An average movie

To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of this franchise but, since this last installment was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, eventually, I have to admit that I was actually positively surprised by the damned thing after all. Indeed, except for the first movie which had a decent concept (it was still rather overrated though), all the sequels were just so underwhelming. Sure, the fact that I had some rather low expectations probably did help and, at the end of the day, it was still nothing really amazing but, at last, they finally came up with a storyline which didn’t seriously bore me. Of course, you had some really gruesome death scenes, that’s the signature trademark of this franchise but, fortunately, it had for once something else to offer. Indeed, I always had a weak spot for con artists and to see John Kramer getting involved with such criminals was actually quite satisfying. The fact that the con was actually believable was also neat (you might wonder if the amount of money they earned from Kramer was worth all the (fake) equipment they had to purchase for their scheme though). You can imagine that, in real life, some rich people with some terminal cancer could give their fortune for some bogus treatment like this one. I mean, what would they have to lose after all? Furthermore, this way, they took their time to properly establish Kramer’s motivations for once instead of rushing towards their usual gruesome games which was one of the major issues with the other installments. They even explained properly how they tracked them down. Indeed, locating the taxi driver was not so difficult and, after some good old torture, he basically gave them the location of his accomplices. So, for once, everything did seem to make sense and seemed plausible which made the movie much more rewarding than usual. The only thing that didn’t work out was the timing though. Indeed, how long did it take Kramer to get Amanda on site and set the whole thing up? As usual, it seemed rather dubious but it has always been an issue with this franchise. There was also the fact that, even though Carlos did end up with a bag full of cash, the poor boy would probably be traumatized for life after what he went through but, in this case, it was more linked to John Kramer’s sick moral code than the movie itself. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be a decent watch after all and it is worth a look, especially if you are fan of this franchise.

6/10