Review of Saw IV (2007) by Amoviecritic — 26 Oct 2007

It should have ended after Saw 2. Saw 1 was a creative and interesting movie with a cool twist and Saw 2 upped the ante and the stakes and both movies were about a group of people put in desperate situations who then had to work together to get out of them.

Saw 3 was where they clearly began running out of ideas and sure enough, the writer left the series after this installment and Saw 4 brings on a new team of writers. There's a lot to like here; the death traps in this installment are top notch; easily the best in the series and in the genre as well, and a huge step back in the right direction after the comically over-the-top ones featured in Saw 3.

Darren Lynn Bousman (director of this installment and Saw 2 and 3,) does a great job of filming this and creating a great atmosphere, and the editing's quick and stylish. We also get some great scenes showing Jigsaw's development and how he became what he was.

This is also easily the creepiest installment in the series since the 1st one, bringing back some horror into the series with a few moments that sent chills up my spine. The series's trademark "plot twist" is here as well, although it's unfortunately more confusing than surprising.

The problem is that the movie is extremely difficult to follow. I have a great memory for movies, so I can remember the events of the first 3 movies very well; that said, I was lost at times here and was downright confused near the end, where I completely lost track of the characters.

I strongly recommend you re-watch the 2nd and 3rd movies before seeing this one or you're going to be entirely lost. (And you still will at times feel lost anyway.) When they're not confusing you by flashbacks, flashbacks-within-flashbacks, or a needlessly large cast of characters, the movie pretty much plays out exactly like Saw 3, with 1 character going from 1 victim to another and being put in a series of tests.

It's not a bad movie, but it's one that feels at times too similar to the 3rd one in plot and structure. At other times it shows us some cool ideas with different characters and locations, as well as some great death traps.

..Unfortunately, it too often completely confuses us by cutting to other characters before the many issues and characters that are brought up are resolved. Saw 5's going to be starting production with these same writers and a new director very soon, and I don't know if I'll end up being excited for it; Saw 2 was great but since then they've had to strain to keep this series going by constantly manipulating a huge amount of backstory and cast of characters to the point where only die-hard fans who have watched the past movies hundreds of times will have any hope whatsoever of following these new releases.