SAW rant
I finally saw the fourth movie last night. My opinions, let me show you them.
Okay. Okay okay okay. I went into this knowing it wouldn't be as good as the previous installments. I knew. This group of writers tried so hard but it just wasn't Leigh Whannell's writing. I still enjoyed it, but there were issues.
Too. Many. Characters. It was incredibly difficult to keep track of the new faces and the old ones the audience had seen only briefly before. The pacing here was awful. It also would have helped if the lawyer, the male FBI agent, and detective Hoffman hadn't all so closely resembled Sylvester Stallone in speech and appearance. >.o If you're gonna have that many faces in quick cut scenes, then some difference in features is kind of necessary, sorry.
Back to the writing. Jigsaw's/John's voice was wrong. Not Tobin Bell's speaking voice, but the way his lines were written. Nothing he said really reflected his previous thoughts and actions very well except for one line: "Time is an illusion that cannot be given". Also, I can see where they tried to follow the "SAW: Rebirth" comic that was released with the second movie...but it doesn't quite add up. Maybe it's just that I can't stand Jigsaw's ex, Jill (who I could have sworn was named Julie, but I can't find the comic to save my life right now).
I read some interview with various people working on the project that we were going to see the connection between Jigsaw and Obi from the second movie (the actor was in the third, walking past John and Jill in his little seizure flashback) but I have a feeling that they replaced Obi with that druggie character Cecil to go into Jigsaw's first kill. ... ... ... Which was wholly uncessesary if you read the comic, since it implies that his first "lessons" were given to people he saw around himself at the hospital while he was being treated for cancer. ARGH. If there's a canon, then stick to it!
Speaking of canon...I DO NOT APPROVE of Detective Hoffman having been helping Jigsaw throughout the entire storyline. This movie totally undermined Amanda's role through the series, which pisses me off to no end because she was my favorite character after Jigsaw himself. Having Hoffman be the one who hoisted Kerry into the "Angel of Death" trap RUINS the lovely scene in the third movie where Amanda watches Kerry struggle to free herself and die. That was the one time I approved of Amanda breaking Jigsaw's rules, because it fit her character so well that she would ensure Kerry did NOT win her game because Kerry was a threat to John, who Amanda loved. It might not have been LOVE love, but Leigh said in the commentary on the last disc that by the third movie it was pretty much a love story between John and Amanda. Now that they're dead the story is just...they're milking it. Really. There's no story.
I really didn't like John's relationship with Jill (aw, 'J' names, how sickly cute). I don't like that her miscarriage led to his unbalanced behavior, since it was pretty much said that it was the cancer and the fear of his life ending without him actually DOING anything with it that led him to "preach" to other people to appreciate their lives. In his mind it wasn't a vendette against people. He believed he was helping them. The bit with Cecil wasn't that at all. Not really, on the surface maybe, but it was pretty superficial -- he was offing him because of the events that led to Jill's miscarriage, not just trying to help him. Also, Jill was weak. She never ONCE stood up to John or questioned him in anything. At least Amanda did that much!
I did like that the events of this movie were running along those of the third, because that makes this the most complicated plotline EVAR and I tip my hat the those who made it happen. And I whooped and shouted and clapped when Eric Mattews FINALLY FUCKING DIED. His head was squishy! XD That totally made my night.
Now. As for SAW V (yeah, it's got the greenlight). This is taken from the spoilers on IMDB:
Hoffman, the police detective, seated beside Eric Matthews in the torture chamber. His motive is not explained in Saw IV. It is presumed that this will be explained in Saw V.
The wax tape reveals that Hoffman will also be tested, which means that it is possible there will be ANOTHER apprentice.
WHAT?!?! WHAT WHAT WHAT?!?! I can't even begin to figure out how that could work. AGAIN, undermines Amanda's role completely. There's also a LOT of things they left out or cut (again, according to IMDB so who the hell knows what's accurate or not) to use in later films (yeah, they're talking about SAW VI, maybe even VII). Grr. I'm going to have to see them.
They're doing this so well, I'll give them that. The last film really did set up some things for this one, like Amanda's key (which didn't open Lynn's head-splodey device if you saw the deleted scene) worked on the metal door to John's "hospital" room, and that Amanda snapping at the end was the result of the letter left to her by Hoffman (although I prefered her just losing it over John's taunting her with Lynn, but whatever).
I know Jeff's daughter is safe from reading spoilers, and that makes me happy because generally Jigsaw doesn't kill kids (Diana from the first movie aside, although I have my doubts about whether or not Zepp (♥!) could actually kill her). He left Daniel alive, he left Jeff's daughter alive. They're more like convenient tools to spur the parents into action, but he's never put a child directly in his game. I was really worried that that little girl was going to suffocate since Jeff was shot in the end.
Meh, that's all I can think about for now. I'm sure there's more that bugged me. Meh. Still loves me some SAW though. LOVE.
