Saw V (2008)

best movie i've ever seen.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I was very unimpressed with the previous Saw film, so much so that in my review I went into no detailed plot analysis. In the case of Saw V, there is no real plot to summarize. The film attempts to explain how Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) became entangled with the Jigsaw killer.It turns out he decided to impersonate Jigsaw's method to create an unwinnable trap in order to take revenge on the man who killed his sister. Jigsaw, who somehow knew in the third movie that a woman who has never come forward witnessed a crime, uses his God powers to find out Hoffman impersonated him and tries to convert him to Jigsaw-ism. In the meantime FBI Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) turns out to have a history with Hoffman. The dim witted Strahm gets played like a harp from hell by Hoffman and ends up getting himself crushed to death in the trash compactor from Star Wars.We also have a reasonably likable group of thinly connected victims being put through a group trap, but the script cares so little about this group, it doesn't even connect their story to the main plot. If the makers of this film don't care about this group (one of whom is Julie Benz) than neither do I.And that's this movie's biggest crime. There is no one. Absolutely no one in it that the audience is given to care about, and the film doesn't even care enough about what it's showing us to offer us the thinnest of connecting fiber between the A story and B story. Mandylor would improve in the next, but the plotting wouldn't get any smarter. I guess this can just about be satisfying if you're in the mood for a Saw film, but any time put into thinking about what this film tells you to swallow will wreck the mood pretty quickly.

This movie is awful. There is Short film based on the first Saw movie. Saw the short film from 2003 is a good movie. It is very scary. It is 1000099999999999 time better then this crap. Saw (2004) is better movie and that was awful. Saw II is a better movie and that was awful. Saw III is a better movie and that was awful. Saw IV is a better movie and that was awful. This movie has an awful story line. It is badly edited. There are dead bodies in two places at the same time. The ending is awful. This movie is an overrated pile of pooh. Do not wast your time. Do not wast your money. Do see this movie. It is not scary. It just stupid.

By the fifth instalment of the franchise 'Saw' was infamous; infamous for its abundance of what could be termed sadism. It's no small wonder that the BBFC did not outright ban 'Saw V'. If the British ratings system were tasked with only letting good films be provided to cinemas, then without question 'Saw V' would never have seen the light of day. The creators of the franchise turned not to a Director to complete 'Saw V', but to a production designer for the series. This would account for why Saw V's length feels longer than a month, the acting as torturous as the traps themselves and boring beyond belief. Even the small relief of Tobin Bell's Jigsaw is gone and we are given a dull villain with a complete lack of motivation; horrifying indeed.'Saw V' takes place directly after the events of 'Saw III' and 'Saw IV'. As Jigsaw and Amanda are dead, the only living Jigsaw killer is Detective Mark Hoffman (a grim Costas Mandylor.) He is praised and awarded after saving Jeff's daughter (last seen in Saw III.) However, not everyone thinks him the hero. Agent Strahm (an effective Scott Patterson) becomes suspicious of Hoffman and pursues him. Hoffman is tasked with carrying out Jigsaw's dying request, a further game for more victims. This group of strangers must realise their connection to each other if they are to win their game and survive.How do you rejuvenate a franchise, when its premise is running thin? The answer, you don't. 'Saw V' takes great joy in putting the audience through a test of their own. How many blood splattered set pieces will you endure before you walk out. Watch or leave. Make your choice. Many audience members, even the ones addicted to Jigsaw's twisted traps, will I am sure choose the latter option. You can't blame them. After 'Saw III' I thought I was desensitised to violence. 'Saw V' proves me wrong and shows that I have plenty of puke left. What 'Saw V' does not understand, is that it is the tension and set up that is fascinating in Horrors, not the pay off.Every sickly set piece tries to outdo the other, without creativity, spirit or a brain. Blood is splattered across the walls and all you can think is how worse can it get? As it turns out a lot. Jigsaw is replaced with the unlikable growling Hoffman. He would have been serviceable if the character he was replacing was not so iconic and key to the franchise's success. The supposed story holding together all the gory details is Hoffman's recruitment and eventual loyalty to Jigsaw. But we never feel that Hoffman has the necessary motivation to carry out the horrendous acts of violence that he so frequently does. He is obligated to carry out the tests, but only when Jigsaw is present. Why he continues is anyone's guess. Maybe the screenwriters know?If you thought the acting in 'Saw II' was excruciating, then you haven't seen anything yet. The actors and actresses cannot act, even if they were put in a trap for real, they would be painful to listen to. You get the impression that they were picked up off of the street or the premiere of 'Saw IV'. Horrors are lucky if they have likable characters embedded within them. But when I do not care about the predicament of any of the characters involved you know something went terribly wrong. The only redeeming feature of 'Saw V' is that we see a trap that involves the walls closing in. Gruesome? Obviously.'Saw V' is what happens when you hire a nobody for a Director, leave the casting choices up to a monkey and force random people off of the street to act. The traps sigh inducing, the back story laughable and the film a pain from first frame to the last, Jigsaw it would be best for all of us Horror fans, if you and your apprentices stayed well and truly dead.

Upon viewing Saw V, marked the first time I seen a definite slip in the franchise. The cast that was thrown in a group as the core group to get through the traps were really undeveloped and had weak characters. Only Hoffman and Strahm had relevant roles in this film and they both lacked character than even the previous film. The death scenes, or known as traps to Saw fans, didn't quite seem as unique to past films either. It seems the writers had a good run because they are beginning to drop the ball with their films. I give the film kudos for staying true to the story and bringing back past cast members, which is important in my book, but in the end it was quite the letdown. Watch Saw V (5/10) immediately after the forth film to receive any sort of satisfaction for watching this sub-par horror flick.