Apparently we haven't seen enough torturous death traps in the first three Saw movies. So our friends at Twisted Pictures decided, just for kicks and giggles, to offer up a fourth installment in the saga of Jigsaw, a cold-hearted serial killer who tries to enlighten his victims through intricate torture machines, which they have the power to escape (if they don't mind maiming themselves in the process).
The Plot
We pick up where Saw III left off - shortly after Jigsaw's death. After his throat was cut with a table saw in the last movie, one was left with little hope of him surviving for Saw IV. We were in for either a flashback film or a prequel. This is the former.
During Jigsaw's (a.k.a. John Kramer) autopsy, the coroner finds, surprise surprise surprise, an audio tape in the belly of the monster. When played, Jigsaw swears that his work will continue beyond his death, and one suspects yet another accomplice in the mix.
We follow the story, then, of another cop who has worked with all the others who have been killed or captured by Jigsaw. His plight is familiar to those we have seen in the first three films. We also get to see, in a series of flashbacks by Jigsaw's ex-wife, the breaking point for the madman - the motivation behind the carnage.
The Cast
Tobin Bell returns as Jigsaw, and he's his normal, gravely voiced, menacing self.
Saw IV also introduces a trio of actors (Costas Mandylor, Scott Patterson and Justin Louis) who all look and sound like younger Stallone brothers. Their acting ability isn't as good as Frank's, let alone Sly's. Donnie Wahlberg reprises his role from Saw II (yep, he's still alive), though he does little more than writhe at the end of a chain.
The Good
For fans of the series, for once there are more questions answered than asked. We tidy up the stories of Wahlberg's character, Det. Eric Matthews, and that of Det. Kerry, played by Dina Meyer (if you just said, "Who?" then join the club).
There's also plenty more sick and twisted death traps, so if you're into that, I guess you'll enjoy it.
The Bad
The dialogue between the cops in this film sounds as if it were written by a 13-year-old who's played a lot of "Grand Theft Auto." There are priceless over-dramatized lines like "Is this why we became cops?" in reference to viewing a bloody crime scene, and "You can't save everybody!"
In fact, one of the central themes of this plot is Jigsaw trying to teach one cop that he can't save everyone and that he must let them save themselves. That's funny, because through the first few films I don't recall the cops really saving anybody, let alone everybody.
Every third character looking like a Stallone is distracting, at least it was for me. Any time you venture into third-sequel territory, you need to do something markedly different than the first three films, like send your star to Russia to fight a 7-foot commie. This film does pretty much what the first three films did with only slight variances. I'd say the Saw series has jumped the shark, but adding a torture machine involving sharks might have helped this movie a lot.
The End?
Let us hope.