“If it’s
Halloween, it must be Saw.”
The above
tagline is the sole selling-point that Lionsgate Films has
successfully launched the release of Saw IV on. The
studio didn’t even bother to waste its money on assembling a
full-length trailer to promote the film; it merely relied on the
name-recognition offered by a short teaser ad to sell the
whopping $32 million worth of tickets that it did over this past
weekend.
This all
concerns me deeply when I consider the fact that Saw IV
is one of the most disturbingly unnecessary pictures of recent
memory. The movie bargains all of its “scares” on gruesome
depictions of the sadomasochistic torture of innocent human
beings. That such a large portion of American moviegoers embrace
and respond to this type of material is a valid reason to worry
about the direction that our society is headed in.
Since when are
blood, guts, and violence haunting in and of themselves,
as Saw IV would like the viewer to believe? The only
thing that frightens me about this movie is the possibly
profound effect that it will have on the minds of the hoards of
teenagers that sneak into see it. (On that note, the fact that
the film was rated R and not NC-17 by the MPAA is yet another
example of the organization’s irresponsible tendency to turn a
blind eye to violence in cinema.) This is not a horror
movie by any stretch of the imagination; it is an offensive,
vile exercise in torture-porn.
After despising
the original Saw (although I admit it was not nearly as
terrible as its sequels), I decided to not watch any more films
in the series. Unfortunately for me, all of the installments in
the franchise have been highly monetarily successful and, as a
result, I felt critically obligated to see Saw IV. Of
course, this decision led me to force myself to view Saw II
and Saw III, also horrendous cinematic monstrosities, as
a means of preparing for the latest entry.
One (and, I
stress, one) thing that can be said for the writers of
the Saw series (this time, they are Patrick Melton and
Marcus Dunstan) is that, with each passing installment, they
somehow still inventively find new villains within a relatively
small established circle of characters. Regardless, this “gift”
does little to add to Saw IV. Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), the
previous villain, and his accomplice, Amanda (Shawnee Smith),
died at the end of Saw III, making it necessary for a new
bad guy to arise in part four.When he/she’s identity is unveiled
at the end of the film, the revelation comes as somewhat of a
surprise, but doesn’t really pack much of a punch because of the
context in which it is presented. Jigsaw is in so much of Saw
IV through flashbacks that we hardly even forget he’s gone.
Not to mention, the sense of his presence is furthered even more
when it is revealed that much of Saw IV unfolds
concurrently to Saw III (at least as far as my befuddled
mind can figure), which took place when Jigsaw was alive.
A few new
“torture games” are invented in this outing for the purpose of
keeping fans of the series entertained, but these will disgust
most casual viewers. Saw IV’s central plot involves
protagonist Rigg (Lyriq Bent) being forced to carry out yet
another one of Jigsaw’s infamous plans, which requires him to
conduct a series of violent acts in a specified amount of time
in order to save his dear friend and co-worker, Eric Matthews
(Donnie Wahlberg) from the previous Saws, from being
killed.
Saw IV
leaves a lot of room for a Saw V to be made, and its
humongous opening weekend box office take has sealed the deal.
Next Halloween will (unfortunately) bring the release of another
installment in the franchise, much to the delight of the
dangerously susceptible minds of the high-school seniors that
continue to feed the series’ success. Will I see the film?
Hopefully not, but given the fact that it will likely be every
bit the hit that its predecessors have been, I will probably
feel (as was the case with part four) the critical duty to
subject myself to its sure-fire atrociousness. All that I can
pray for is that director Darren Lynn Bousman brings to life a
slightly less gross vision next time around, a shot in the dark
at best.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 10.29.2007
Screened on:
10.27.2007 at the Edwards San Marcos 18 in San Marcos, CA.
Saw IV is rated R and runs 92 minutes.
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