User Reviews

In what is only the fifth film of the Saw series released over its five year Halloween run at the box office, this latest installation suffers from the same detrimental qualities that made number four slightly disappointing for fans and casual audiences alike. Making his directorial debut here, all eyes are cast upon David Hackl to see if he can either bring something new, or at least keep the momentum going for the popular franchise. The good news for some is that Saw V feels natural and consistent to its recent predecessors helmed by Bousman, yet for many others this won't be something to get excited about. Insofar as the movie itself goes; this is mostly typical Saw material throughout, going through the motions almost. This of course will please those looking for a continuation of the previous instalments, but it will undoubtedly feel too stagnant and jaded to interest anyone else. Nevertheless, for his first feature film at the reins, Hackl proves he can live up to Bousman's style that has been engrained in the series thus far, creating yet another engaging and loyal sequel that will be sure to cater to those craving more twisted games.

For many fans and casual watchers of the series, Saw figuratively died when lead character and focus for the film Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) eventually succumbed to his cancer in film number three. Yet just as instalment IV managed to incorporate the mastermind into its story, as does V in the same manner; through flashbacks. Playing a game of two sides and narratives that eventually collide, Saw V first and foremost continues on where we left from IV, detailing the continuation of Jigsaw's work through forensics expert Hoffman and how he eventually has to tie up all loose ends regarding the deaths of those in III and IV. This narrative, although a little tiresome in its approach of filling in every detail and hole in previous features, nevertheless provides as the real meat of the script. Characters are again rather shallow, and motives are less than clear, yet much of this goes out the window when Mr. Bell graces the screen with his presence. As he has proved time and time again, it is within the character of Jigsaw that Saw's real heart lays, and with plenty of reminiscing going on here in regards to numbers I-IV, there's enough material and characterisation work here to satisfy hardcore fans of the series.

On the other side of the pitch however is a much less character/dialogue driven narrative which focuses solely on another unlucky five as they work their way through the latest of Jigsaws traps, this time set up by successor Hoffman. For those who attend screenings of the latest Saw movies only to watch people get their comeuppance through a series of bloody and grisly tests, then this will be where your thirst is quenched. Taking on a tone that is strikingly similar to instalment two, the challenges presented here are graphic and extremely cerebral, shot in the same berserk ways so far explored in the series (although, the blending scene segment style incorporated in IV is gone) which add to the movie's intense ability to draw you in.

A consistently forceful element of the series, cinematographer David A. Armstrong here follows the movie's mantra of "don't fix what isn't broke", and the film's sense of coherency and embodiment of the script's themes works just as well here as it did in previous features. Sure enough, Saw wouldn't be Saw without its morally challenging undercurrent squirming underneath all the corpses and violence, and in this regard V does well to incorporate the same subtext. Of course as has been the case with all the sequels thus far, the message isn't quite as clear here as it was in the original, and the ideas always seem to be justifying the gore rather than the other -more appropriate- way around, but there's enough here to stop the whole ordeal boiling down to a silly slasher flick with no fibre to it at all.

Needless to say there are many audiences out there who outwardly oppose everything the Saw series stands for, be it involving the gore, the message, or just the tacky horror-movie-sequel feel in general. Yet as I have been witness to many the genre has to offer so far this year I can safely say that while Saw V is by no means a masterpiece nor as significant as its first production, it still beats out most of the competition by quite some distance.

In the end, the entire ordeal feels more like an add-on; a tid-bit of flavour designed to tie up the loose ends left dangling from all the other features, and in this respect V will feel a little underwhelming; even to rabid fans of the series. And yet, it's the fans that will make up most of Saw V's audience. I recommend V, but only to fans, and only because there's hope that VI (which the door is left wide open to here) might get the ball rolling again and begin to tell a new story. So by all means, if you can appreciate the series' unmatched ability to make you squirm, to have you question your moral code, and to fascinate you with its lurid, engrossing world made of cogs, puzzle pieces and of course, saws, then you can't go wrong here. Saw V is everything that fans of the series as a whole will want, but a lack of progression in narrative and its disregard for relevancy to anyone outside of its core audience inevitably cuts it short; not enough for anyone else, but fans should enjoy it for the most part.

• A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)

**Review Written With Possible Spoilers** So i just saw Saw 5. And how to sum it up.. I think my brother summed it up best as "One long ass prologue for Saw 6."

