Saw V (DVD, 2009, Widescreen - Unrated)

Every Halloween for the past four or so years we have seen a new Saw film come out. Now that Saw V is here we already know that they have greenlit Saw 6. The franchise has managed to live on so long because I believe most people just want to see a horror film in October and Saw happens to be the one film that is always playing. Since Saw 2 I have felt the films have gone from bad to worse. Saw 4 was just awful and extremely complicating if you didn't have a very firm grasp on all of the films. This time around I think they became somewhat aware of the fan out cry and played everything out with a more logical scheme and made it a lot more easier to follow.

The story is really hard to go into detail without ruining some aspect of the plot but basically this one is all about FBI Agent Hoffman. After the house is cleaned out someone manages to survive one of the traps so he must go back and figure out a way to tie up all the loose ends. Like I said above if you were put off by the last film for being to confusing then this one should be much easier for you to follow along with.

Even though the story is easy to follow along it has to be interesting. Now I think this film really goes back more to the first film and explains how the traps were carried out. Despite the fact that I think this film is in on par with the first film I think it also is just more of the same. The traps after awhile just become more weapons of destruction and aren't as interesting as they once were. The film is not really horror anymore. Yes the blood does flow and there is plenty of gore but over time these films have just made that mandatory canceling out the horror of it all. In a way the audience is almost like Jigsaw. We have seen it all so much that it no longer affects us.

Besides some of the main characters this film really lacks any real people to root for. Well not even the main characters are really likeable. What else seems to detract from the film is that it has become quite evident that it wasn't the intention of these films to go on like this for so long from the beginning. But I do have to give the scribes a lot of credit here for being able to stitch them together the way they have. It is almost flawless. Almost.

I felt like I was watching more of the same the whole time. While it is much better than 3 and 4 it still comes across as just another entry. These films have almost devolved into a police procedural drama TV series. If you try and hop on in the middle you will be missing out on a lot of the story. That is the main reason these films will not stand up to the test of time.

Overall however I think if you are already a fan of the Saw franchise you will like this entry. Though the gore is significantly cut back probably because Darren Lynn Bousman is no longer behind the camera. So don't expect as much splatter. A solid entry into the Saw franchise but if you are not familiar with the franchise.. don't even attempt to catch this one. I highly recommend however doing a marathon run of the first four films to catch yourself up. I would say to people who are wary of the film to just wait for DVD. With the economy the way it is you can spend your hard earned money on something much better than this.

OVERALL 7/10
THIS IS A MUST HAVE MOVIE TO ADD TO YOUR OTHER SAW MOVIES..STILL BY FAR THE FIRST SAW IS THE BEST IN THE SERIES.

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FIRST SAW I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

In as much as Hollywood would have to admit that there is only a very slim clientele for these types of films, the genre continues to attract the curious. After four years of running in the Halloween weekends, it finally fell off the top 4 list of films that made the box office top list. That being said, the audience finally got a fill of this type of insanity. This film, not falling off the list at a better time, has represented a period of time when people would rather see blood on the screen rather than dance with death at the hands of justice. During the period of time where justice was due, but never solved, based on the 9/11 crisis, people wanted to justify seeing violence on the screen, but not on the streets of Iraq or Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, there are still many audiences out there who outwardly oppose everything the Saw series stands for; that involving torturous blood and gore, the message it sends to our society about immoral behavior, and the quixotic snapshots of people being trapped and mutilated (in some fashion) in sheer and utter horror. This kind of entertainment would never had been filmed even 20 years ago in an unrated world. The sheer possibility that going from then, which is easily blown off as just some tacky horror movie sequel, in general, to the mainstream film based on psycho thrillers, really blows the average viewer for a loop when they first set foot into this type of film. Yet, having said this, my first reaction to this film is as expected. The story blows sheer stupidity as did the first film. Let's just be real. The first film was, without a shadow of a doubt, enough to curdle your blood for life. The rest of the films were mainly there to convince you that you were a serial psycho bent on seeing someone tortured.

Typically, as I have been witness to many films of this horror genre and what it has to offer in terms of entertainment, so far this year I can safely say that, while Saw V is, by no means a masterpiece, nor as significant as its first production, it still beats out most of the competition by quite some distance.

As you well know, Saw wouldn't be Saw without its morally challenging undercurrent squirming underneath all the corpses and violence, and in this regard, number 5 does well to incorporates the same subtext.

********************** Extreme Spoiler ********************

There are several primary flaws in this film that deserve mentioning. Firstly, there didn't seem to be any main character driving the film forward. Also as well, the script was extremely flimsy in trying to convince the audience that a detective of 22 years (Hoffman) would ever actually turn into the guy he was trying to catch. Another major complaint that I had was most of the short cuts of the film was just reaction shots from various players with little to no meaningful dialog. Even when Jigsaw captured Hoffman and scared him into becoming his accomplice, the dialogue was quite unbelievable. Straham's narration was quite distracting and out of character with the film.

With everything else going on, it became quite evident that trying so hard to tie all the tiny pieces of story-line together was enough to break or choke anyone's neck regardless of what crazy box someone in this film was trying to drown or saw off someone's stupid head. I honestly didn't get the fact that Hoffman and his partner were two different people after the editing which really confused me after viewing.

saw v was a pretty good movie if you like the blood and gore. as well new torture devices as well for the movie. but they are getting carried away with to many sequels to one movie. this is a good gory movie for those of you that are horror fans but i am getting a little tired of too many sequels to one franchise. this movie is worth the time to pick up and watch.

It's a sequel movie and it is what it is. I leaves alot of unfimished ends and leaves your wantings for more. Saw VI is right around the corner.

Saw V is a blast. To tell you the truth saw 5 is not so confuseing but it makes you understand the story good. This is my favorite Saw movie, and if you're a fan of theses movies, you should watch it. Hay, I'm a fan.