Director Darren Lynn Bousman must have been desperate to make the upcoming REPO rock opera.
With the experience of viewing the movie almost a much torture as that experienced by the hapless victims in Saw IV, that’s all I can surmise. Why, oh why, can’t studios just quit while they’re ahead. And yes, Lionsgate was ahead of the curve after Saw III. As a movie it sucked. But as a good way to waste 2 hours, it was bearable.
Then came the inevitable Saw IV. Ugh. After sitting through this one, a kick in the nuts sounds almost appealing to me by comparison.
As for the story (big time spoiler alert coming); it doesn’t matter what I tell you because even if you watch it with your own eyes, it still won’t make any more sense or contain more logic.
So here’s the simple rundown: Jigsaw is dead. At his autopsy, Detective Hoffman finds a wax-covered tape in his stomach stating that Jigsaw’s work isn’t done and Hoffman will be tested.Cut to the old Saw plot staple: two men trapped in a room. Art Blank, Jigsaw and his wife’s lawyer, who kills the other to save himself.
Cut to the dead body of Detective Kerry (dead with ribs ripped out in the third movie as revenge for Jigsaw’s apprentice Amanda) hanging there. Detective Rigg is pissed that his friend was one of Jigsaw’s victims. He storms out as FBI agents Strahm and Perez figure out that there had to be another apprentice besides Amanda because she couldn’t have gotten the deceased into position by herself. Detective Hoffman then gets nabbed and stuck in a room that contains the still-alive body of Detective Matthews (from the second movie) and Art Blank forced to do Jigsaw’s bidding. Rigg comes home and falls into a trap that takes him to a sh*tty hotel, a run-down elementary school and Jigsaw’s factory.
Strahm and Perez take Jigsaw’s ex-wife into custody and learn that Jigsaw started after she lost his baby because of a crack-addict. Perez gets shrapnel to the face for some reason and has to go to the hospital. Strahm follows Rigg into Jigsaw’s work area and you find out that these activities are…gasp…happening at the same time as the action in the third movie.
Rigg enters a room he was told to stay out of. Rigg is shot in the process, sentences Matthews to a gruesome death, and shoots Art because he thinks he’s the accomplice. Hoffman gets out of his trap and reveals that he was the other apprentice, walks out, and slams a door shut on Strahm, locking him in the room where the final one ended. Strahm, by the way, killed Jeff, the protagonist from the third film. The end shows that the autopsy in the beginning happened after all of this and Hoffman will be tested still. FIN.
Still confused. Me too. This movie sucked.
I will say this, if you’re looking for gore, torture and life-like organs, this movie will be very enjoyable for you.
It’ll also be for you if you like sh*t writing, sh*t acting (with the exception of Tobin Bell as Jigsaw in the numerous flashbacks) sh*t directing, sh*t editing, sh*t cinematography and, yes, sh*t sound. If you’re a fan of steaming piles, this one’s for you. That’s pretty much all I can say and sorry for all the bleeped expletives.
But, honestly, if you want a good movie you should go to Gone, Baby, Gone. If you’re in the mood for an incoherent blood-bath, go to this one. Luckily I was in the mood for the latter. And yet, I still didn’t like it. I had to sneak into 30 Days of Night just to get the stench of Saw IV off of me.
What Lionsgate should have done is stop while they were ahead. But, now that I think about it, that would’ve been after the original Saw. Money trumps all I guess. And on that count, they are making bank.
Like I said: Lionsgate offered to fund Bousman’s REPO if he directed yet another in this franchise. He must’ve wanted to do REPO. Badly. Let’s hope it pays off, even with Paris Hilton in it.
Saw IV, unfortunately, gets only 1/4 Jessicas out of 16/4 Jessicas. Haha. 1/4 out of 4 for the non-mathletes. Rent this one if you’re in the mood for a gross-out, bloody fluff movie. And all the others in the series are rented out. And if it’s the only movie in the store. Oh, and if it’s free. But only under those circumstances.
AK
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