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47%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #6,634
...out of 20,879 movies
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The puppets battle their most powerful enemy yet as they protect their new master from the demon God that created the Secret of Life.
--IMDb
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Review by Crispy
Added: September 17, 2007
After an amazing start, the Puppet Master series floundered heavily with the fourth installment. As it were, parts four and five were shot back to back with five being a direct sequel. At least you're prepared for the movie to suck going in, and suck it does.
However, one minor thing they did right. The Puppet Master theme is back to its rightful spot of accompanying the opening credits. You can call me pretentious, but that theme is too great to replace it with that other schlock. Anyway, our young genius Rick is in a tight spot. He's being charged with the murders of the last movie, and obviously his story of "the toys killed them" doesn't exactly hold a lot of water, especially considering he's the chief engineer for a robotics company. Couple that with the fact that upon searching the hotel, the police found Blade, a mechanized doll that looks ready for killing, and Rick realizes that he's pretty much screwed. After Rick narrates us through a not-so-quick run-through of the events of Puppet Master 4 his fortunes improve some. The head of the Omega Department, Dr. Jennings, bails him out. Blade is also able to break his way out and stows away in Rick's bag. After listening to Rick's story, Dr. Jennings realizes that the answer to the Omega Project is in the puppets and hires a couple of goons to break into the hotel and steal them. Back at Suzie's house, Rick and Blade sneak out to take the puppets out of the hotel and out of harm's way. And back in the Cave of the Evil Muppets, the head demon, Sutek, has decided to take matters into his own hands and transfers his life essence into a Super-Totem.
So, I don't know where to start man. Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter is a bit better than the previous entry, but it's still based on that same stupid ass story with Sutek. Granted, there were a few steps in the right direction. The demon looks even worse then he did in four, which I thought would be completely impossible, so it was a nice move to put him in the Totem ASAP, considering they don't look half bad. Of course, this required some huge, overdramatic ceremony that went on for way too long, but after it was over I didn't have to look at that ass-ugly thing anymore, which makes it more than worth it. Besides, said ceremony goes along well with the rest of dumbass, melodrama the script was made up of. At least they were consistent.
Speaking of being consistent, this one has got its fair share of plot holes too. For example, Torch has made his triumphant return. No explanation given where the hell he was in four, he just walks up and it's literally "Hi Torch." Decapitron was another problem. Apparently, he needed a recharge, despite the rest of the puppets being good to go. Ok, he's electrical based; I guess I can let it go. But being hooked up to a generator here does not equal the direct lightning bolt that was required in four. They gave him a new helmet too, which actually looked dumber than his original one. I couldn't believe it either.
The biggest flaw that this movie makes is its pacing. Or rather its lack of one. It doesn't exactly drag on, but at the same time, it just feels like the story doesn't go anywhere. Sutek enters the hotel relatively early on and yet his attacks are extremely spread out. We also get a lot of footage of Jennings's group and Rick randomly searching the hotel. Had they let Sutek enter a bit later into the running time and placed his kills closer together, maybe it would have given the film a sense of direction that it really didn't have.
But it did get a few things right, mostly with their treatment of the puppets. They gave a bit of a redeeming scene for Jester, who they really pussified in Puppet Master 4. Plus, they downplayed Decapitron quite a bit. I was a bit nervous he was going to be the star attraction here. If you can't already tell, I can't stand him. He's got a dumb name, a dumb gimmick and I despise the way Toulon communicates through him. Thankfully, they left his happy ass unconscious in a vent somewhere for most of the running time, and Blade was given the main attention. Smart move, because Blade has led this crew from the first Puppet Master and to put it simply, he's just a cool little puppet. He's got a knife and a hook for hands, spikes for eyes and he's creepy as shit. You're not topping that with a toy who can swap his head with a Tesla coil. Hell, I'd rather see Six Shooter take over, who incidentally was also in fine form here. The best thing that was done here could actually be considered another plot hole by some. After being the goody two shoes for the last two movies, the puppets are allowed to revive a bit of their dark streak again. While I had no problem with the puppets being the good guys, it was nice to see them up to their old tricks.
As is usually the case with these "Final" movies, this is not our last play-date with the puppets. However, I'm really hoping it's our last plotline dealing with this Sutek nonsense. These movies were on an insanely good path, here's hoping they're able to regain it in the following movies. As for this piece of shit, I give it a low 4/10 and that's probably still too generous.
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