Saw VI [DVD]

Good movie

[No Spoilers!]The Saw franchise has never ceased to amaze me with how each new entry into the series has managed to not turn into complete and utter tripe or simply start repeating itself - it's fared much better than most film series which have produced this number of films or similar and I really did expect this sixth entry to be the one which finally crossed the line and raised the 'time to stop now' flag, especially given some of the critical reviews.But no, for me this sixth film in the series is actually a great return to form - although some parts of course continue to develop the overall story (led by Hoffman once more, albeit from a new position), a certain simplicity has returned and it works well. The 4th and 5th film were by no means terrible and I enjoyed them, but they did require a more focused viewing and previous knowledge of the series to really enjoy them to their full potential, where as this 6th film could just about be enjoyed by someone with no previous Saw convictions as we go (mostly) back to basics.None the less, Saw 6 does continue very directly from Saw 5 as the floor is still wet with blood from Agent Strahm's gruesome demise at the end of the 5th film - not in a figurative sense, but very literally - as the film opens with Hoffman inspecting the aftermath. From there it's mostly a game of cat and mouse with a new cat, new traps, new victims and an inevitable increase in both the gore and the grimness in the way in which we access that gore - I've been quite well exposed to Saw shenanigans over the years and am no tame prude, but there were certainly a few hands-over-the-eyes for me! And although you know what to expect by now with this series there are still some jumps and surprises and Saw 6 manages quite well to balance it's plate with equal parts crime-thriller and bloody-horror to make it a healthy all-rounder.Now, on to the 7th course....

What a shame you can't give something a five star 'plus' rating, because that's what Saw 6 would have got from me.Having seen the first five installments of this always tense, always gory, series of Jigsaw murder movies I somehow managed to miss the last two. Most likely thanks to a divorce and home move getting in the way. Ironically it was thanks to that divorce, in a roundabout way, that I discovered Saw 6; I remarried and have been introducing my 'not usually a hack'n'slash movie fan' partner to Jigsaw.Our routine for the last few weekends has been to watch a Saw movie, in order, from start to finish. Last Saturday we got to Saw 6 which, as I say, was a new movie to me.I was a little apprehensive, being a big fan of the films, that this was going to be a poor showing. After all, it pretty much bombed in the cinema release and there are plenty of bad reviews out there. As usual though, the professional critics were wrong but the paying public believed the negative press. I'm a journalist and author myself, and once upon a blue moon ago I even used to have a gig as a TV critic. I know the pressure there is upon that genre to get the words out and make them controversial to stir up readership interest. I also know that the 'horror' genre (in inverted commas there as I don't really think Saw is horror - thriller or crime drama would get my vote) isn't best liked by the professionals.Anyway, happy to say they were wrong. So wrong. Sure, there are no huge narrative surprises here beyond the usual plot twists and unraveling of the perpetrators behind the historical Jigsaw murders. It's one of the things that Saw does best, considering how dire most sequels can be, in always looking back and introducing nuances to the murders (and motives) that have gone before.[SPOILER ALERT] So we have FBI Agent Strahm squished to bits at the end of Saw 5, and the bits that remain fall from the ceiling at the start of Saw 6. Detective Hoffman is there to collect them, literally. The narrative revolves largely around whether the FBI belive the planted evidence to pin Strahm as the Jigsaw accomplice who is continuing his legacy of 'I want to play a game' murders or whether Detective Hoffman is a suspect. We are also introduced to a new possible accomplice of sorts, Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill Tuck.If there is any weakness in Tobin Bell's sixth outing, it's that it has the feeling of a finisher. That this was meant to be the end of the series. Yet it wasn't. That said, I'm already looking forward to, and feeling kinda sad that it's the end of, Saw the final chapter.For now though, Saw 6 is by far the goriest and most gripping of all the movies in my never humble opinion. Watch it, you won't be disappointed.