Now i remember the first saw being one of the best films I've ever seen. Saw 2 was a major let down to me.. it was just too random and didn't have the calculated brilliance of Saw 1. Saw 3, i actually didn't mind, just because i found it more interesting then Saw 2. Saw 4 was pushing it but i kept on watching just cause all the little questions that had built up over the series had to be answered otherwise i couldn't sleep at night..

So we come to Saw 5... And what HUGE revelation do we get in this movie? ...... Well... actually we don't get one. Oh sure there is the back story of how Hoffman became the new saw killer.. But its so cheesy that a 6th grader could've strung it all together. And the story isn't...well...Good... There is no twist (none... NONE..).. And the entire movie we just see an agent going from scene to scene of the old Jigsaw crimes.. and somehow imagining how they all happened... by just standing there (and self narrating the past events..). There is a sub plot involving a bunch of 5 other subjects.. but if you don't pick how that ends after jigsaws "i wanna play a game rant" Then you've obviously never watched a saw movie. (**major spoiler** -also the 5 people in that subplot game didn't seem to mind killing each other at any given chance as well.. Not to mention it was random as.. the literally just turn on each other without giving reason.. then at the end instead of killing each other they decide to work together... it didn't really fit with the characters that we had been shown through the movie... Im surprised that the guy didn't shove the girls arm into the trap after finding out she was the one who set him up for the murder of the 8 people.. He just goes "Its your fault I'm here... But hey.. lets work together... Umm... OK...).

OK.. So lets ignore the terrible story that doesn't go anywhere (not to mention the B grade acting..) So we come to the traps... Saw 3 + 4 mainly rode on the fact that the traps got more and more gore filled then the original first movies.. And that helped carry them a bit since the story was semi lacking... So I'm confused why every trap in this movie... Is... Well lame.. We see a guy get sliced in half lamely.. A girl lose her head.. Some dude blown away without seeing anything.. Girl stabbed in the neck.. and a couple of people bleed a little out of their arms (probably the most violent scene in the movie..) Maybe the other titles have desensitized me to gore and violence.. But it was all quite tame in comparison.

Plus the lame attempt to fill half the movie with Flashbacks just to have jigsaw in the movie (while its nice to see Mr Tobin again..) just seemed like a massive time filler... Which sums this movie up nicely. Its just a filler. No questions are answered in this one... Apparently there is some huge underlining plot that we still aren't privvy to because the producers want to milk it for all its worth for at least another sequel. And you know what.. I'll see the damn sequel just cos i want to see how the series ends.. Which we all know is going to end with Hoffman getting killed by Gordan who will be the final new Jigsaw. We all know thats where its heading.... ;)

Of all the SAW films so far this has to be the worst! Where all the others had twists you could never see coming or endings that nearly everyone was shocked by this film was a massive letdown.

There was no imagination going into the traps in this film. They were nearly all as gruesome as possible with no real thought going into making them all seem different. They just seemed like nothing made any of them different or original.

The size of some of the contraptions were ridiculous and totally unrealistic to have been made by any less than a team of probably half a dozen engineers. The SAW films have gone from being shocking but realistic situations like two men handcuffed to radiators in a room to completely far fetched unrealistic situations.

As a huge fan of the series of films I was bitterly disappointed when the credits started to role and I just sat there thinking "was that it?!" Honestly this will ruin everything you love about the SAW films, if you love the rest then go and see it just to say you've seen it and so you can just get the tiny little bit of the story this film adds to. If you've never seen any SAW films before go and see ANYTHING but this film.

I know this just sounds like a rant about how much I hated this film but if you've seen the rest, go and see it and I really think you'll agree with what I'm saying. Shockingly bad is my final thought! a real letdown in every way!

-tom_lewis86-

Just got back from seeing the new saw tonight and i must say i was a little surprised. The Saw franchise has officially been run into the ground ever since saw 2, so you either really need to be a fan of the series or go in knowing all the saw movies and having an open mind. Knowing that this was probably just a milk the cow and grab the cash type of deal i was a little surprised. This saw film is different from all the others, it returns a little to its original roots.

Much like the first saw this time around we are given more story and little on the deaths and traps. This movie seems more of a detective thriller than a gore slash em up type of movie however that still is present. The movie also moves at a slower pace. So here is my rundown of the film.

