It’s Torture, I Tellya, TORTURE!!

The reason my parents are letting me see it is that I've proven myself mature enough to see movies like this. The only times I've been immature at a movie were at "Borat" (in my defense, everyone else was acting the same way!) and "The Forgotten" (there were teenage girls shouting at every moment. And, they were doing it on purpose! I, honest to God, heard one of them say "I love to scream"! They were so annoying, that the entire audience got free tickets for our troubles.)

Be prepared. This review is very long (probably the longest ever):

Saw IV (8/10):

Jigsaw and his apprentice Amanda are dead. Now, upon the news of Detective Kerry's murder, two seasoned FBI profilers, Agent Strahm and Agent Perez, arrive in the terrified community to assist the veteran Detective Hoffman in sifting through Jigsaw's latest grizzly remains and piecing together the puzzle. However, when SWAT Commander Rigg is abducted and thrust into a game, the last officer untouched by Jigsaw has but ninety minutes to overcome a series of demented traps and save an old friend or face the deadly consequences.

So it's another October month. There's another "Saw". And there are more traps. And there are more victims. And there are new characters. And there is a similar plot. This all sounds so too...familiar. If this is going through your head when watching the TV spots or trailers for this movie, and you're not okay with it, you should skip this. On the other hand, if you just want to know, if you have to know the truth, watch it.

There are two types of people for this kind of film. People who won't watch it because it's basically a repeat of the previous films and people who just want to know the truth. I'm in the group who just wants to know the truth. I don't care if this is a torture porn movie. I don't care if it basically repeats itself with a "been there, done that" scenario. I just want to know.

"Saw 3" could've been a great ending for a trilogy. But you know the studio will make more just to cash in. Of course, that's the reason. But "Saw 3" could've also left us (fans) in a cliffhanger. When we last saw "Saw 3", we don't know what happened to Jeff, our protagonist. I'll just leave you there because it'll ruin the movie if I tell you.

On the other hand, this movie starts with Jigsaw dead (yes, he's dead and no, he's not going to be alive) in the hospital where the doctors are performing an autopsy. They find a tape in his stomach that says his work will continue even though he's dead and that's how it all begins...like the previous films.

Should a fan of this franchise be willing to watch six movies to learn the truth about the who's, why's, when's, how's, and what's in the film? If it stays like how "Saw IV" played it, I'll definitely be watching more "Saw" films in the future. What makes "Saw IV" so good, in my opinion, is that you are put on the spot. You see what Jigsaw sees. You feel what he feels. You judge what he judges. This film is more or less like a origin film for Jigsaw, if you want to call it that.

What I found really good/bad in here is that the film's pacing is fast. The good in that they think the audience is smarter and the bad thing about that is that it gets us confused while it continues on with the story. There's even a point in the film where I considered this to be the best film in the franchise so far. But there are some weaknesses in the film that prevented this to happen. It's very apparent that this isn't a simple story where you can find a simple solution to resolve it.

What you want to know is the twist, right? Well, I suppose it's depressing and encouraging. The twist(s) have already been used in the previous films but at least they didn't try too hard to top off the ending for the original. And I like that there are enough twists to satisfy the freshness of this film.

Everything else pretty much is the same. The flashy cinematography is still here. The famous music is still here. The very depressing characters are still here. Let's just hope the movie will end in a happy ending(?)

If there's a fourth movie to a franchise, you'll think it has gone down the drain by now. Yeah, some will think that. For me, I think it's getting better and better. My expectations were so low for this film because I thought it would be the same thing over and over again. I was right but there were some few surprising things in here that I really liked. "Saw" fans will love this. As for people who don't care about these films, just walk past it.

SPOILER!

Ahem.  It sounds like we have a disagreement. 

If the rest of the movie follows this scene, instead of precedes this scene, then why does Detective Strahm find Jeff with the bodies of Amanda, Lynn and Jigsaw at the end of the movie?  How could he find Jigsaw's body in that room if his body has already been autopsied?

Saw III and Saw IV are concurrent, not consecutive.  Most of Saw IV is a flashback from the autopsy.  Since these movies are concurrent, then Jigsaw is alive until sometime before Strahm enters that room.  That's the biggest mindblower in this movie.