Review: Saw VI
While Saw 4 and 5 have been pretty shit in comparison to the first three film, Saw 6 improves slightly on the series. It’s not technically a good film but it’s a good Saw film and takes the franchise back to what it needed, a simple story with some interesting traps and that’s what we got.
As is normally the case the story is split in two. The first story is the most interesting because it’s ripe for Saw. An insurance salesman - William Easton - is captured by Hoffman, under Jigsaw’s last order, and put through a series of tests where he has to decide who in his firm will live and who will die. It works because as John notes during his meeting with Easton he has the choice as to who lives and who dies so by putting that to the test in the most literal meaning it gives us a great story to follow and the end it ends is surprising but it works.
It actually took a little while to know what the main plot of the film was but I soon understood that it was following the plot of the first film, slowly giving you information piece by piece so you can build the story yourself instead of giving it to you in one big heap.
The second story is still following Hoffman, I still don’t like him but the film seems to know this and puts us through a lot of back-story to give us reasons to hate him. He seems to be losing control and even Jigsaw - from beyond the grave - is noticing this so he takes action accordingly.
The acting’s about what you can expect from a Saw flick, the main guy Easton was pretty good, he had a well defined arc and he meant well, he understood immediately what shit he was in and he took measures to make sure he could do all he could. He faces some pretty tough decisions but he always managed to make them.
As mentioned Hoffman is still an asshole, even more so when we realise what he’s done and how he’s manipulated the events of the last three films. I think by this point the writers knew Hoffman wasn’t popular so they’ve made him into a brutal psycho instead of just an accomplice to John.
There were a few surprising additions. Namely Amanda turns up in a few flashbacks to further develop her character and her love for John. The biggest surprise was Jill Tuck, John’s ex-wife, up until now a minor character, she comes into her own here and shows that she’s been hiding in the shadow of her husband, using his fame as a mask so that she can work behind the sidelines. It’s impressive stuff.
The direction was pretty good, it’s the directorial debut of Kevin Geurtert who previously worked as an editor on the first five films so he knows what he’s doing. There’s nothing that tense or that exciting but he held my interest with the way he told the story, I’ll give him this, the way he opens the film with that pound of flesh trap managed to make me squirm and as such it grabbed my attention early.
The traps themselves are a vast improvement on the last film because most of them are actually quite realistic and yet still unique and violent. The hanging trap was highly effective and very simply but it also kept in with the theme of the Saw traps. The best by far was the Carousel trap because it really tapped into that central theme of choice and made for a tense and surprisingly emotional scene. The only trap I had a problem with was the Acid trap at the end because I thought that was a little too extravagant and way too gory - not that I have a problem with gore it’s just this went a little far.
One last thing to mention is that as ever the brilliant ‘Hello Zepp’ theme is back and is actually used properly this time, yes there’s a twist but it’s a good twist and it sets things up for the seventh film rather well. I’ll admit to losing that shit-eating grin I get whenever I hear the song but I still think it’s a great indicator to end the film.
I swear these reviews are getting shorter. Overall I likes Saw 6, it’s nothing special but it gives the fans of the series what they want, a good story with a central theme and some simple but effective traps. So if you like the series I recommend it but if you don’t, well you can either watch this to get back into it or you’ve dropped off long ago.
6/10