Saw V


 

Plot Synopsis:

Now that Detective Hoffman has been revealed as the last man standing, he and Agent Strahm engage in a battle of wits and wills. Meanwhile, a group of people must work together to survive yet another grisly game. 

Positives:

My first positive is that this is the movie with my favorite trap of the entire franchise, the pendulum trap. Of course, Tobin Bell as John Kramer will always be a positive in my book. I actually like the flashbacks that flesh out his relationship with Hoffman. I also like that they stuck with Agent Strahm for the majority of this movie. 

Mixed Aspects:

The biggest thing I have mixed feelings about in this movie is Hoffman as a character. As I already said, I like the moments between him and John Kramer. However, looking at Hoffman on his own, I don't really care about him one way or the other. The effects are also a bit of a mixed bag. Most of them look okay. There is one effect near the beginning where a character is decapitated, and it looks pretty bad. The plot point of Hoffman trying to frame Strahm is a bit of a mixed bag for me as well. I understand Hoffman trying to cover his tracks. What I have trouble buying is the fact that the FBI seems like they are falling for it. Jill Tuck's placement in this movie is another thing I have mixed feelings about. Like I said in my review for Saw IV, I actually like Jill Tuck as an addition to the franchise. At the same time, it felt like she was just in this movie because she was a character in the Saw franchise to me. My final mixed aspect for this movie is the acting. Once again, I like Tobin Bell's performance. I also like Scott Patterson as Agent Strahm. A couple of the actors playing in the trap plot line do okay as well. However, the rest of the cast seem like they are struggling to read their lines.   

Negatives: 

This is the first movie in the franchise where the two main plot points have little to nothing to do with one another. There's a flashback that sort of ties the two together where John tells Hoffman to set up a game. This is probably the movie with the worst twists in the franchise. At this point, it felt like they threw something in there because it's a Saw movie, so it has to have twists. The characters stuck in the trap plot are some of the most poorly written characters of the franchise. I can kind of understand what the filmmakers were trying to do. They clearly wanted these people to give in to their base instincts. The problem is this: Each character does a complete 180 right before their death scene. 

Final Thoughts: 

So, watching this movie again, I found that it was mostly a mixed bag for me. I still say I enjoyed it more than Saw IV. But, I noticed that I definitely had a lot more problems with it on this most recent rewatch. At this point, I would probably only recommend it to the most hardcore Saw fans. 

My Rating: 

🩸🩸  

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