Saw IV Review

Rushed and choppy is the only words I can explain about the recent movie, Saw IV. I have been a huge fan of the Saw series ever since the first movie was released in theaters, but the latest movie did not meet the hype and criteria that I was expecting. The plotline of the movie did provide information explaining the ideals of the characters in the movie, but some parts of the movie seemed to be thrown together at the last moment by the director and writers.

When I was watching Saw IV, I was hoping that the movie would follow its previous predecessors by having clues that the audience could retain and figure out the ending of the movie. I tried to pay attention to important details of the movies and try to listen for double meanings in certain lines of the movie which would hopefully lead me to know the conclusion to the ending. Unfortunately, due to the random moments and rushed scenes of the movie, I was not able to get why the ending happen the way it did ended. I was not expecting to know what would happen in the end even if I tried to figure it out like the past three Saw movies, but this movie makes it impossible to get anything from it. The Saw series has an incredible representation of revealing the ending to the audience by showing flashbacks that gave hints and clues about the ending. Saw IV provided the flashbacks at the end of the movie to reveal the twist ending, but still leaving the audience with a “huh?” in their mind instead of a “no way!”

Everyone who goes to the Saw movies has to admit that they go to see the scary, gory scenes of the movie. The biggest attraction the Saw movies had dealt with gory and gruesome scenes is the traps that Jigsaw creates to make people learn to appreciate their lives. Anytime when the movie would focus on the person trying to escape the trap made by Jigsaw, the movie would take its sweet time and allow tension grow within the audience as they hope these people would escape their traps or would have to face death. Saw IV did not use the same techniques as it did in the past Saw movies. Most of the traps in the movie were just as gory and horrible as the past three Saw movies, but the time that focus on the people trying to get out was very short and ended very quickly. Saw IV did not allow tension to grow within the audience who was watching this movie. They saw the person enter the trap, and then they would escape or die. It went by so fast that the audience did not have time to have some sort of pity or any emotion towards the characters in the traps of the movie.

The storyline of the movie was filled with numerous flashbacks and filled with random scenes involving with four set of characters. Mainly the flashbacks dealt with why Jigsaw became the way he is with people who does not live life to the fullest. The other scenes of movie dealt with two detectives trying to figure out how to stop Jigsaw, then also with one detective who has to play Jigsaw games with different people, then the movie deals with two guys who will die if the one detective does not rescue them under 2 hours. This many scene changes and flashbacks cause the movie to be rushed and choppy which in the end leaves the audiences feeling in disarray of wondering, “What just happen?”

Overall, the movie is not terrible and should still be seen, but this advice is probably stated more towards the hardcore Saw fans such as me. Saw IV is definitely more different from the past three Saw movies which might not be a good thing. Hopefully, the directors and writers will take more time in making Saw V than they did in the making of Saw IV. This movie still has potential to finish off as a great horror series, but Saw IV will not be the movie that everyone will remember how great the Saw series came to be.