Synopsis: Special Agent Strahm is dead and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood.I'm a huge fan of the Saw series and have been since the original, but for some reason I never made it out to the theater to see this one last Halloween. I guess I'd almost grown bored with it a bit, although I did have my annual home Saw marathon and watched the first 5. But anyway, now I sort of regret not catching the latest bloodbath in the theaters, because this is the best installment in quite a while.
What changed? Well the script is just better. The plot becomes more about health insurance than grisly kills (although those are still there). Nobody sues for malpractice, but there is some revenge of the uninsured in the form of bloodletting. The back-story is still there and it finally all comes together really, with a lot of reveals on things that have gone down before.
But the best thing about the Saw films? The traps. In the opening we get a game between 2 people to see who can remove the most flesh, which sets the pace for what is to come. Along the way there's a cool shotgun-carousel, a steam room, breathing room, hanging room, another reverse bear-trap, amputations, hydrofluoric acid injections, head-piercing and more. It's everything you've come to expect from a Saw film.
Costas Mandylor is back as Hoffman, but I think he's pretty wooden in this actually. Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith are both back, but since they're dead their roles are minor with just flashbacks and visions... especially Shawnee. She's barely in it at all, so that sucks. Betsy Russell gets a bigger role as Jill (Jigsaw's wife) and continues to be the sexiest woman in her late 40s you'll ever see. I was also glad to see Athena Karkanis back as Agent Perez.
So usually a series that has 6 films (with #7 on the way) loses steam instead of getting better, but I was really surprised that this one may be the best since Saw II. It ties up loose ends, has a nice inventive plot, good traps and plenty of blood and guts. It probably won't make any new fans, and might be confusing to anyone who hasn't seen the rest of the series, but for a die hard like me it's a very welcome return to form.
8/10
