Review: Saw - The Final Chapter
Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:43PM
Bringing up the rear of the at-best mediocre Saw series, The Final Chapter is the payoff to everything that has taken place in the previous six films. This is like the cheese at the end of the maze, and features an excessive amount of gore fans have come to anticipate. Unfortunately the aspects of this series that place it firmly within the horror genre have slowly disintegrated as it has progressed, and the filmmakers have been left to try and one-up themselves on the shock value of the killings alone, instead of trying to breathe life into a once invigorating storyline.
This time around, Detective Mark Hoffman, (Costas Mandylor) has recently taken over as the Jigsaw killer, who devises traps that are meant to show victims the value of their lives, or kill them. John Kramer, the original Jigsaw, has passed away from cancer and has entrusted pieces of his legacy to a number of different followers. Hoffman narrowly survived one of the Kramer's traps in Saw VI -- a headset that tears open your face after a minute -- and has sworn revenge on Kramer’s widow, Jill, for trying to kill him. Fully aware of Hoffman’s survival and intent, Jill goes to the police and offers full disclosure for protection from him, as she has been privy to nearly every murder committed by Jigsaw. Detective Gibson, the man in charge of the Jigsaw case, agrees, and attempts to protect her from Hoffman. Meanwhile, we meet Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery) who has written a novel about surviving one of Jigsaw’s traps and now heads a support group for other Jigsaw survivors. It is in this support group that long term viewers are reunited with Dr. Gordon, one of the survivors from the original Saw, who plays a pivotal role in The Final Chapter. It isn’t very long before it is revealed that Dagen has been lying about his life-changing survival, and he is captured by Hoffman for a “game” in which his wife, best friend, lawyer and publicist are all pawns. As the game gets underway, Hoffman hunts for Jill Kramer, and Detective Gibson attempts to catch Hoffman and stop the game before everyone dies.
When the original Jigsaw died about four films ago, the Saw series' writing took a turn for the worst. This is not to say it was ever well written, but as the films continued to be released they all began to feel very contrived. The original premise that was so intriguing to horror fans became bastardized, and the Saw series became much like the Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween titles; exhausted. After a while, these films stop being scary, and they become a sort of ongoing joke. The film-going public pick up on this, and stop caring. I’ve said many times that the entire Saw series could have been one movie. The original premise was new, exciting, and fresh, and people responded to that at the box office. Granted, it isn’t the best horror movie of all time, but it had a credibility that isn’t found in the rest of the series. Unfortunately, the rest of the series cheapens the original. I would say it’s better to leave the audience wanting more than wishing they had less.
Alas, the Saw franchise endures, and here the series sits at seven films. Even now, after watching The Final Chapter, the series seems open-ended enough to entertain the possibility of further releases, and a part of me secretly wants that. Maybe it’s the constant string of different detectives who take the case, (which reminds me of the many drummers in This Is Spinal Tap) my curiosity about who will be the next Jigsaw, or perhaps just the premise of a sort of horrible hyper-vigilantism that forces me to subscribe to this series. What I do know is that when the credits rolled on this film, a part of me hoped that The Final Chapter wasn’t really the end of the story.
Reader Comments (1)
Good review - certainly the closest I'll ever come to this series of films - not my cup of blood, I'm afraid.
Minor editing glitches (collective noun, the public, should probably take a plural verb; and extra "that" in a sentence - I'll let you find it).
Thanks also for bringing up Spinal Tap - I have a fondness for it, especially the 18-inch Stonehenge. Yes, turn that amp up to 11...