Saw IV (2007)

I think just about every major franchise reaches a point where the original creators are no longer directly involved in it. George Lucas sold Star Wars, Clive Barker absolutely hates most of the Hellraiser movies after his first two, and co-creators Mr. James Wan and Mr. Leigh Whannell were just producers for Saw IV. So how was it with them taking a backseat? Find out in the latest chapter of Saw-mhain!

Picking up after the end of Saw III, this movie opens with John Kramer’s autopsy. As a recap, at the end of the last film, Jigsaw and his accomplice Amanda were killed. Anyway, turns out Kramer swallowed a tape before his death and it’s found by Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who was in Saw III but, like Detective Kerry before him, had such a minor part that I didn’t mention him. Also in that camp is Detective Rigg (Lyriq Bent) who will be our main protagonist.

Enough with the setup, let’s get to some kills! The first trap we see is two guys chained to a device that starts to pull them towards the murderous gears. The problem? One guy has his eyes sewn shut and the other has his mouth sewn. Mouth-Guy–who gets a sharp object and at no point uses it to cut his mouth free so he can explain to his blind associate what the fuck is going on–survives, barely. Then it’s over to the police finding the body of Detective Kerry. Hey, remember how she died in a bullshit way last movie? Well apparently that wasn’t just Amanda’s fault, as two FBI agents–Strahm (Scott Patterson) and Perez (Athena Karkanis)–deduce that Amanda wasn’t physically capable of putting Kerry in the device, meaning Jigsaw had a second accomplice. I’m sure that’s not important.

That night Rigg and Hoffman are kidnapped. Hoffman is tied to a chair next to Eric Matthews, the cop protagonist from Saw II who was Jigsaw’s captive for the last six months. Matthews is hung by the neck above a melting block of ice, and once its melted enough the lack of weight will trigger Hoffman’s electrocution. Today’s tested is Rigg, who Jigsaw is trying to teach to see the world the way Kramer does. Rigg has 90 minutes to save Hoffman and Matthews, but the intended message is… well, it’s actually kinda muddled, but it’s supposed to be that people can rescue themselves. At least that’s what the end of the movie says the lesson was; you’ll see how I’m not convinced. Up first is an escort strapped to a device that is tearing her hair and scalp off. He manages to free her, but her test was to kill him before he could arrest her for… unspecified crimes, probably prostitution. Rigg knocks her out and leaves her to bleed to death while rushing to his next test. The FBI agents arrive too late and notice clues pointing to a woman named Jill (Betsy Russell), who was the woman Jigsaw saw in his memories last movie. Turns out she was his wife! She’s a doctor at a clinic treating addiction, but one skeezball named Cecil (Billy Otis) caused her to miscarriage while he was robbing the place. Losing his unborn son and then being diagnosed with terminal cancer led to Kramer becoming Jigsaw, with Cecil being one of his first victims. Cecil managed to pass his test, but was killed regardless. Meanwhile, Jill says she has nothing to do with Jigsaw’s plans and eventually provides clues leading the FBI to the finale.

Back with Rigg, his second test is cornering a rapist. Rigg forces the man into Jigsaw’s trap, which involves gouging out his eyes in order to not get his limbs ripped off. He dies and the supposed lesson was that the only person who could save the rapist was himself. Except, you know, Rigg didn’t have to put him in the trap. He could’ve just subdued the scumbag, or restrained him using parts of the trap and left him for authorities. The escort’s death could’ve been an accident, but Rigg is absolutely responsible for this bad man’s death. And to muddle Jigsaw’s message, he was directly involved in the test. The third test is finding a woman who killed her abusive husband to save herself. Rigg barely does anything here before heading to the warehouse where Hoffman and Matthews are captive. Also, while following Rigg’s trail, Perez gets wounded by a Jigsaw trap that warns her that Strahm will kill an innocent man.

Then it’s time for our cascade of twists! The man watching over Hoffman and Matthews–who had such a small part I didn’t mention him–was the guy whose mouth was sewn shut, and was also Jill’s lawyer and Jigsaw’s former friend! No clear reason why they fell apart other than Kramer was a psycho. Rigg reaching the warehouse within the time limit causes Matthews’ death, because Rigg’s lesson was to let people save themselves, or something! Rigg shoots the lawyer, but it’s revealed that Hoffman is actually Jigsaw’s second accomplice when he leaves Rigg to die! And Agent Strahm follows clues that leads him to the end of Saw III, where he shoots Jeff after the distraught father pulls a gun on him! Turns out the autopsy at the beginning of the film was out of order, and this movie was happening concurrently to Saw III! Sure, why not!

I’m not going to say that the “sanctity” of the Saw franchise was ruined with this film, or whatever–I just think the series was pretty neatly wrapped up in Saw III. Were there plot threads left dangling? Well, of course, that’s kind of the entire point of Saw IV. But I don’t believe we needed those explained. What happened to Jeff? Pretty safe to assume at best he searches for his daughter in vain and she dies somewhere. What about Eric Matthews? I’d argue it’s actually more chilling to have Jigsaw simply say, “I took care of him,” and then we never know. And Hoffman getting Kerry up in the chest-ripper is like a retcon–retroactive continuity change–to a retcon. Oh, Jigsaw was too sick to capture people? Amanda helped him. But now Amanda is too weak to drag Kerry’s body around? Guess we need a man to do things for her!

Saw IV was put into pre-production before Saw III even came out, so I won’t say that III was the planned end to the franchise. Rather, III was the original creators’ end, and then other people jumped aboard the money train to keep beating this dead horse of a franchise. Choo choo!

Previous: Saw III (2006)
Next: Saw V (2008)