The death traps to me seemed very unoriginal but i guess thats kind of hard when you have probably used them all, and overall that sadistic feeling is just gone now. The story continues where saw 4 left off and pretty much really stays the same nothing new really happens. The viewer may get more story but it's really unnecessary. The only new things we learn is how that detective came to work along side jigsaw. We learn nothing new about jigsaw or his past like we were promised. Also again his wife is left with nothing new other than a box with something in it that we don't get to see or hear from again...probably till saw 6. So overall the traps are kind of boring and have been done, you also get cheated out of some, the story is quite pointless, and the ending is....

The ending is well the tagline reads "You won't believe how it ends" well guess what i can believe how it ended and all i'll say was wow it is nothing excellent or twisted. Just open ended no surprise or nothing unlike the other saw films, but maybe it's just setting up for the final act so there is no need to bring in other killers or major twists like the last saw films. Overall the movie was alright not great but probably more worth watching when it comes to DVD or blu-ray. Saw fans will probably either love this or even shrug it off because of its slower pace. For people who haven't seen all the saw's will want to avoid this one because of the constant flashback's and confusing story line.

Best saw films overall: -Saw -Saw 3 -Saw 2 -Saw 4 -Saw 5

Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures...what the crap! I'm offended.

"Saw V: What happened?" Did you run out of money? Listen...I realize it's just a movie. But when you have the four before it and you set a certain expectation, there is just no excuse for what we just sat through. I have seen movies made for $7,000 that had more substance than one single frame of this movie.

• Score was mostly reused from 3 and 4. When you could hear it at all.

• Unrivaled pacing problems.

• There were massive technical problems. Looks like the digital intermediate never got finished.

• Better than 80% of the movie is just reaction shots with no dialog. People standing around staring at stuff and each other. The other 20% is Straham SAYING THE PLOT OUT LOUD.

• Speaking of which, this movie was very short. Am I correct when I guess that there were somehow massive problems with the movie and you guys went back and added Straham infodumping the plot and just took out the action and replaced it with dialogue-less reaction shots because there wasn't time to do anything else? - Did that include editing out the third act in its entirety? - Did you guys hold the Saw IV special edition DVD until after this movie was released so you could recoup losses from this movie because people will be so angry about 5 that they will be GLEEFUL to buy 4 on DVD? - Did you re-edit it in such a way that you knew you were going out on this one so you just tried to make do if you *HAD* to go out like this? - What in God's name happened? How can a movie be messed up this badly? It's like...you have the SAME crew. HOW DO YOU SCREW SOMETHING UP THIS BAD!? Anyways, Saw was fun while it lasted. They just messed up on this one big time. The whole movie is a disaster. We lost half the audience at the midnight screening in the third reel (when nothing was happening on screen...like most of the movie).

There was no twist. There was nothing intellectual. Jigsaw said things he would never say. The characters had no arcs, and they would go between being crazy and entirely coherent. Again, there was no third act. The ending was lame.

Normally, people cheer at the end. At our midnight screening, people just looked around and stared each other like it was a joke.

It was the kind of screening that was SO BAD that people called their friends because they had to tell someone how unbelievable it was.

You guys lost me on the Saw franchise. Sorry.

1/10 (It was, after all, at least successfully *PRINTED* to film. The one thing they got right.) AVOID

I love backstory, so this was great and very enjoyable to me. In all honesty if this was a real cult, I'd consider joining. Overall I can't argue with the views they share and can't really disagree with them on what they do. Yes it may be excessive but the people they target aren't really easy to sympathize for. The writing was great and keeps leaving you wanting more, anticipating what the next movie will add to the story. The atmosphere was perfect. It kept the mood for every scene and I don't think it could have been done any better.

Well, even though I was quite wary of this sequel (as I am of any series that goes past a third installment), I must say that Saw V is still pretty good. However, this might be one for fans only.

The reason I say that is because the story this time around is not really all that necessary. Saw IV wrapped up the entire mess pretty good, leaving Special Agent Hoffman to carry on Jigsaw's legacy. This entry just reveals more backstory that, while still somewhat interesting, is not something anyone really needs to know. It doesn't wrap up any holes or really reveal anything new.

In any case, this is a good entry, and I am amazed that the producers could keep it up for this long.

