If you think an inconvenience like death is going to stop this sadistic madman and bulk tape recorder purchaser, then you don’t know Jigsaw! And so begins my dive into Saw IV in the Jigsaw Files. My posts on the previous three entries are here:
https://toddmthatcher.com/2021/05/09/the-jigsaw-files-saw-2004/
https://toddmthatcher.com/2021/05/09/the-jigsaw-files-saw-ii-2005/
https://toddmthatcher.com/2021/05/10/the-jigsaw-files-saw-iii-2006/
One general feeling I couldn’t escape is that the fourth time is not the charm (if such a word can be used in this franchise). The time to entertain is through. It’s time to wallow in the mire of mostly uninspired new traps, limb splitting demises, and needless backstories and time shifts. The biggest flaw of all might be an over abundance of plot. Watching a Saw movie shouldn’t feel like keeping up with Lost. And I don’t care that two actors from that show were in the original.
Darren Lynn Bousman is back directing for the third time in a row and this is his final contribution. There’s new screenwriters in the mix with Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. The script picks a secondary character from II and III to play Jigsaw’s latest game. Officer Daniel Rigg (Lyriq Bent) is charged with saving Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and FBI Agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) from doom. None of these law enforcement leads are particularly compelling. Rigg, according to Jigsaw, has a bit of a savior complex and his tests involve leaving behind nefarious types probably not worth rescuing.
Takes one to know one. After all, the dude with the ultimate savior complex is Jigsaw himself. And Saw IV delves deeper into his backstory that we weren’t sure we wanted. After seeing it, I’m sure of it. He does have an engineering background which explains some stuff, but his previous marriage to drug counselor Jill (Betsy Russell) isn’t all that engrossing. It helps explain his motivations, but does it matter at this point?
There are callbacks to previous pics and the most notable involves Donnie Wahlberg’s Detective Matthews. Last seen with a mangled foot courtesy of Amanda (Shawnee Smith), this detective’s story is finally given an icy closure (in an admittedly garishly effective moment). We also know that time is relative in the Sawmatic Universe and this plays into the anticipated twists in the final moments. It all feels more contrived than ever before. It’s now down to bland supporting players from better installments taking the lead and that contributes to an overall secondhand goods vibe.
I could go on with the dull plot points feasting on themselves and the tiresome traps, but seriously… how many damn tape recorders did Jigsaw own? He had to have been Best Buy or RadioShack’s most prolific customer/serial killer.
The Jigsaw Files will continue with Saw V (2008)…
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