Jigsaw is back in this fifth installment of the bloody, suspenseful franchise known as Saw. Well, of course, this movie picks up pretty much where the last one left off. Officer Hoffman is seen as the surviving hero after Jigsaw’s reign of terror has seemingly ended. What Hoffman doesn’t know is that he’s not the only survivor left. Presumed dead, Agent Strahm escapes a trap that was supposed to eliminate him forever. Meanwhile, elsewhere, 5 seemingly unconnected people find themselves trapped in a room where they are faced with a new set of puzzle games. This leaves 2 questions to be answered, will Agent Strahm be able to thwart Hoffman’s master plan and will these 5 trapped people be able to survive Jigsaw’s deadly games? What will happen?

advantages

The movie goes into much more detail about Jigsaw’s background and explains how Mark Hoffman became involved with the notorious trap setter. The movie doesn’t take long to kick off and keeps you guessing what’s going to happen next. Again, even without the great actors, the acting in Saw V is excellent. They did leave the questions that will most likely be answered in Saw VI.

cons

Much like Saw 3 and 4, this movie is really starting to get a little far-fetched. What made the first 2 Saw movies is that they had a certain realistic quality that seems to be disappearing in movies 3, 4 and 5. Saw V seems like they didn’t really have any real direction that they wanted. walk in and was almost making things up as they went along. Yeah, they had the usual, typical gory puzzle games, there weren’t many of them, and the ones they did have weren’t that great. I also felt like they didn’t focus enough on the 5 people who were stuck in the room. It almost seemed like the 5 people had no purpose at all. Ultimately, I felt like the ending could have been a lot better, especially considering there’s going to be a Saw VI.

Conclusion

Saw V is a good movie on its own, but the problem is that the first 2 Saw movies set the bar so high that it seems like the creators of Saw are struggling to reach it, and this Saw is a perfect example of that. They really need to get back to basics in Saw VI, otherwise Saw’s legacy may be in real jeopardy. I give this a 2 out of 5.