John Kramer (Tobin Bell) still lives from beyond the tomb , thanks to tape dug out of his autopsied stomach and by means of various flashbacks with the puppet-master Jigsaw. Conscious, throughout , Kramer entertains himself by monitoring the tests against his victims, he's devised. Thus the machinations begin again and the story tries to spark life into a disembowelled body. The picture starts with an unknown man tied and under the torture of pendulum (Edgar Alan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum). As the newspapers publicize ¨Jigsaw killer responsible of the pendulum murder ¨. Later a group of characters (Meagan Good, Julie Benz, Grey Bryk, Carlo Rota) locked and tied into a room of pain. Inside the house the five incarcerated hapless attempt to figure out cryptic videotaped tracks and getaway fiendishly body-trapped places.The challenging is how to get out of Kramer's imprisonment of new unfortunates in a single looked room. Parallel plot strands threaten an obsessed FBI profiler (Scott Patterson), another survivor of the last bloodbath , furthermore interrogate Jigsaw's estranged spouse (Betty Russell). One time dead Jigsaw, now Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandaylor) is the last person who can follow the legacy of the strange series killer. The agent receives a letter saying : ¨I know who you are ¨. Meanwhile agent Peter Strahm looks for antecedents about Hoffman , as he discovers : 'Local woman brutally murdered in domestic dispute, boyfriend kills Detective's sister' as he suspects about heroic agent Hoffman of having had a hand in the killings. After all, he investigated every one of the murders and had a personal interest in one of them that of his slain sister.The twisted imagination Jigsaw and his pupil lavish upon their engines of pain with thrills and chills. Although the perverse master/protégé is explored to some effect , the flashback edition structure is more complex and confusing than the previous films and is packed with some flaws and gaps.

This exciting denouement details astonishing murders at the hands of the dead deviser who is planning again gruesome and complex killing set-pieces. This fifth sequel from original by James Wan, contains grisly terror, tension, suspense and lots of blood and gore . The film takes accent as suspense as well as terror with creepy use of images-shock and slick edition. Provides an imaginative and well-knit screenplay plenty of twists and surprises although develops the mythology of Jigsaw in an ambitious but ultimately predictable manner . Like David Fincher's Seven and Dario Argento's Tenebre, Suspiria, Deep red, it packs inventively twisted murders , this fuses an intricate chiller argument with horrible sensibility and relentless tension. Sinister and mysterious atmosphere , well made by cameraman David Armstrong and eerie musical score adequate for mystery and horror by Charlie Clousier, both of them usual of franchise. This sequel employs the same brutal puzzle logic as its predecessors toying the viewer in much the same manner that cruel murderer , well performed by the soft-voiced , pale Tobin Bell . He's a secondary actor working from the 80s in TV series(Walker Texas Rager, Stargate SG1, Alias, 24) and occasionally for cinema(Goodfellas, The firm, Ruby, Black mask 2), achieving success with Jigsaw character. The motion picture is professionally directed by David Hackl.

Though not the worst horror sequel I've seen, as a movie itself, Saw V was definitely flat, especially for an originally groundbreaking series that keeps getting worse. The acting and dialogue was seriously laughable, the plot crawled at times and attempting to explain every single frame of the previous films is definitely getting tedious. Would it have made Friday the 13th series any better if it was eventually explained where Mother Voorhees bought the car that took them to Crystal Lake or just who attempted to give Jason failed swimming lessons? The most comical scenes in Saw V were the flashbacks within the flashbacks, reminding me of the great Simpsons episode that made fun of this very tactic. And here's the spoiler – another accomplice to the crimes? It's like the writers just keep making up & adding to scenes/details of the previous films, as if the thought never occurred them to go in a new direction. I probably won't see a Saw VI if I learn of yet another accomplice, a plumber who rigged the bathroom from #1. Well, now, that makes all the sense! I so wondered how he made sure the plumbing worked enough to get the tub filled! Recommendation: Watch I, II and finish with III. IV and V should've been straight to DVD. Hell, Hellraiser gave up after 4 and went home.

*** These comments contain spoilers. Skip ahead to avoid spoilers. *** For the last few weeks, I've been reading people's comments (here and elsewhere) about what they heard would happen in this movie. Even the blurb in this morning's newspaper (which admitted that the reviewer hadn't seen the movie) made claims about what was supposed to happen.

Very little, if any, of what I've heard was true. While I'm not one to believe much of what I hear of rumors, I walked into the theater thinking that SOMETHING I've heard must be true.

Nope.

Contrary to rumor, many die. Contrary to rumor (printed in a major newspaper), we don't learn a darn thing about the Billy puppet. Contrary to rumor...

And my back-of-the-head belief that some of the rumors would be true is what allowed me to very much enjoy this one.

If you've read any review (from someone that has actually seen it), you know that there is no major plot twist. I figured out how it was going to end when the final scene was being set up (and I'm terrible at figuring out endings).

