Review - Saw VI (SPOILERS) | ryuuzaki's Blog

One of my first reviews for this blog when I began last October was for Saw V.  Ergo, I figured that I should really continue in this vein by reviewing its direct sequel.  As with all of my reviews, this is more of a commentary and so there will be SPOILERS for all six of the films in the franchise thus far.

For the unordained, the Saw films focus around the killings made by a man named John Kramer (nick-named "The Jigsaw Killer" by the media).  Kramer differs from most conventional serial killers in that he does not kill his victims directly.  Instead, he places them within elaborate traps.  Usually, these traps are designed so that if the victim remains stationary they will certainly die, but if they win the "game" (which usually involves maiming themselves in some fashion) they will win their freedom.  The thing that all the victims have in common is that they have all either harmed others or "wasted" their own life in some way.  They are judged by Kramer as he is dying of brain cancer and thus is bitter that people would waste their lives while he is denied of his own.

Kramer died at the end of the third film, and since then punishments have been dealt out by his apprentice, Mark Hoffman, who was also a policeman.  The plot of Saw V revolved around Strahm, an FBI agent who had grown suspicious of Hoffman.  At the end of the film, Strahm is crushed to death leaving Hoffman believing that he has escaped.  However, Kramer did previously state that Hoffman would also be "tested"...

Saw VI carries on directly from the previous installment.  Hoffman has been using Strahm's severed hand to frame the deceased agent by placing his fingerprints at the crime scene.  It is also revealed that Kramer's wife (Jill) has been involved in her husbands "games" all along.  As Hoffman struggles to keep his identity secret as evidence pointing to him begins to stack up; Jill appears to be setting a greater plan into motion which (inevitably) includes the judgment of Hoffman...

On top of this, the latest game is set in motion.  The victim this time is one William Easton - the executive who denied Kramer coverage that could have cured his cancer.  William wakes up to discover that bombs have been strapped to each of his limbs and he must suffer four "traps" to receive the keys for each device and reach the end of the gauntlet within an hour or his family will be killed...

Although this film is hardly high cinema, it's plot is far more enjoyable that then previous two films.  I was, understandably, worried when I saw that it shared writers with Saw IV and V but there was a definite improvement here.  Although still somewhat predictable, the twist was interesting and (unlike the previous two films) I had not guessed it within the first fifteen minutes of the movie.  Although I would have liked a little more closure, I have grown to accept that there will be at least thirty-four films in this franchise and so we're probably a little soon for that.  Besides, we haven't found out what happened to Lawrence (protagonist of the original Saw) yet.

However, let's face it, nobody watches the Saw films for the plots.  It's all about the traps.  I must admit, as a horror movie purist, I preferred the traps of Saw when they were horrible but the violence occurred off-screen.  I think that things are always worse in your mind's eye.  That said, after the sheer gruesomeness of some of the traps in the last few Saw films (I'm looking at you, buzz-saw box) most of these ones were quite tame.  I say most.  I cringed during the first trap which involved people giving their pound of flesh.  If we've all seen Se7en, we know what the obvious thing to sacrifice is.  Very unpleasant.  And the movie decided that we needed a flashback mid-way through to remind us about this trap.  Yay...

Although the traps were less complex this time around, the film makers seemed to want to provide more of a social experiment.  As William (basically) decided who lived or died in his job, the trials he endures forced him to decide between which of his colleagues would live or die.  In this way, it forms a kind of complex, multi-layered version of the Prisoner's Dilemma which (as a Philosophy student) I found most interesting. 

This gauntlet includes in one of my favourite games of the series - the carousel trap.  In this, six of William's colleagues are strapped to a device that resembles a merry-go-round.  Pointing at this trap is a rifle that shoots the person closest to it whenever the carousel stops.  The rifle contains six rounds, all of which will be discharged, but William can save two of them by pressing a button (which injures his hand in the process).  Thus, William is forced to listen to the pleas of the six in order to quickly decide which two are most worthy of life.

Naturally, Saw VI is not perfect.  It's clearly inferior to the first film which still has the best plot by far - it's become a cult classic with good reason.  My major problem with this film is Hoffman.  The writers spent Saw V fleshing out his character and I did really like him.  I appreciated the fact that he evolved from being an vengeful person blackmailed by Kramer into someone who truly believed in what the Jigsaw was doing - basically moving from revulsion to acceptance.  Now, the film-makers try to undo this by proving that Hoffman is the true bastard and Amanda was the more sympathetic apprentice.  The fact that Amanda is now a good apprentice also adds retcons to the movie's retcons and shows that the writers are starting to loose their grasp as they try to make the plot needlessly complex.  This jarred with me a little.  It's kind of nice that the film does keep zooming out and showing us a little more of the bigger picture (kind of like a jigsaw in itself), but I wish it could just decide on personalities for its characters and then stick with them.  Even though the time frame in which Saw III-VI are set is relatively short, the characters seem to change dramatically.

So, this movie ends with us not knowing what Jill's next move will be or whether Hoffman is even going to survive into Saw VII (though I expect he will).  I am still intrigued enough to want to know what happens next.  Due to Kramer's promise that there will be a way out for Jill, I'm already starting to theorize how the next film will end.  Tune in next Halloween to find out if I'm still enjoying this franchise...