Seeing as there was an October in 2009, there was a Saw. But this wasn’t just any old Saw, with the diminishing returns of Saws IV and V. No, with Saw VI we learned that the second Saw era, the era connected with the retreat of writers James Wan and Leigh Whannell and the ascent of writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, was in fact the “second trilogy.” And Saw VI would be the capper! This is a good thing, too, because Saw VI serves to answer all the damned lazy story threads that were left intentionally dangling. Hell, in a way Saws IV through VI almost work – but only as a single unit, taken as a whole. They surely don’t work individually. This sort of storytelling has a place, in shorter serialized media such as TV shows (dangling threads in “Lost” aren’t nearly so problematic). I cannot imagine how aggravating the years of 2007 – 2009 must’ve been for Saw fans. Hell, the three days I’ve devoted to them were frustrating enough!
What makes Saw VI an improvement is not only its conclusive ending (never mind Saw 3D for a moment), but the sense you feel while travelling there that this all means something. Credit there must go to first time director Kevin Greutert, former Saw editor – at last my pain has a name! He is a mighty step above Saw V’s David Hackl, bringing far momentum to the proceedings than a Part Six deserves.
What’s the opening trap? Let’s just get it out of the way now, for these things are always mostly disposable. Two predatory bank lenders are forced to race each other. The one who can sever the post body parts in one minute wins. The other gets a screw to the brain, which sounds like a cocktail. The one not pictured cleaves her arm off; she wins.
Now we can get down to business concerning the sole surviving Jigsaw protégé, Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), someone no one is really interested in. And after wasting two films getting Hoffman in this enviable position, the writers have now heard the complaints, and go about resolving it. For one, the retroactive influence of John “Jigsaw” Kramer (Tobin Bell, still top-billed) is more pertinent, even though it’s is danged annoying that this is his fourth “final game.” Furthermore, there’s another twist, thrown out early on and thus not warranting the huge SPOILER tag: Kramer had a third accomplice!
“Now wait,” someone presumably says, “doesn’t this crap get lamer with each additional assistant?” Well, they’ve righted that issue, actually. The assistant in question is Kramer’s ex-wife, Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell). Well…sort of. Flashbacks later reveal she was well familiar with her ex-husbands human-killing ways (bless this amoral franchise). She even received a box from Kramer in probate during Saw V – which was such a throwaway bit of sequel seeding I didn’t even mention Jill for that entry. But we’ll see how that plays out here…later.
One of the other significant improvements Saw VI makes over its immediate predecessors is to make its victim pool matter…slightly. That means we get to meet the gore-sacks ahead of schedule, and even see them doing something other than having marital woes! Overseeing Umbrella Health – what is this, Resident Evil?! – is William Easton (Peter Outerbridge), health insurance bigwig and serial policy denier. Buried here is information – a lot like Kramer’s intro in the original Saw – that’ll be important later: William has just denied coverage to a sick man, Harold Abbot, for weakly trumped-up reasons. But let’s ignore that until the twists, because there is an elephant in my room – AAAAH!
Saw VI is topical! Who’d a-thunk a torture pornography (torno) sequel would take a side in the health care debate (and predatory lending) – and almost certainly make a more cogent argument than Michael Moore. Of course, it’s just slightly hypocritical to argue the sanctity of human life when your body count’s in the double digits, so Saw VI’ll never be the poster child for anti-death panelists, but still… Satire is a frequent purpose of horror, so it’s bracing to see the torno subgenre attempt this approach. And given Jigsaw’s intended metaphors-by-way-of-mutilation, it’s almost the trick Saw was made for! I can’t say this is wholly successful, because I don’t want to engage a political issue (too busy dissecting horror flicks), but it’s a way, in your fifth sequel, to get the attention of people who wouldn’t otherwise give a pound of flesh.
Deflecting any criticism about the health care thing, Saw VI has picked up a (dark) sense of humor about all the contradictions in Jigsaw’s worldview.
The dilemma William & Co. find themselves in is thrown together by Hoffman in response to the tape found during Kramer’s autopsy – sure it opened Saw IV, but it takes place NOW (way to leave plot strands wasted for two films!). Indeed, Hoffman’s being forced into this. That unresolved blackmailing from Saw V, it’s being enacted now. Because that unopened box from Saw V, it had 6 envelopes in it, listing the key players in William’s game, and Jill is forcing Hoffman’s involvement. Which does Hoffman no favors, since FBI agent Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston) is closing in on Hoffman’s guilt.
Also, Agent Perez is still alive, this being the last straw to render Saw V completely worthless. Why was this done? Basically, so there’s someone else to kill this time. And presumably resurrect again for Saw 3D, because nothing ever “takes.”
