“By this point, the most tortured thing in Saw is the timeline.
Though this movie has some fun elements, it can’t stand on its own, the backstory being completely impenetrable without having seen the movies before. And the fun parts, while maybe enough for a 90-minute movie, don’t really cut it for a 6-year saga.
On one hand, nobody is seeing the 6th entry in a series first, right? So maybe that criticism doesn’t hold water.
On the other hand, while I don’t think the movies necessarily need to escalate every time, that’d be impossible, I’d like to start seeing some new ground covered instead of re-treading the first 3 movies.
There’s just something about this movie that’s less creepy, I think signified by Strahm looking down on the game in progress through a 2-way mirror from a kind of command center. It’s just not the same gross, creepy vibe as the whole affair being in a disgusting bathroom and our killer laying on the floor the entire time.
I think they could’ve done something with that. Strahm as Rocky from Rocky III, who’s gotten too far away from his roots and needs to learn how to get grimy again. Or Strahm as a more clinical, immaculate killer. Strahm as a Jigsaw going after corporate fatcats instead of junkies.
It feels like the movies themselves know that Strahm is no Kramer, and I agree with that, but I would’ve preferred if they’d worked around that issue in some other way. I’d accept Evil Twin at this point: “Oh, dead? You must be thinking of my brother, Juan Kramer!””