Saw VI (2009)

Credits / Details

67%
Overall Rating

Ranked #1,424
...out of 20,905 movies

Genres: Horror Sadistic Horror

Connections: Saw

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood. --IMDb

Review by Tobes
Added: March 4, 2010

The Saw franchise is perhaps one of my favorite franchises, ever. In August and September, I start ignoring any TV ads for the film so nothing is ruined and I start getting my hopes up for another awesome gory installment. Halloween rolls around, and I anxiously await the huge twist at the end I'll never see coming of the film, and wonder how they'll out top the traps and gore from the year before. I'm like the Linus of the horror world, and I'm more then okay with that. All of this obviously makes me a "unbiased" reviewer of Saw VI, but oh well, lets do this.

Saw VI picks up right at the end of the Saw V, with Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) resetting the trap that he killed Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) with at the end of Saw V. The story picks up with the investigation of "Strahm's" Jigsaw killings, as well as catching up with Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell), and the box that John/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) gave her as part of the will. It also starts the next killing game, this time played by William Easton (Peter Outerbridge). William is the head of a major health insurance company who loves his job. His job of course, entails himself and his dog pack (six employees, one of which is played by Eddie Winslow [Darius McCrary]) who scan people's insurance claims, and try to dis-prove/find errors in the claims. After rejecting someone for a completely ridiculous reason, Bill hangs out at the office a little later then usual, and once the power goes out, the game begins.

The story progresses like any Saw movie, with gross traps here and there, life lessons to be dished out, and lives to be "saved". Most of the film deals with Jill and Hoffman's involvement in 'The Game' now, especially since John's been dead for quite some time. The introduction of William into the movie ties some of the old plotholes up, and the flashbacks throughout this movie tie up a LOT of the old plotholes that have been going during the entire movie series. They did a good job with the flashbacks, and give a lot of back story to most of the cast (Jill and John, Amanda and Hoffman as Jigsaw helpers, and a lot more of John's progression into the Jigsaw killer mentality.) There's a few "new" characters introduced into the movie, and they fit into the story just as well as the old ones do.

The biggest draw of the Saw franchise, if not for the gore/violence/fucked up-ness of the traps, is there's always a major twist or revelation at the end of the movie, and a true life lesson to be learned, that's presented by someone who's at this point known to be a murderer (John/Jigsaw). The twists in this movie, are just as good, if not better then the other movies in the series so far. They are also spread out a little more throughout the movie, and not just one huge one at the end of the film. Little things like this keep the series "fresh", and keep me wanting more and more sequels.

Visually, the series is as gross as ever, but not in the same way some of the older films were. While the beginning of Saw VI has a really disgusting opening, most of the rest of the movies visual scares aren't necessarily gory, but more just a lot of fucked up situations. The traps are more realistic as well, but in the sense that you can almost picture yourself in them, and how they might feel to be part of them.

As for the cast, they all definitely still have their hearts in the project. Tobin Bell still does an AMAZING Jigsaw in his scenes, and his words are as cryptic yet deep as ever. The whole police squad working with Hoffman while suspecting him is an interesting dynamic, and the head of the insurance company is such an asshole, that you pull for him to learn something, yet when he suffers you feel a little better about it. There's a great scene with him talking to John (as a flashback obviously) where John puts him in his place, and I actually chuckled out loud when I saw it in the theater. Little touches like this I love, and I'm sure I look a little odd giggling during a Saw movie, but oh well.

At first, the Saw franchise was supposed to stop at six movies (which was stated, as well as backed up by the fact that after Saw III, Tobin Bell signed up for 4-6). The way the plot comes together in this movie, would tell me that they wanted to perhaps still stop the franchise while this was being made, but decided against it at the last minute. Most every question from the Saw series is answered in the movie, but there's a few things that happen that add just enough questions to warrant a seventh movie (which has been announced, in 3-D). As a whole, this film is just as good and fresh as the first one, and I'm glad that even though this is starting to get a little crazy with the amount of sequels, I'm still enjoying every one.

As an aside, I think one of my favorite parts of the Saw franchise, is that I'm old enough to enjoy the entire franchise, and to be a part of it. While I love Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm St, for example, I was too young when they all came out to be able to enjoy the runs they both made. Saw is definitely a newer generations "horror series".

10/10.

#1: Nirrad - added March 4, 2010 at 9:53pm
Definitely a step up from part 5, and one of the better, if not the best sequel of the franchise. The gore in this one is top notch. I love it. 8.5/10

#2: Chad - added March 5, 2010 at 8:11am
Yes it was. This is the first Saw movie that I've really enjoyed in quite some time, and it's good to see that they're getting away from the "you have to analyze the previous movies for minor details to explain things in this one" trend that seemed to be getting popular. Not a perfect movie, not even the best of the series, but enjoyable nonetheless. 9/10.

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