A few years ago, “Saw†was a hybrid thriller/horror flick that shook up the movie scene, spawning a plethora of shoddy wannabes like “Touristas†and “See No Evil,†which tried to capture the same motif with limited or no success. After two more sequels in the series, fans of the saga have seen the death of the main character, but little else as far as plot development.
Unfortunately for moviegoers, “Saw IV†continues to leave fans in the dark, creating an improbable sequel machine that continues to tease audiences with hints and entertain them with blood, rather than offer any closure that could make the series a more gratifying one.
Continuing from the end of the last film, “Saw IV†brings back Donnie Wahlberg to play police officer Eric Mathews, but also brings in renowned television actor to star Scott Patterson (Gilmore Girls, Alien Nation) as FBI agent Strahm. However, despite the charisma of the aforementioned talent, the story is a poorly written attempt to create drama in a monotonous and dingy world. Also playing a key role in the film is Canadian actor Lyriq Bent , whose solid performance as Officer Riggs adds depth to the film, but is too sacrificed at the cost of telling a mediocre story.
Focusing on the life of Jigsaw and what led him to become a serial killer, “Saw IV†does fill in some of the gaps created in the other films, but throws everything together so quickly that most moviegoers will feel lost, rather than know what’s going on. Creating a multilayered plot is no easy task, and to make matters worse, director Darren Lynn Bousman has lost the ingenuity and passion that made the first two sequels in the series hit movies. In the process of fleshing out the finer points of the first three films, in order to set up for the classic Saw ending where everything comes together, “Saw IV†confuses and baffles. The end result does nothing to clarify and reaffirm anything in the haphazard plot, creating a film whose story is broken. It just takes sitting through the entire film, desperately waiting for something to happen to eventually figure that out.
It’s at that point that the viewer suffers a death worse than any murder seen in the film; a desecration of their hard-earned money. Unlike the actors who died in the film however, the money paid to see the film is gone forever.
“Saw IV†just leaves more unanswered questions that at this point in the series are far more annoying than entertaining. Sure, the film features a half dozen cool-looking death sequences and plenty of bloody scares, but enough is enough.
This series needs the ax.
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