Saw VI (Widescreen Unrated Edition)
by Kevin Greutert
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Shawnee Smith, Tobin BellDirector: Kevin Greutert
Brand: Lions Gate
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
Published: 2010-01-01
DVD Release Date: 2010-01-26
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Lionsgate
Movie Reviews of Saw VI (Widescreen Unrated Edition)
Movie Review: The Game Evolves
Summary: 5 Stars
Saw VI is the movie that definitively establishes that the series is primed to go forward and succeed even after the deaths of all the major characters from the first few chapters, Jigsaw included. Although Jigsaw and the others will most likely continue to be part of the story in flashbacks and the like, and a couple of the 'dead' characters, I recently realized, are more in the 'presumed dead' category and could conceivably resurface, the game now belongs to Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and Jill (Betsy Russell).
It had looked like Jill (John Kramer's aka Jigsaw's ex-wife) role in the series had played itself out, but her character is revitalized here through flashbacks (a Saw staple, obviously) and the revelation of just what was in that mystery box we saw her get at John's will reading in Saw V. As for Hoffman, he's seemingly won the game. He's cleared himself of suspicion in the Jigsaw murders through his framing of another agent in Saw V, has been hailed as a hero for his role in stopping the Jigsaw murders and saving the life of the little girl whose fate was left hanging at the end of Saw III, and is free to either walk away or continue the game in whatever direction he alone chooses. Only one detail needs wrapping up, his last assignment from Jigsaw, a new group of individuals to be tested. This, though, will turn out to be only one of a series of games to play out simultaneously in Saw VI.
Hoffman has broken out in this movie and emerged as a worthy lead for the Saw series (although after having recently rewatched the previous five Saw chapters right before this one, I'd already changed my opinion and decided that I was previously too hard both on Saw V and on the Hoffman character. More on that in a minute.) Now, whether he's going to be around to carry on his lead role through subsequent entries, or whether the movie that really makes him will be his swan song as well, you'll have to watch to find out. Nobody is safe in the Saw movies, if they can kill Jigsaw and Amanda and keep going they can kill anybody off. And the way they get away with it is they keep successfully launching new players into the mix, as well as taking bit-part players from the earlier chapters and expanding their roles. But here, especially with having rewatched the others shortly beforehand, we get a full picture of Hoffman as a very different 'games-master' than Jigsaw, or Amanda, for that matter. Through the flashbacks we trace the character's development from way back before the Jigsaw murders ever began - from dark but basically 'good guy' cop frustrated with the failings of the justice system and the rampant crimes he sees every day, through to increasingly corrupt cop, to self-styled vigilante and member of Jigsaw's inner circle, and finally right over the edge to a total psychopath.
The acting, effects, and distinctive dark atmosphere of the series are all in full force here. There are some potential problems, although it's possible to explain some of them away. The large group of participants for the final game Jigsaw assembled before his death is one point that juts out at you. The lives of innocents are put in direct jeopardy, in contrast to Jigsaw's established rules for testing only those who he's deemed sufficiently guilty of some crime or shortcoming as to merit it. Knowing the Saw series though, the way a seemingly minor incident in Part 1 or 2 will be picked up on a couple chapters down the road and given new signifigance, maybe they'll explain what these innocents actually did to tick Jigsaw off in Saw IX or something. That's not a criticism - I'm impressed by the way seemingly small acts turn out later to play major roles in this series. Another possibility is that Hoffman simply changed the rules from Jigsaw's original instructions and added more people in at his own discretion. Something else that could be seen as a flaw is that some of the traps seem 'too accurate'. For example, for it to work there would seemingly have to be some way for Hoffman to know exactly where in a room someone would be standing at a given time. I suppose it's possible that the new traps are equipped with motion sensors or something and can silently shift their aim. There are various little points like this, like there were in Saw V, where you can think of a potential explanation, but overall even I have to admit they could tighten up these potential kinks a bit. They weren't glaring enough to detract significantly from the movie, at least not when you can come up with something in your own head to explain it.
I wanted to touch briefly on the Saw series as a whole and on this chapter's place in it. Watching all six over a short period of time really gave me a sense of how strong the series is on characterization. I'm impressed by the number of characters that are initially good guys but turn out to have some 'flaw' or secret dark side - this doesn't always take them away from the good guy role, it just builds them up. Likewise, many characters who seem to be straight bad guys are given some redeeming quality as the series goes on (although certainly not all of them). The result is a cast of very nuanced, very complex characters, where black and white are still present but competing shades of grey also struggle for dominance. And as I mentioned earlier, the way a small event in an early film takes on great importance later on is powerful. We see a lot of that here in Saw VI. Also, while this Is a step up from Saw V, Saw V on the rewatch was actually better than I initially gave it credit for (I gave it a three-star rating and said that I liked it, but it was by far the least of the series. I hearby revise that to 4 stars, and say that while it may actually be the least powerful of the bunch, it doesn't fall That far behind). I also said in reviewing Saw V that it seemed that they didn't really know where they were going, but I hoped I was wrong and it turned out they had a way to stitch everything together better. Well, having seen Saw VI, I see that I Was wrong, they did indeed know where they were going and it just took a little while to get there. So I happily stand corrected. I've praised Costas Mandylor's performance in Saw VI, but just in rewatching Part 5 I saw things there I didn't before. Maybe it was the benefit of seeing 1-4 in the days beforehand and thereby being able to see how details connected. I never had a problem with Mandylor's acting, I just didn't 'get' the character the way I now do.
In short, Saw VI is a great chapter with a couple of glitches in an overall great series, a series that lends itself very well to rewatching for all the subtlties. And if you don't normally watch right through the end credits, make sure you do this time - there's a coda at the end that adds a new angle.
Summary of Saw VI (Widescreen Unrated Edition)
Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw?s legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw?s grand scheme is finally understood.The Saw series gains a commendable hint of social conscience with this sixth entry in the gleefully gruesome franchise. That's not to say that the creators have abandoned the films' main focus--dealing out hideous punishments for wrongdoers, courtesy its antihero, John Kramer/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), who remains very dead as of this film--but screenwriters Marcus Dunston and Patrick Melton (who have penned every Saw pic since IV) deserve a note of recognition for pointing Jigsaw's moral fury at the insurance industry, which is personified by key victim Peter Outerbridge's oily exec. His decision to deny Kramer an experimental cancer treatment (all told in flashback) lands him and a handful of additional lost souls (all connected, of course) in yet another Rube Goldbergian chamber of horrors overseen by Jigsaw's acolyte, Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor). The improbability of the infernal machines continues to reach hysterical levels here, though the payoffs remain exceptionally gross, especially in the opener, which plays on the Shakespearean "pound of flesh" riff with spectacularly nauseating results. Aside from the insurance angle, there's little to differentiate Saw VI from its predecessors, and precious less to convince the nonfaithful that the series isn't spinning its wheels by this point--and based on the film's tepid opening-weekend box office, audiences may agree--but for Saw die-hards, there's much bloody business on hand here, and best of all, the promise of another sequel. --Paul Gaita
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