And yet, I still felt surprised by the film.

*** Spoilers end here. The following should be fairly spoiler-free, if you've already seen the other 4 films. Skip this if you haven't see them. *** The movie centers around the revelation (Saw IV) that Hoffman is involved with Jigsaw. There are basically two stories: Hoffman working to cover up this information and the story of a bunch of people brought together to play a Saw II-style group "game." The part of the movie that matters most is the Hoffman story. While we learn little new about John Kramer, we learn why Hoffman is involved (the film's only real twist, which doesn't measure up to any of the twists in the prior films, happens relatively early). We get a deeper feeling for John as a man, and this is the first time we see him acting "human" since the miscarriage/cancer. Unfortunately, I felt that giving him this level of humanity comes off the wrong way, making him out to be Jesus (some of the advertising for this movie was based on this notion).

The other story, of a group of people brought for a series of Jigsaw games due to a commonality, is weak. Unlike Saw II, which centers around a group of people playing games with various traps while trying to solve an overall mystery, the story here seems to be thrown in only to make this a Saw movie. Without it, the main story line is really like any other police thriller.

The overall game being played by the group is a good one, but it's not really explored enough. The individual traps are more similar to those of Saw II, where they appear as potentially deadly games instead of torture devices. The players are asked how to best play the games, not how to hurt themselves or others (kind of).

In the end, I enjoyed this significantly more than Saw III (which was just too depressing, particularly because I have children) and Saw IV (which was confusing and was over-the-top in gore). I was happy to see most of the questions coming out of Saw IV answered, although I was disappointed to see that some of my lingering questions from Saw III go without resolution (I fear they never will be). It was pleasing to see how they were able to tie bits from all 4 previous films together, as if Saw V's script had been written prior to the others.

There is plenty of blood (it plays a new starring role in one scene) and plenty of crime scene photos. And yet, with the exception of the end of the film's opening scene and one scene at the end, I didn't have to look away at any point. In other words, unlike IV (which grossed me out at times), it made me cringe, but it never went overboard.

I walked away feeling satisfied with the ending, despite it not being surprising or a twist. But I also walked away feeling mad that I'd have to wait another year before the next one, just so that I could find out what was in that box. I suspect there's more to Jill than we know. I worry that there are no big secrets left from Saw III.

All in all, if you like the series, you'll enjoy this. It's no longer good "torture porn" and the morality play is getting old. But it has all the basic elements you'd want from a Saw movie. And, if nothing else, it gives us a reason to go back to see Saw VI.

Which, I hope, is the last one. I look forward (please!) to a wonderful final climax that answers all our questions, but leaves us so shocked that we're upset that there won't be another.

Okay i'm a very big Saw fan, and in my opinion, the directors should have just stopped making Saw movies after the third one. I could rave on about the fourth installment, but considering I'm writing a comment about the fifth, I won't. There were so many things wrong with this movie, especially the horrible ending. There was no twist mid-movie because they couldn't think of a clever enough ending.

I'm also extremely disappointed about the lack of relevance the main Saw trap had to the movie. They all had something to do with a fire where eight people died...so what. But they'll probably reveal why they were all chosen in the sixth one, which I'm seriously considering not seeing.

Yet another flaw, the crappy traps which could have easily been escaped by the seemingly mentally handicapped victims. At least in the final trap the two left had a moment of clarity realizing what they should have done to get out. But they ruined it by sawing half of their arm in half, when they could have just sawed off a finger and let the blood drain out.

Alas, even more is wrong with this awful sequel. Detective Hoffman, in my opinion, seemed to be randomly thrown in to the entire storyline because the writers weren't clever enough to come up with a real twist. The story has become way to complex and I found myself, an avid film watcher, bewildered at points. Good thing Agent Strahm was there to reveal the plot line aloud and to himself.

Now there's a series of questions that have been built up and Jigsaw and all of his accomplices are dead. So i guess the writers are going to have to come up with another random plot line, random character, take random scenes from the other movies, put the random character in them, and add a random trap that kills a bunch of moronic random people. Again.

I hate to say this, but I actually caught myself laughing at the lame traps, stupid people, and a lot of Jigsaw's lines. (i.e. "Killing is distasteful.").

All in all, this movie was a disaster, an atrocity not even comparable with the rest of the Saw movies. I gave a 2/10 sheerly because it gave me something to whine about to my friends for the next couple of days.