Warning: My review contains minor spoilers.
In 2004, a low-budgeted torture porn film called ‘’Saw’’ became massive hit. Was it because it was original…….no. Was it because the acting good…….no. But the film found an audience and turned b-film actor Tobin Bell into a horror icon. Honestly, I thought the ‘’Saw’’ film series should’ve ended after ‘’Saw III,’’ but Lionsgate continues to prolonged it. It’s kind of difficult to watch a ‘’Saw V” if you have not seen the previous ”Saw” films.
At the end of ‘’Saw IV’’, it was revealed that Amanda (Shawnee Smith) was not Jigsaw’s (Bell) only apprentice, but corrupt Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) was one too. With Jigsaw and Amanda both dead, it is left up to Hoffman to carry on his former master’s work of rehabilitating people in unethical ways. The premise of ‘’Saw V,’’ centers on Hoffman trying to tie up some loose ends because he believes that someone has discovered his connection to Jigsaw.
‘’Saw V’’ cannot be a ‘’Saw’’ film if there is not a torture game included, right? Well, ‘’Saw V’’ barely ignores the game aspect of the film, which involves four people. None of the four people involved in the game were likable, so I don’t expect viewers to have any sympathy for them when they’re being tortured in the film. In the ‘’Saw’’ film series, I have always been annoyed by the clichéd flashback sequences to explain current events. This is done a lot in ‘’Saw V’’ to explain how Hoffman became Jigsaw’s apprentice.
Surprisingly, the torture scenes in ‘’Saw V’’ were not as homoerotic as they have been in previous films. If I recall, there is only one half-nude man getting tortured in the entire film. The other torture scenes ranged from being laughable to extremely shocking. Once again, Bell sleepwalks through his role as Jigsaw. Considering the fact that he keeps reprising his role for the ‘’Saw’’ films, it is obvious he’s only doing for it the money. Mandylor is not intimidating as Jigsaw’s successor; he practically just sneers the whole time and speaks in a monotone voice.
I would be lying to myself to say that ‘’Saw V’’ was one of the worst torture porn films of 2008. ‘’Saw V’’ didn’t stoop to the same level of films such as ‘’Untraceable’’ and ‘’Funny Games.’’ As long the ‘’Saw’’ films continue to be profitable at the box office, Lionsgate won’t lose interest in the series. I’ll be happy when the torture games of ”Saw” are finally over someday, but they are here to stay for now.
Film Grade: C+
Popularity: 39% [?]
Leave a Reply