This write-up’s kind of skipping around with nary any direction, but it IS a Saw review.
Okay, enough dilly-dallying, William awakes in Jigsaw-like circumstances. And the Jigsaw video – which is actually Kramer, no silly puppets or anything – announces four tests to examine the limits of William’s health care policies. And the first is up – now!
Across from William is his janitor, Janitor (yeah, don’t name ‘im or anything). And the test: first one to breathe a whole lot dies. Janitor is a smoker, so he’ll lose. Good thing too, really, because otherwise this whole scenario sort of dies in its infancy. And then William will never be able to “see his family again.” (There’s some more rules, like a 60 minute timer and proximity hand-lacerators, which I’ll mostly neglect.)
As Kramer mentions William’s family, we meet two more characters – a mother and teenaged son, bound in a zoo cell. (This movie takes place in an abandoned zoo – what’s this city’s problem?!) I cannot find any two actors listed with William’s last name (or any repeated last name), so for now I’m not sure who these people are. That’s an important detail. Also, there is a big vat of acid in the cell, whose function is currently unclear.
Meanwhile, in the cougar cage next door to them is…a cougar. It’s Pamela Jenkins (Samantha Lemole) really, the sensationalizing journalist with a tell-all book on the Jigsaw Killer – it’s this franchise’s Gale Weathers. For good measure, we get to see her kidnapping in flashback – a well-distinguished flashback, one of director Greutert’s greatest contributions.
William’s second test is in the reptile room. William is given a quandary. Who would you save, if you could only save one, a perfectly healthy young guy with no family, or a sick old lady with many loved ones? The other one will be hanged with barbed wire. But don’t worry, Saw is fictional.
(Also remember back in the day – Part One – when all Jigsaw’s victims were ostensibly capable of rescuing themselves? We lost that conceit long ago, but nothing plays up that change more than Saw VI’s endless progression of forced dead innocents.)
As one reaches halfway through a Saw movie, the flashbacks become thick and heavy. There are two flashback strands in Saw VI. Thankfully, both heavily feature Kramer.
In one strand, a pre-Jigsaw Kramer repeatedly visits with William, seeking his OK for an experimental cancer treatment. This is the writers’ chance to get all topical about Obama Care, and Bell’s acting skill saves it from the doldrums of soapboxing. Notably, Kramer claims there is one facet William has neglected in his insurance formula: will to live.
In the other strand, franchise mythology and back story are reworked yet again, with Amanda, Hoffman and Jill all squeezed into the prelims to Saw III. That Amanda knew all about this stuff opens up a great plot hole re: that film’s ending, which they’ll actually resolve in Saw VI’s twist. Jill is prepped with a key for “when the time’s right” – that time also being Saw VI. And Hoffman asks about how many ridiculous posthumous schemes Kramer has in mind. “How many next times are there gonna be?” Quoth Kramer, “However many there needs to be.” HA! The Saw sequels just became self aware!
There will be far more flashbacks inserted to twist series continuity far worse than Timothy Young (Saw III reference – why do I know that?!). For now, it’s time for William’s next inconsequential task. His secretary Debbie has the traditional one minute to navigate an obstacle course riddled with hot steam, with William offering aid by redirecting steam directly into his foolish mug (could’ve ducked away, but we’d’ve missed out on a character’s pain). But that’s just a precursor to the real game, where Debbie learns the key to free her head harness (what, you didn’t guess a Saw victim would be in a head harness?) is in William’s gut. William refuses to unsew his recent stitches, so Debbie attacks him with a circular saw. Boy, isn’t Williams (and Jigsaw) lucky her harness kills her before she could kill him?
A brief intermission so Erickson can close in on Hoffman’s vocal signature on his Jigsaw tapes, then it’s right back to –
– Williams, wandering in on his final test. His six top analysts await, lashed to a merry-go-round, spinning before an automatic shotgun. It is up to William to decide which two will live. William makes his choice, and four people die. Sorry, guys, your boss once pissed off a nascent serial killer. I’d really love to see an ethicist make a serious consideration of these films.
Okay, now Erickson’s investigation can come to fruition. The taped voice unscrambles for Erickson, Perez, Hoffman, and a random lab tech. At last it proves to be the flat, anonymous, presumably unmistakable tones of Costas Mandylor, so…
You know what, we’re only a couple of minutes out from four wanton deaths. Obviously it’s time for three more, right? Okay, so Hoffman slashes Erickson’s throat, uses the nameless and doomed lab tech as a human shield (Perez shoots her), then simply stabs Perez a whole lot. And to ensure this act doesn’t come back to haunt him (yeah right!), Hoffman slathers the crime scene with the dead Agent Strahm’s fingerprints – because Hoffman keeps Strahm’s severed hand in his car trunk, right next to the spare tire. Also, Hoffman burns down the lab.
