Saw V

Saw V-2008

"Fool me once, shame on you;

Fool me twice, shame on me"

With every passing year, the Saw series adds an extra film to its franchise, further convoluting and destroying what once seemed like a phenomenal idea.

In 2004, director James Wan introduced American audiences to the idea of "torture-porn", a genre in which blood flows continuously, giving the audience pleasure in watching the suffering of others. Since Saw's inception, there have been many imitators, yet none are the innovator. The biggest problem with the continuing sequels of the series is that the original worked fantastic as a singular entity.

Saw's first film was a simple concept: two men are trapped in a bathroom, the only way to escape is to saw through one's own foot, accepting the pain and being grateful for their lives and the second chance they are given. Questions arose from this simple idea: Why are they there? Who did this to them? Will they ever be able to escape? These questions made the original Saw, more than anything, an original idea. And for the original in what it is considered one of the most gruesome series' in recent film history, there is very little violence.

Now, with Saw V, the series has become incredibly confusing. It is not a series to jump into the middle of and even for veterans of the series, can be downright frustrating. Thankfully, occasional flashbacks help piece together the five films, but it does not make things much easier for the viewer.

Saw V picks up minutes after mastermind Jigsaw's death, which also happens to be the end of both Saw III and Saw IV (confused yet?). Number five follows two cops with firsthand experience to Jigsaw: Mark Hoffman, who started as a copycat murderer but then evolved into a accomplice to Jigsaw's puzzles; and Agent Strahm, who has lost friends to aforementioned puzzles and is piecing together that Hoffman may be just as bad, if not worse, then the late Jigsaw.

Every sequel in the series so far has been completely unnecessary. It further complicates what was once incredibly simple but now is so ridiculous that you forget what was so great about the series in the first place. Previous volumes in the series completely skewed the timeline of the series and changes; Saw 5 is no different. The series consistently goes back on itself, completely changing the entire history of every film. Nothing is ever made clear as to the timeline of the film, leaving the audience even more lost than when they started off.

The performances in this film can only be described as hammy. The actors blindly navigate through the traps, consistently confused to the obvious choices that should be made. This can be said about most horror films, but in Saw V, it's pretty ludicrous.

However, all the sequels are frivolous, yet compared to others, it is better than most. The film does relate more to the questions of the series and how everything pieces together, as opposed to, how are these people going to be brutally murdered. It is a nice change, but seems like too little, too late.

It is a shame that Saw is actually de-evolving as it becomes more and more complex. For example, a series such as Hostel, while not even close to incredible, has actually grown to make the story more interesting, making the story deeper and fleshing out the series in a believable way. Unfortunately, the Saw series now feels like a trap that is making viewers keep watching out of pure curiosity just how bad it can possibly get.

Rating: C-

Photo from RottenTomatoes.com