SAW VI
2009 | Dir. Kevin Greutert | 90 Minutes
"You think it's the living who will have ultimate judgement over you, because the dead will have no claim over your soul, but you may be mistaken."
Detective Hoffman struggles to cover up his crimes as he sets up one more deadly game with assistance from Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill. Driven by profit and lacking in empathy, a health insurance executive and his staff are the latest Jigsaw test subjects.
Directed by series editor Kevin Greutert, Saw VI is a stand-out sequel that breathes new life into the series after the lackluster Saw V. From its opening self-mutilation contest targeting predatory money lenders, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan's screenplay takes on a much more topical approach in this installment with incredibly satisfying results. Flashbacks depicting the cancer-stricken Jigsaw pleading for medical coverage with the head of a health insurance company, this installment's ill-fated one-off protagonist, serve to illustrate a tragically relatable situation, particularly for a Saw movie. While the exec deserves at least some sympathy as he stumbles through a series of Jigsaw games forcing him to choose between life and death for various members of his staff, a setup similar in structure to Jeff and Rigg's trials from Saw III and Saw IV, it's undeniably pleasing when he meets his gratuitously disgusting end because of his heartless obsession with the bottom line. Even the continuation of the series' overarching plot is more fulfilling in this picture, featuring the welcome return of Amanda and culminating with Hoffman rather haphazardly murdering the FBI agents who begin to see through his deception. Jill placing the sociopathic detective in an upgraded version of the iconic reverse bear trap according to Jigsaw's video will makes for an absurd but amusing bloody conclusion.
Editor Andrew Coutts matches Greutert's previous work on the series very well, doing particularly fine work on the intense oxygen crusher sequence and the customary closing montage. For Saw VI, production designer Tony Ianni steps up his game delivering some of the best traps yet including the disturbingly simple pound of flesh trap for the opening set piece, the totally bonkers shotgun carousel and, perhaps the most sickening Saw trap ever, the gut-melting acid trap in the final room of William's trial. Series composer Charlie Clouser provides a fantastic significantly expanded take on the climatic Saw twist theme featuring elaborate new additions.
However flimsy the justification at this point, any excuse to bring Tobin Bell back to the Saw series is welcome, as his Jigsaw is always compelling, even when he is preaching about the broken American health insurance industry. Costas Mandylor scowls his way through another installment as Hoffman, though his prickly interactions with Betsy Russell's Jill and Shawnee Smith's Amanda give his character some much needed flavor. Unessential for the plot though an absolute treat for fans, Shawnee Smith's return as Amanda in Hoffman and Jill's flashbacks show just how detrimental her absence from Saw IV and Saw V was to those sequels. As the health insurance boss William, Peter Outerbridge is one of the better Saw protagonists, giving a more subtle performance than most. To tie up loose plot threads, or to get murdered by Hoffman in other words, Mark Rolston and Athena Karkanis return as FBI agents Erickson and Perez. The cast also features Samantha Lemole as investigative journalist Pamela Jenkins; Gerry Mendicino, Janelle Hutchison, Shawn Ahmed, Caroline Cave, Larissa Gomes, Karen Cliche, James Gilbert, Melanie Scrofano, Darius McCrary, and Shawn Mathieson as William's doomed staff; George Newbern as an unfortunate client of William's who was denied health insurance coverage on unreasonable grounds; and Shauna MacDonald and Devon Bostick as the mother and son who decide William's ultimate fate. Billy Otis also briefly reprises the role of the slimy drug addict Cecil for more fun overacting.
Overtly taking the heartless American health insurance industry to task, Saw VI is a refreshingly topical application of the franchise's twisted philosophy to a specific real world issue. A showcase of some of the best traps of the series with a satisfyingly gruesome ending that ties up major plot threads, it's hands down the best Saw sequel since Saw III.
BEST TRAP
The shotgun carousel is one of the most twisted and iconic traps of the series, standing out even in a sequel that features so many good traps. The melodrama of William's most cherished, most merciless staff members pleading for their lives and the look of anguish on William's face as he makes each life or death decision is simply delectable. A set piece like this one is an especially welcome surprise considering how this is an astounding six installments into the franchise's run.
FRAGMENTS
- Tanedra Howard who plays the desperate Simone to perfection in the opening trap scene won the role on the first season of the short-lived VH1 acting competition reality show Scream Queens -- also, kudos to Simone for calling out how Jigsaw's philosophy is total bullshit
- The chain-smoking janitor and the loner file clerk are among Jigsaw's least deserving victims
- As a child of the 90s, it's surreal to see Darius McCrary, the erstwhile Eddie Winslow from the long-running ABC sitcom Family Matters, appear in a Saw movie
- Melanie Scrofano who plays insurance inspector Gena would go on to star in the Western horror series Wynonna Earp in the titular lead role -- she also has a recurring role on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as Starfleet Captain Marie Batel
- The retconned revelation of Amanda's involvement in the incident that caused Jill's miscarriage, and Hoffman blackmailing Amanda with this information, feels very hat-on-top-of-a-hat, but for better or worse it adds extra dimension to her decision to shoot Lynn at the end of Saw III
- Hoffman's desperate solution to the reverse bear trap shows as about as much gritty determination as Detective Matthews's solution to the escape the bathroom in the opening scene of Saw III
- The unrated cut of Saw VI features a post credits stinger that takes place during Saw III in which Amanda tells Jeff's daughter not to trust the one who saves her
SUPPLEMENTAL STUFF
- Video: Dead Meat - Saw VI (2009) KILL COUNT
