No high Five today...

''...I want to play a game. Right now, you are feeling helpless. This is the same helplessness you bestowed onto others. But now, it's unto you. Some would call this karma, I call it justice...''

A detective who seems to be the last person alive to carry on the Jigsaw legacy must now work his way to protect his identity before it is revealed.

Tobin Bell: Jigsaw / John

''Today, five people will become one, with the goal of surviving.''

The SAW franchise starts up again in this fifth installment, what I expected from SAW V was an equation of parts that ultimately offered something fresh and new to all the other chapters. What I actually got from the whole experience wasn't a enlightened twist at it's end like SAW, nor a range of multiple characters all pieced together like SAW II. It wasn't a dysfunctional family man's torment followed by more revelations and trials like SAW III offered. Nor a jumble of inspiring confusion like SAW IV.
What I actually got from the whole affair was that each future installment takes the whole film to explain the previous film, but this is where this installment ultimately fails.

We the Audience aren't treated to more gore, or even better traps, devices and ways that shock us the viewers. In essence SAW is supposed to be psychological also...So where I ask is the thinking material? Where is the twists and belated answers?
What we get is a mess, more questions, more excuses for back tracking and pointless flashbacks which make the whole franchise start to appear faded. It's resulted in a good cop bad cop routine where Jigsaw isn't even in the equation anymore.

''He was supposed to be the hero.''

We are indeed treated to more people we don't have a clue about, trapped in a similar predicament to SAW II's set up. Only problem is we can't actually feel sorry for them when they have no redeeming qualities.

The opening cracker of a trap that sets the ball rolling for SAW V also isn't shocking enough. We expect something to top off the previous film and for me it just doesn't cut it, pardon the pun. Either increased gore or increased puzzlement/twists required, for a film about a anti-hero of sorts called Jigsaw it seems to be missing it's vital pieces. Where the vital piece seems to be the Director's ability to hold his creation together. David Hackl seems to have waltzed onto this project and not actually looked at the other pieces properly, it's meant to be better not gradually declining in quality.

The cast also seems to be detached from each other.
Tobin Bell as Jigsaw is having a ball with his iconic Jigsaw, who must be having a a bellowing chuckle at home with his flashbacks. I mean a character who's been dead for the duration of 2 films already still has the main chunk to do here. It's like Jigsaw is always trying to be explained in each film we see, it's like the makers don't seem to realize, we get it already. So let's get that message across, he doesn't kill people, he sets a trap to test people then if they fail they die, if not then they are rehabilitated. I'm surprised some places haven't adopted Jigsaw's legacy into a law format already, which cannot be denied, there are indeed gaps in the law and loop holes in the system. When Tobin Bell says this as Jigsaw, thanks to his manipulative nature and disposition, you can believe what he's saying. You can even relate to his cause on some levels. Although this has been done in detail through all 5 chapters, how many times does it take?
Scott Patterson as Agent Strahm, is the main character, who opposes the new nemesis in town, but as with all the films the supposed hero never fares well in a SAW film.
Costas Mandylor as Mark Hoffman, seems to have his actions and meeting with Jigsaw explained in detail for all those who wondered why he did what he did in SAW IV. He's a character like Jigsaw we can sympathize with, yet also at the same time condemn his choices and actions.
So we find he's had bad luck with the system of laws and convictions when we find out that his sister was killed and her murderer only sentenced to five years because of a technicality. We already see just from this he's going to have a connection and seduction to Jigsaw's way of seeking justice.
All the other people involved in his game, which apart from a lady getting her head chopped off and a man getting blown apart which amused, didn't really impress me much. The cast ultimately are B Grade more at home at some late night television slot.
Amusingly also five people, five more excuses to have some formulated reason onto how these individuals are connected to each other, and five being the number of SAW films now. They think it's clever doing this...It's not.

''A technicality gave you freedom, but it inhibited you from understanding the impact of taking a life.''

This SAW V results also in the most boring installment of all of them. I felt compelled to yawn repeatedly half way in due to the fact there wasn't enough going on to engage my brain. Long gone is the compelling kills and back stabbing, who's done this and that but more of a festering game of cat and mouse that never achieves substance. Even SAW IV had a lightening pace at times, while SAW III had truck loads of gore and aggression. This one seems to be like a snail on a hot day then suddenly it pours down and the film can't wait to end. The ending is meant to be the highlight yet it is for all the wrong reasons. The resulting climax is a baffling affair that just stops without letting anything sink in or linger but leaving an empty disappointed feeling of regret. I honestly couldn't believe it.

If there is to be a SAW VI which I hope there isn't, unless there is a major change in story development or a new path of conjecture for plot contrivances, there really needs to be a point of stopping. The issue being that each sequel cannot be another explanation of what happened before. Because I'm now at the point I don't care what's in Jigsaw's box, I don't get care if the new guy carries on testing people, and I certainly am past the point of wanting anyone to stop him. But saying that maybe someone needs to or it's going to be a never ending snooze fest of repetition.

So overall SAW V has peaks of interest on a few scenes but overall it's nothing new and nothing to puzzle over. Jigsaw will quite literally be turning in his grave...

''I am the man you call Jigsaw.''

4/10