Finally saw all the 'Saw' films prior to seeing 'Jigsaw' (as part of my wanting to see as many 2017 films as possible this year, during a quieter and less intensive period). Heard a lot about the films, good and bad, but wanted to see them for myself to know what to expect.
The films as an overall series are a very mixed bag. While not without its faults, the first film is the best, followed by the second and sixth, while the just straining average fourth film is bang in the middle and the fifth and especially this being the weakest. 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' couldn't have been a more underwhelming finish to a variable franchise and evidence of the novelty of a great premise being now well and truly dead. All the mistakes seen in the third and fifth films are repeated here and amplified while more is made on the way.
'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' is not a completely irredeemable mess. The music score is still eerie and in something of a miracle Tobin Bell cuts a malevolent presence despite Jigsaw being even more underused and misused than in 'Saw V'. Sean Patrick Flanery is also pretty good.
Everything else fails. Visually, 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' is the worst-looking of the series. It's neither elaborate, claustrophobic or atmospheric, instead it's just extreme shoddiness and not only was the 3D very amateurishly constructed and poorly used it was completely pointless. Had a hard time believing that the same director who did so well in the previous instalment in tightening and steadying things and toning down what was done excessively in 'Saw III' and 'Saw V' also directed this film, almost like 'Saw VI' had been forgotten.
Performances-wise, only Bell and Flanery are good. Everybody else has to work with thinly sketched characters that are either dull, annoying or both and a script that has replaced 'Saw V's' as the dreariest, most fatigued and contrivance-heavy one of the series. The excessively bland Costas Mandyler and irritating Chad Donella are especially poor.
Mystery, suspense and creepiness are also completely missing, thanks to the shoddy production values, the over-reliance on gratuitously gruesome gore and violence, the serious lack of credibility and the severely rushed pacing. Although 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' has the highest trap/death count, it's also the most illogically and repetitively plotted 'Saw' entry. There is nothing clever or imaginative about the traps and demises (a huge problem when the whole film was basically a series of them), no surprising or logical twists and the ending has to be one of the most anti-climactic ones in horrordom.
Overall, what started as a promising franchise completely petered out in the flattest of ways here. 2/10 Bethany Cox
The films as an overall series are a very mixed bag. While not without its faults, the first film is the best, followed by the second and sixth, while the just straining average fourth film is bang in the middle and the fifth and especially this being the weakest. 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' couldn't have been a more underwhelming finish to a variable franchise and evidence of the novelty of a great premise being now well and truly dead. All the mistakes seen in the third and fifth films are repeated here and amplified while more is made on the way.
'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' is not a completely irredeemable mess. The music score is still eerie and in something of a miracle Tobin Bell cuts a malevolent presence despite Jigsaw being even more underused and misused than in 'Saw V'. Sean Patrick Flanery is also pretty good.
Everything else fails. Visually, 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' is the worst-looking of the series. It's neither elaborate, claustrophobic or atmospheric, instead it's just extreme shoddiness and not only was the 3D very amateurishly constructed and poorly used it was completely pointless. Had a hard time believing that the same director who did so well in the previous instalment in tightening and steadying things and toning down what was done excessively in 'Saw III' and 'Saw V' also directed this film, almost like 'Saw VI' had been forgotten.
Performances-wise, only Bell and Flanery are good. Everybody else has to work with thinly sketched characters that are either dull, annoying or both and a script that has replaced 'Saw V's' as the dreariest, most fatigued and contrivance-heavy one of the series. The excessively bland Costas Mandyler and irritating Chad Donella are especially poor.
Mystery, suspense and creepiness are also completely missing, thanks to the shoddy production values, the over-reliance on gratuitously gruesome gore and violence, the serious lack of credibility and the severely rushed pacing. Although 'Saw 3D: The Final Chapter' has the highest trap/death count, it's also the most illogically and repetitively plotted 'Saw' entry. There is nothing clever or imaginative about the traps and demises (a huge problem when the whole film was basically a series of them), no surprising or logical twists and the ending has to be one of the most anti-climactic ones in horrordom.
Overall, what started as a promising franchise completely petered out in the flattest of ways here. 2/10 Bethany Cox