Okay. Okay okay okay. I went into this knowing it wouldn't be as good as the previous installments. I knew. This group of writers tried so hard but it just wasn't Leigh Whannell's writing. I still enjoyed it, but there were issues.
Too. Many. Characters. It was incredibly difficult to keep track of the new faces and the old ones the audience had seen only briefly before. The pacing here was awful. It also would have helped if the lawyer, the male FBI agent, and detective Hoffman hadn't all so closely resembled Sylvester Stallone in speech and appearance. >.o If you're gonna have that many faces in quick cut scenes, then some difference in features is kind of necessary, sorry.
Back to the writing. Jigsaw's/John's voice was wrong. Not Tobin Bell's speaking voice, but the way his lines were written. Nothing he said really reflected his previous thoughts and actions very well except for one line: "Time is an illusion that cannot be given". Also, I can see where they tried to follow the "SAW: Rebirth" comic that was released with the second movie...but it doesn't quite add up. Maybe it's just that I can't stand Jigsaw's ex, Jill (who I could have sworn was named Julie, but I can't find the comic to save my life right now).
I read some interview with various people working on the project that we were going to see the connection between Jigsaw and Obi from the second movie (the actor was in the third, walking past John and Jill in his little seizure flashback) but I have a feeling that they replaced Obi with that druggie character Cecil to go into Jigsaw's first kill. ... ... ... Which was wholly uncessesary if you read the comic, since it implies that his first "lessons" were given to people he saw around himself at the hospital while he was being treated for cancer. ARGH. If there's a canon, then stick to it!
Speaking of canon...I DO NOT APPROVE of Detective Hoffman having been helping Jigsaw throughout the entire storyline. This movie totally undermined Amanda's role through the series, which pisses me off to no end because she was my favorite character after Jigsaw himself. Having Hoffman be the one who hoisted Kerry into the "Angel of Death" trap RUINS the lovely scene in the third movie where Amanda watches Kerry struggle to free herself and die. That was the one time I approved of Amanda breaking Jigsaw's rules, because it fit her character so well that she would ensure Kerry did NOT win her game because Kerry was a threat to John, who Amanda loved. It might not have been LOVE love, but Leigh said in the commentary on the last disc that by the third movie it was pretty much a love story between John and Amanda. Now that they're dead the story is just...they're milking it. Really. There's no story.
I really didn't like John's relationship with Jill (aw, 'J' names, how sickly cute). I don't like that her miscarriage led to his unbalanced behavior, since it was pretty much said that it was the cancer and the fear of his life ending without him actually DOING anything with it that led him to "preach" to other people to appreciate their lives. In his mind it wasn't a vendette against people. He believed he was helping them. The bit with Cecil wasn't that at all. Not really, on the surface maybe, but it was pretty superficial -- he was offing him because of the events that led to Jill's miscarriage, not just trying to help him. Also, Jill was weak. She never ONCE stood up to John or questioned him in anything. At least Amanda did that much!
I did like that the events of this movie were running along those of the third, because that makes this the most complicated plotline EVAR and I tip my hat the those who made it happen. And I whooped and shouted and clapped when Eric Mattews FINALLY FUCKING DIED. His head was squishy! XD That totally made my night.
Now. As for SAW V (yeah, it's got the greenlight). This is taken from the spoilers on IMDB:
Hoffman, the police detective, seated beside Eric Matthews in the torture chamber. His motive is not explained in Saw IV. It is presumed that this will be explained in Saw V.
The wax tape reveals that Hoffman will also be tested, which means that it is possible there will be ANOTHER apprentice.
WHAT?!?! WHAT WHAT WHAT?!?! I can't even begin to figure out how that could work. AGAIN, undermines Amanda's role completely. There's also a LOT of things they left out or cut (again, according to IMDB so who the hell knows what's accurate or not) to use in later films (yeah, they're talking about SAW VI, maybe even VII). Grr. I'm going to have to see them.
They're doing this so well, I'll give them that. The last film really did set up some things for this one, like Amanda's key (which didn't open Lynn's head-splodey device if you saw the deleted scene) worked on the metal door to John's "hospital" room, and that Amanda snapping at the end was the result of the letter left to her by Hoffman (although I prefered her just losing it over John's taunting her with Lynn, but whatever).
I know Jeff's daughter is safe from reading spoilers, and that makes me happy because generally Jigsaw doesn't kill kids (Diana from the first movie aside, although I have my doubts about whether or not Zepp (♥!) could actually kill her). He left Daniel alive, he left Jeff's daughter alive. They're more like convenient tools to spur the parents into action, but he's never put a child directly in his game. I was really worried that that little girl was going to suffocate since Jeff was shot in the end.
Meh, that's all I can think about for now. I'm sure there's more that bugged me. Meh. Still loves me some SAW though. LOVE.