Jigsaw

I have to shamefacedly admit I have seen the whole "Saw" series of movies - it's the only purely horror series that's run more than 4 entries that I've seen all of. And I can't necessarily explain why - maybe it's the somewhat soap-opera ludicrous plotting (particularly for the 5 entries thus far that have taken place after the main killer ended up dying - unusually for a series like this, he's managed to simultaneously stay dead and still make active contributions to the mythology through flashbacks and tapes and suchlike).  Certainly the series is somewhat morally dubious through its convoluted moral justifications for elaborate torture-and-death-traps (although Saw VI's revenge on the health-insurance industry is kinda delightful), and it does start to disappear up its on overly convoluted arse, but never the less there is some kinda sick pleasure in such heftily over-plotted fare (in a genre where a lot of films tend to stick to the basics of killer, victim and chasing around with a sharp implement).

Still, the series eventually took a break with the seventh entry, somewhat hopefully entitled "the Final Chapter". OF course, you can't keep a profitable series down and seven year's later it's back for more, this time directed by the Spherig Brothers (previously responsible for inventive sci-fi/thriller films like "Daywalkers" and "Predestination"). Alas, this is kinda sabotaged by a rather uninventive script - it seems content to do all the bog standard "Saw" things in pretty much the most bog-standard ways. There's a bunch of people involved in a bunch of death traps, there are police investigating, there are a couple of twists here and there, there is a clear sense that these theoretically meticulously planned deathtraps actually only play out the way they were originally planned due to pure luck, and there are a whole heap of flashbacks near the end to explain what was really happening the entire time. But there's not a whole heap of invention here - it's very much going through the motions most of the time, and Jigsaw himself comes across as a bit of a tiresome old bore ranting about the same old nonsense about people needing to improve themselves through survival of elaborate death traps, like a particularly grim Tony Robbins. THere's not a great deal of surprise or delight and the characters aren't striking enough to invest in any of their struggles. Ironically, it's all very mechanical. I can't recommend this as anything but a series obligation for the completist.