This entry was posted on Friday, April 13th, 2007 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Horror, S. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Starring: Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Lyriq Bent, Athena Perez.
When you make 3 successful, arguably entertaining films in a series and you have a fail proof marketing plan of releasing the most awaited scary movie of the year on Halloween eve, one thing is for sure in this world of enterprise and commerce…a fourth movie will be made. Especially when the first one was an artistic and creative opus as well as a commercial success, the second one maintained that air of originality and the third one was not God awful. That is exactly what this fourth feature is; God awful.
As with the the 2nd and 3rd installments of the saw series, this one picks up at the exact spot the last one left off. This one opens at the autopsy of Jigsaw played, as always, by Tobin Bell (although in this episode, he is far quieter and less clever with his witticisms, since he is dead). When they cut him open, they are welcomed by the latest message from John, that the games are not over, in fact they are just beginning. Sergeant Riggs, played by Lyriq Bent, the captain of the task force in the previous three movies is the lead character in this edition (since there is no one else left). Unlike the last three where John picks on people who generally deserve it, and have characteristics that really could use some, ummm… adjustments, Riggs’ tragic flaw according to the screenwriter (can you call someone who writes the fourth sequel a screenwriter, or are they simply a cookie cutter at this point?) is that he cares too much and tries to help too many people. Wow, what a world it would be if everyone was awful like that. In typical Saw fashion, Riggs sets off on a quest to stop the mad man and hopefully learn something about himself and not get his friends all killed.
This once refreshing franchise is starting to look like 10 day old lettuce and is finding its way into the pitfalls of all franchise chains, Police Academy, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, MacDonald’s and Jack in the Box. What made them great is what now makes them awful and Boring, same menu, same flavor and, ultimately, the same result; a long time in the bathroom. The true tragedy is that I think this movie made more money than the last one so we are sure to be sentenced to a Saw V. Hopefully Jigsaw will find me before next Halloween and make me pay for my years of making bad movie choices.
