The “Saw” franchise is one of those hard things to try to classify as good or bad. It’s mostly because you had two good movies, an average one and then two bad movies. With “Saw VI” out now, the question is, which way will the scale be tipped? Well, let’s find out.
It starts off rather simply, and much like the other films it opens with a test. The person(s) that are involved in the test are given a choice. Solve the puzzle, which usually means kill the other person and escape, die trying or just die. The opening tells you right from the start that this movie is going to get ridiculous. Ridiculous doesn’t necessarily mean bad. You realize that, in a way, it’s returning back to the basics that were in the first two. Another thing that you’ll notice is that half of the stuff in the movie flashes back into things that happened in or between all of the other movies, so it ties into all of the others. Whether it makes any sense depends on the viewer. When I saw it about half the audience was confused and the others understood it in the context of the other films.
The movie does have a lot of the same stuff that made the first two great. It has gripping, yet horrifying visuals. It has realistic characters and it has a defined story that didn’t make the torture traps the only thing of substance. It also uses the very little that worked for “Saw III-V.” Even though the torture traps aren’t the main stage of the movie, a lot of the traps are just awe-inspiring. They also have a lot of urgency, but not as much as you would think due to the time limits given for most them (usually more than a minute, even for the smaller ones that had been a minute in previous movies). In terms of character’s tests, it’s quite literally a choice of “who do I kill” rather than just the normal “it’s them or me.”
The soundtrack, which has stayed consistently eerie and gripping, is true to its form. It keeps your attention quite easily and matches up with the emotions for each scene. It also never really gives you much of a triumphant feel if someone survives. After all, if they survive, the game is still on. You either learn to appreciate life or you end up back in the trenches of the games that the Jigsaw apprentice(s) have designed for you. The next time though, you’ll be at a disadvantage. You’ll be missing what you lost in the first game whether it is a limb, an eye, etc.
The movie is quite demented but, in relation to the series, it is good. It returns to the basics. The acting is passable. The traps are ingenious and, through flashbacks, you get to see how far ahead Jigsaw actually planned. The general morality of the story is thrown back into the mix. Everything that worked with the first two is dead-on in this one.