Saw VI (18)

The series has gone on a bit too long now and after 3, 4, 5, I didn’t know what more could be done. Saw I and II were clever and violent but not needless, excessive gore that became the norm of the next few. The films are becoming more about sickening people with the disturbing violence than actually being a decent film with an intriguing plot and clever ways of teaching people a lesson.

In the first film, the standard of gore was essential to the plot and the lesson and characters had priority whereas lately, the films revolve around violence which has become more gratuitous and disgusting as they go on. Despite this, I watch the films every time, like a lot of other people so they are going to keep churning them out every Halloween. It’s starting to become a tradition or something.

I think the writers of the films must have listened to all the criticisms of the previous films because Saw VI is actually rather decent. I’m not going to say it’s a piece of genius but it is starting to go back to being more plot based and the violence this time around was not as gory as it has been previously.

In the beginning, the task involves two people having to cut body parts off in order to survive. When I saw this, I thought ‘Oh God, this is going to as bad as Saw III’ but after that first task, the gore is not so bad and the quality improves. It works on the premise of the third one though- where one man, William, goes into different rooms and does different tasks- usually involving people he knows- to save his family at the end.

William is a boss at a health insurance corporation and basically, if he denies someone healthcare, they will ultimately die. A few years previously, he had denied Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) help with his cancer and so he wants William and other people in his life to learn a lesson. Although Jigsaw is dead, his legacy and lessons still live on by instructions left in his will to Detective Hoffman and his ex-wife, Jill Tuck who execute his wishes.

There is a lot more than just gore in this film which is why I think it has improved. There are many flashbacks to show Hoffman’s involvement with Jigsaw and his assistant Amanda (Shawnee Smith) very early on. For example, we find out that he helped set up the traps used in Saw II. Saw has been using flashbacks for the past few films now to explain everything from the beginning, so although Jigsaw and Amanda are dead, they have been in every single film.

Also, Agent Perez who we thought died in Saw IV is back and on the case after her partner, Detective Straum was killed and framed for the Jigsaw killings. She gets very hot on Hoffman’s trail and his cool, calm exterior begins to falter.

I would recommend you should see this film if you are a fan of the franchise because it is a major improvement on the previous few. There is a lot more story and background and the violence is not too gross. If you do go see this, I would suggest watching Saw V first to refresh your memory.