The saw movies are a staple of horror movie culture. It is hard to forget that the first film spawned an entire sub-genre of horror films and paved the way for a revival of horror movie fever.
John Kramer's twisted 'save yourself' mentality really made the first few special. Then along came the latter sequels that traded this initial goal for more creative (and bloody!) deaths and plot devices. Which is what brings me to Spiral.
While I really liked seeing Chris Rock in a role outside of his norms, his character seemed a bit too forced into the role of the rat. In between every death there was a building tension because of his 'traitor' status to the other officers. Tension that, at the climax, kind of whimpers out. Always resolved by a "Hey, knock it off" or another minor interrupting factor. Never do you see this come to a point - mainly because the officers die rather quickly compared to the tension.
Speaking of the deaths, harkening back to the earlier point - They were not true 'save yourself' moments. Every single 'trail' that most of the characters face are made to kill them. This is not necessarily a bad thing considering the ultimate goal of the 'Game Master', paired with the fact that earlier movies had done this for the plot points earlier on. However, it doesn't leave you with the feeling that the first few films in the franchise give you.
The feeling of 'are these characters going to make it?'. Are they truly deserving of this warped salvation?
Live or die, what is their choice. Hard to have a choice though, when the traps are rigged.
Conclusions - I think that this movie, like Jigsaw before it, did good enough to warrant another movie. Another game. Another chance to see if cast & crew can come together to bring us another SAW. One more chance to reinvent and reinvigorate the horror genre again.
Thanks for reading!!!
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