Movie Review #13 - The Grand Fanale

Saw VII

Shock Value: 20 of 33
Queasiness: 33 of 33
Suspense: 20 of 34
Total Scare: 73 of 100

Ok – this is supposed to be the grand finale of the Saw series. It's actually called SAW 3D but I hate that title, so I'm keeping it Saw VII. This movie starts out – surprise surprise – with a trap. The big difference is that this looks like a public execution. WOW! That's new – that's something that hasn't been done. How does it tie into Hoffman, Jigsaw, or anything else in the Saw series? Who knows? They never explain who set it up, or if it provided the cops with any more clues. While this was a very intense intro scene they never brought it up again...and this is the last movie! There will never be a chance to explain it!

Ok – moving on... This movie probably has the most, and most grotesque traps in all the saw movies. The car scene in the junkyard was probably the most horrific, but there's plenty to choose from.

Hoffman seeks revenge from Jill. Now...think back to the last movie. John told Jill he PROMISED a way out for her. Did he keep his word? No. Somewhere in the story the promise changed – and the insurance that John was hinting at was for someone to take care of Hoffman WHEN and IF he tried to do anything to Jill. So – sorry Jill – even though he promised you, I guess he would rather wait and avenge your death than prevent it. (This just doesn't match John's character at all...I wish she would have been granted her escape – even if she didn't make it out, the way should have been there!)

The game in this movie has absolutely no bearing on Hoffman – except that he offers to end it if Jill is turned over to him voluntarily. We know that this game was designed by Jigsaw – the people in this game were all connected to him...so Jigsaw wasn't the one who authorized the game's end in exchange for Jill – that was all Hoffman, because he wanted revenge!

So the man in this game goes from room to room and again he has to save other people (The director of Saw 6 and 7 were the same...I don't think he understood the psychology behind the traps...in these last two movies it's all about saving someone else when the victims are supposed to save themselves.)

I was intrigued by the main character who lied about his original Jigsaw encounter...and it was perfectly fitting for him to re-enact the same trap that he had bragged about escaping. But does he succeed? With anyone? No – every person he tries to help dies...including his wife. Where's the justice in that? What's the point? Supposedly he was going to prove his love for her – is the writer/director saying that he didn't really love her? Or was the trap just “too hard”...(that wouldn't make any sense either – all of John's traps were escapable for those who valued life...)

The final chapter of this series still leaves us wondering “what's going to happen next?” and “what about the little girl?” (we have been shown scenes with the little girl enough now...we were expecting her to come back and point out Hoffman as the killer...I guess those were wasted scenes too, because she's never going to get her chance.) The return to the original set is fitting, but also pointless. If a certain doctor (who shall be left unnamed for those of you who haven't seen it yet) was really in on it from the beginning – how come Hoffman never knew about it? How come the cops don't know? What about Amanda – did she know? Yes – we were all expecting him to come back and play a part...but what part did he play? It had to be a small part to go unnoticed by so many people that were close to Jigsaw. I'm betting there will be another Saw movie...one of these days someone will start noticing all of the ends that weren't tied up, and they'll say: hey, what if we just made another movie? And again we'll get another boring knock-off that doesn't really answer anything.

-----------SPOILER ALERT------

And another thing...Every movie in this series has a WOW ending...except this one. Who thought of that great idea? Part 1: The killer is the dead guy! (Best ending of a horror movie ever!) Part 2: the kid was safe the whole time – the entire story surrounding the kid happened in the past! (excellent). Part 3: Jigsaw Dies, Amanda Dies... (how can Jigsaw keep rehabilitating people if he's dead?) Part 4: It's not a sequel but happens simultaneously as part 3! (I've NEVER heard of this twisted ending before) Part 5: They could have all survived! (it actually had a semi-hopeful moral to the story – strange and unique in the saw universe) Part 6: They weren't HIS family – he was responsible for her husbands/his fathers death! (they way the story is told you could never figure it out) Part 7: Hoffman dies to be replaced by another Jigsaw copycat? Wow...this plot device has been used throughout the series...(Jigsaw/Amanda, Jigsaw/Hoffman, Rigg was a suspected copy cat and so was agent Straum) and this is the ending to it all? Weak...

I had to lower the ratings on the Saw movies because, even though they're all very gross and shocking their story lines get weaker and weaker. The over-all story is very well designed, and you always want to know more about the big-picture. However, the smaller stories within each movie get very repetitive. Their only redeeming factor is the twist endings.

SAW MOVIES In order of favorite endings...
1, 5, 2, 4, 6, 3, 7

In order of favorite traps...
1, 6, 5, 7, 2, 3, 4

In order of favorite characters...
1, 3, 5, 6, 2, 7, 4

In order of favorite contributions to the overall plot
1, 3, 5, 4, 6, 7, 2