Saw VI

Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Shawnee Smith, Peter Outerbridge, Athena Karkanis
Directed by: Kevin Greutert
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Thriller
2009

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) continues to follow the orders of the deceased Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), as his true plan finally comes to light.

Review:

Tim: As I have said before, I believe the Saw franchise has run its course, and it needs to end now. However, they keep churning them out, and I keep liking them more than I should. With Saw VI, I am starting to get this franchise confused in my own mind. All of these movies feel so similar to each other that it is impossible for me to distinctly separate them all in my mind. I have no idea the timeframe for these six movies- it feels like a matter of days or weeks, but I have no idea. That is this franchise's biggest fault- it feels like we are watching the same movie over and over, but with only minor tweaks.

Now, I complain about that, but the other side of that issue is that this franchise follows the formula to the letter. The idea is, if it worked once, why wouldn't it work six times? The sad thing is that it almost does. Like every movie in this franchise, I found myself liking it more than I should have. While I cannot claim that this is a good movie, it is still intense, grotesquely disgusting, and occasionally horrific. As the other films have done, this one wraps awful images and scenes around a plot involving Jigsaw and his accomplices. At this point, though, the story itself feels a bit redundant. Jigsaw has been dead for a number of films, but the movies continue regardless. This is getting harder and harder to die. The characters (besides Jigsaw) aren't particularly memorable or fascinating, and they all blend together. I couldn't remember who all these people were, so I didn't really care about them, and I knew that most of them would die anyway. That doesn't exactly translate into a great horror movie.

Despite all the flaws in this film and this franchise, at this point, we are well conditioned to know what to expect with these movies. This movie follows that formula perfectly, giving us a whole host of new torturous devices and gruesome deaths. While these lack the classic simplicity of the original, they are entertaining in a hard-to-watch, disgusting manner. However, besides the nearly impossible to watch opening torture scene, the rest of the film is somewhat disappointing. I think the writers are struggling to come up with new ways to kill people in horrible ways, although I have to admit a few of them were decent (although increasingly difficult to believe). This is the real draw of these films, and for diehard Saw fans, there is enough bloodshed here to satisfy you.

Saw VI is disappointing because it isn't nearly as good as the original, but amazing because of the consistency this franchise has shown. While the movies have dropped in quality, the drop has been very small, compared to some other franchises. Still, despite the fact that I didn't hate this movie, I hope they wrap this franchise up soon enough. This is a series of movies which has run its course- let it go in peace, please.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Saw, Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, Saw V