan Good (Pictured Right), the chick from the bad movies One Missed Call and Venom. She wears one of those "I'm a professional business woman" outfits you just want to bang the hell out of.

And wrapping up the trio of hotties is Laura Gordon, who plays the captive Ashley. I can't say much outside of...that she's a hot blonde! Tasty!

Story:

Saw 5 explores the back story and teachings between Jigsaw and Jigsaw the Third. Yawn! Nobody cares. Saw 5 also dives into the Psyche of (Hoffman) and his pursuit of justice stemming from the death of his sister. Apparently this leads him to the "dark side" and joins Jigsaw in his quest for rehabilitation of troubled people.

The story line was loosely written and more predictable than ever. The script was paper thin, and nothing in the film took me by surprise. It's definitely one of the weakest installments of the franchise. My recommendation...take a little bit more time off before spitting out the next one.

On top of the crap called writing, the new game with the five new captives was even lame as hell. Jigsaw explains the rules to them and pretty much tells them...don't do anything and nothing will happen to you. Work together and you'll be free. So what do they do? They panic and it's every man for himself. Which sets them up for a series of comical death traps that will make you just want to bang your head against the wall. They only put themselves in danger by proceeding into the game and being selfish. It's called "teamwork" people. Try it!

One positive thing about the film is that...I think...the time line issues have finally wrapped up, and now the movies are back in chronological order. Unlike Saw 4 being a prequel to Saw 3. Talk about a "cop out" to make another movie. But...you never know, it's Saw. Saw 6 can just as well be a prequel to Saw 4, which would make it a prequel to Saw 3, therefore it's actually Saw 3 and Saw 4 is actually Saw 4 and Saw 3 is actually Saw 5 and Saw 5 would be Saw 6. Confused? That's why they need to take some time off from this thing.

T.Gun Factor:

Apparently I saw the Director's Cut version of the film (which was 14 minutes longer), and it still sucked. Horrible. I'm so pissed off about the movie, it's confusing me. Even my thoughts are out of order!

I can definitely tell that as the torch gets passed from one director to another, the director ends up patch-working something together from the past films to make it work. I beg of them, "STOP with all the flashbacks and back stories that mean ZILCH! Deliver us something new to the screen." I don't care if Jigsaw the Third was helping him all the way. Give us something new!

Tobin Bell's character is nothing more than a cameo in a few scenes and has very little impact on the movie. That disappoints me. In a day of remaking all the oldies to bring back the notorious horror icons, we finally have a franchise that has created a new icon for killing. AND what do they do? The kill him two films ago and bring him back in minor roles to appease the viewers. BULL SH*T! There. I said it. Stop making these films. Jigsaw the Third sucks.

Or at least start off with something new and fresh by Jigsaw the Third, like a new game that has NOTHING to do with Jigsaw and every victim, character, cop, detective, F.B.I. agent in any of the previous movies. Is that asking too much? Have I mentioned, "Give us something new!" yet?

Saw was once a promising horror franchise that needs to take a little time off to focus on some minor things...such as plot, and storyline. And I know that I sound like a broken record when I say, "Give us something new." But really...put some real effort and thought into the next one. I know Saw 6 is going to suck since it already has a release date set for October 2009 and as of the end of January 2009, it hasn't started filming yet. Less than 8 months of production...yeah, it's gonna suck too.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on October 24, 2008 and made $56.7 million at the Box Office ($30 million opening weekend)
-Franchise producer is Oren Koules, owner of the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning
-2 Lightning goalies wore Saw themed goalie masks for two weeks prior to release; later auctioned off