Source: MovieJungle.com
By: Steve Ramos
Writer, Movie Jungle
It's been five years since surgeon Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) awoke to find his ankle chained to a rusty pipe in an abandoned factory restroom in the first "Saw." In that time, the "Saw" franchise created by Leigh Whannell and James Wan has become a powerful example of fast, efficient, assembly line, Hollywood moviemaking.
"Saw VI" delivers its formula splatter and elaborate death traps. While non-fans may question the appeal of 'Saw VI," its devotees demand nothing more and would agree that the sixth installment turns out to be one of the better entries in the series.
FBI agents race to see who is behind the new series of Jigsaw murders and standing in the middle of the mayhem is "Saw" veteran, the gruff Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor). Mandylor embraces every character clich?s the bulky detective as he races to protect his identity as well as his new set of victims, including the head of a health insurance company (Peter Outerbridge), who faces various traps in an abandoned zoo. The victims in "Saw VI" represent society's current ills; loan officers involved in the mortgage crisis, health insurance workers responsible for denying people coverage
Director Kevin Greutert and writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton provide all the screeching background noise, fast camerawork and an assembly line series of jolts of gore one expects from a 'Saw" movie. Keys are planted in the victim's body - a frequent 'Saw" plot device. The spiked iron mask from the early "Saw" films is back in a quaint nod to franchise history.
The opening jolt of gore offers the best splatter as two imprisoned loan officers compete with each other to carve a pound of flesh in order to escape their traps. From that beginning scene, the trail of gory deaths continue throughout "Saw VI" although there is nothing as squeamish as the splatter in the current art-house horror, Lars von Trier's "Antichrist."
"Saw VI" lacks the cleverness of recent horror films "The Strangers" and Michael Haneke's English-language remake of "Funny Games." Still, it's impressive how "Saw" has outgrown its original Jigsaw Killer (Tobin Bell) and continues to keep the franchise as healthy as ever.
The climax perfectly sets up "Saw VII," which should keep fans very happy. For them, the greatest scare would be news that their favorite horror series has come to an end.
Three Stars
Distributor: Lionsgate
Cast: Costas Mandylor, Tobin Bell, Peter Outerbridge
Screenwriter: Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan
Director: Kevin Greutert
Producers: Twisted Pictures
Running Time: 92 min.
Rating: R
Release Date: Oct. 23, 2009
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