There is a freakish amount of collateral in Saw VI. I didn’t even mention the poor security guard William shot dead before he was kidnapped. They’re showing off, after the mostly corpseless Saw V.
With all the dead wood now cut, stabbed, shot or burned away, we can enter End Game.
SPOILER!
SPOILER!
SPOILER!
Old “Two Twist” Jigsaw strikes again. The first twist is less obvious but also less important. It occurs as William reaches the cell where his “family” awaits. And it turns out his family’s not the mother and son I’ve yet to hear names for. It’s Pamela, the journalist next door. Hmm, her extra characteristics, and pre-kidnapping character scenes, were effective red herrings. Tara and Brent, meanwhile (for those are their names), are Harold Abbot’s family – you know, that guy who died when William denied him coverage. A video now exposits that it’s up to them to decide if William should die – provided William obliges by standing in precisely the right spot. Tara is unwilling to commit blatant murder, so her son does it instead – there’s a switch in their cell. We’re not supposed to mull the morality of Brett’s decision, because we’d rather marvel as William impales on a grate of sorts, and is injected full of acid. At last, they came up with something that can rival Saw III’s impromptu brain surgery for sticky-icky!
Twist # 2 is actually compounded of many revelations. Let’s take this chronologically…
It turns out Amanda is the one responsible for killing Uncle Ben, causing Peter Parker to become Spider-Man – wait, I mean, she killed Kramer’s son. That is, she drove junky extraordinaire Cecil (see IV) to Jill’s clinic, resulting in her franchise-spawning miscarriage.
Kramer did not know this, apparently, as he rather targeted Amanda later for unrelated Jigsaw reasons. Who did know was Hoffman, who on the eve of Saw III (and IV) blackmailed Amanda with a letter threatening to expose her to Kramer. Desirous of Amanda’s death, Hoffman told her to kill Doc Denlon, snowballing in her own death (and Kramer’s). This makes a complete mush of the original reading on Saw III (and IV), but that’s par for the course with the “second trilogy.”
But it seems Kramer did know of Hoffman’s sneakiness, and let it pass for whatever the hell reason. Rather, Kramer made arrangements with his astoundingly competent probate lawyer to send Jill her box – the sixth envelope within detailing Hoffman’s punishment, only the five others having to do with William. That he found time to do this while orchestrating Saws III and IV at once is impressive.
So the central twist is that Jill acts on Kramer’s behalf to “test” Hoffman. This involves hooking him up to Amanda’s “reverse bear trap” helmet from Saw I – so that’s why the box was so big! Jill leaves Hoffman to perish, declaring “Game over…”
Only Hoffman escapes from his trap, the writers having now decided the “reverse bear trap” inadequate. He smashes it against a window, rips his jaw just a tad, and howls for retribution. Man, aren’t we fortunate the assured sequel can resolve this!
Saw VI is easily the best entry in the latter triad of films, mostly in the way that it makes up for their creative dead ends. It feels as though the story was planned in advance, that Saws IV and V were fashioned as knowing set-ups for Saw VI to capitalize on. If that is the case, it increases my distaste for those interim entries, because then they knowingly under -delivered. If that’s not the case, then Saw VI represents an astounding growing curve in the Saw-smiths’ understanding of their own franchise. If nothing else, it is a temporary salve to fans still following these films.
The fact evident since Saw IV remains, however, that Saw is merely biding its time while diminishing in overall importance to cinema, or even just the horror genre. It has mostly outlived the torture pornography cycle, and has even seen never cycles of horror rise up to counter it. Sure, Saw was no longer the Halloween box office champ (High School Musical 3 easily bested Saw V), but Saw VI lost out to a fellow horror film – Paranormal Activity. Perhaps this was a passing of the torch, indicating a new, understated direction for horror. Or perhaps it was a mere fluke. Whatever the answer, the duel is now in round two, as Saw 3D and Paranormal Activity 2 are battling each other out for October horror supremacy. As of writing, it appears Saw 3D is the champ in its first weekend, but in such a way that bores me and offers little to comment on. 3D release, promise of finality, whatever, I’m off now to go see this beast for myself now.
Related posts:
• No. 1 Saw (2004)
• No. 2 Saw II (2005)
• No. 3 Saw III (2006)
• No. 4 Saw IV (2007)
• No. 5 Saw V (2008)
• No. 7 Saw 3D (2010)
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