'Saw V' Review

Originally published on November 5, 2008

Saw V, the new installment in the successful series, after the terrible Saw III-IV.It was a little better than i expected,but that does not mean that it was good.After Saw II, the series goes steadily downhill.In my opinion, only the first two were good.

Anyway, back to Saw V.Basically, it's more of the same.It's the same concept, with the elaborate traps ,the philosophy of Jigsaw, and with more details about the events of previous movies.An alternate title could be Saw: The Flashback, because a significant part of the plot consists of flashbacks about how Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) recruited Det.Hoffman (Costas Mandylor),etc.In the present, agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) continues to investigate the involvement of Hoffman.Of course,there's a group of people who are put to the test.And there is a semi-twist in the end.

Die-hard fans may like Saw V, but the truth is that we have seen this before and more successfully executed, as far as the first two movies are concerned.The movie will be profitable and consequently Saw VI is already in the works.In a scene between Jigsaw and Hoffman (one of the few interesting scenes,if not the only one), Jigsaw talks about rehabilitation (among other things).That's what the series needs for the next movie to be at least descent.