Before We Begin
Stranger Things 2 came out today and it’s extremely hard to pull away from it after watching the first three episodes. Still, I’d like to finish this before the end of the weekend, so here come the next four movies in rapid succession.
Saw IV apparently takes place at the same time as the third film. Since the series’ continuity is the main reason I’m interested in it, I’m excited to see where this mechanic leads, especially with three being my favorite of the series so far. I’ve heard from a lot of people that this is also where things go off the rails, and I’m intrigued by what that means for the franchise. As an unashamed lover of the Resident Evil movies (yes, the live-action ones), I’d love if the Saw franchise stopped trying so hard to have a point and went full-on schlock.
Observations
So…yeah. I watched this last night and I don’t really remember much of it, honestly. This is one of the most forgettable movies I’ve ever seen and it’s probably going to blend in with the other ones when I’m finished with these.
Let’s start with the good. Riggs is a decent protagonist and also (I think) the first game victim that we develop a relationship with before the game actually starts. I also liked that his game took him to several locations rather than just one building, which at least gave us a change of scenery.
On the other hand, the writing has gone full soap opera if it wasn’t there already. Jigsaw being a killer because of his wife’s miscarriage stinks of daytime television. The revolving cast of characters slowly growing larger and larger with each successive movie only increases this feeling. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep track of everyone.
Conclusions
It was pretty unremarkable, but I think I still liked it more than Saw II. The best thing I can say is that I only have three movies left and I don’t hate myself for watching these yet.
Next up we get Saw V. I’d bet that “unremarkable” is something I’ll be thinking a lot, because I haven’t heard much about these last three sequels.
The Ranking
- Saw III
- Saw
- Saw IV
- Saw II
Mister Binger 