DVD Review: "Saw 4"

Another year, another couple gross-out set pieces, ho hum. At the rate of degradation these sequels are going at, we're about two removed from a direct-to-cable quality film. Director Darren Lynn Bousman does a serviceable job, inasmuch as the film isn't embarrassingly bad. But the logic and the real hook of the film leave much to be desired. Even hardcore fans of the series would have to admit, the same old shtick is getting just a bit tired.

This installment opens with the uber-bad guy "Jigsaw" dead as a doornail. And just in case the gaping wound in his neck isn't proof enough, we're treated to a very realistic (or not, according to my wife), and equally unnecessary autopsy. But, ah, that is where it gets interesting, because "the game is not over yet." Of course not. Jigsaw left one more tape for the film's detectives to figure out-- it was inside of his stomach. The police scramble to figure out who the tape is meant to endanger, while in the meantime a few peripheral characters meet a grisly, bloody demise in true Saw fashion.

I couldn't help but notice that the traps of this film are somewhat anticlimactic. They just didn't have the ingenuity that I've come to expect from these films. In fact, I didn't even understand how a few of them worked. This may be due largely to the fact that much of this film is devoted to a fleshed out backstory for Jigsaw, or John Kramer. This was the part of the film that I found most interesting. This was also the first time that any real amount of screen time was devoted to the man behind the contraptions, and how he came to be the creepy serial killer we all know him as.

I understand that the Saw films make money-- lots of it-- and that's why the films keep getting made. However, in terms of quality, I have to imagine that the films are suffering by rushing to meet the self-imposed requirement of one Saw film per year, every single year. I've enjoyed the series, but I would be lying if I said that they were maintaining any real level of quality. Since Saw 5 has already been greenlit, let's just hope that they are devising a clever way to end the series, or more accurately, put it out of it's misery.

Score: 2 out of 5