themightylebeauThe great thing about the Saw series is that time is amazingly vague. Meaning they could do a movie where Jiggy was still alive (hint hint)
Anywho, timeline!
I
II
III/IV
V
VI
Although they never state where the autopsy takes place I believe it takes place at the beginning of Saw V
My Review
SPOILERS*sigh* I don't even know where to begin. Saw VI was better than Saw V but thats not saying much. I told everyone I know that this will be the last Saw I see.
A - The writing shows little imagination and is horrid ("You killed my dad motherfucker!")
B - Its hard to get attached to characters when they last only one movie
C - Traps are getting ridiculous (A cop is building these things in his spare time? Or if John built these traps ahead of time that guy has AMAZING foresight)
First I'm gonna tackle the technical aspect of the movie.
Charlie Clouser, for shame! Saw VI was nothing but reused tracks with minimal remix/additions. When William gets abducted that was Wilson Steel! Cmon, you can't make a new score? (Sorry, I love Saw scores so I know them well).
Staying on music. During the end they started and stopped Hello, Zepp 4 times.
1 - We find out the family was from a client he denied coverage
2 - Jill starts to put the neo reverse bear trap on Hoffman
3 - William is killed
4 - Jill activates Hoffman's trap and leaves
It annoyed the ever loving piss out of me. Just stick with it!!! Don't start it and stop it again everytime a twist happens.
In regards to the editing. I liked that they somewhat retained the, what I call, Nine Inch Nail editing (when they show a frame for 1/1000th of a second).
Holy inappropriate flashback use, Jigsaw!
Its like Saw VI was aimed at people who never saw Saw IV or Saw V. It treated its viewer like an idiot in my opinion. Not only that they show the same flashback multiple times. The one that sticks out in my mind is when Jill got Johns box ("What's in the box, Ms. Tuck" / "Its contents are of grave importance"), they played that like 3 times! I got it, there is something mysterious in the box, move on!
The traps, ah, the traps. The reason high schoolers and gore hounds go to these things. They were WAY too grandiose. Especially Williams trap. I'm supposed to believe a single cop (with cop duties I imagine) kidnaps 14 people in a single night? 16 if you count the opening trap and that happens within a day of the Williams trap. Sets up the trap facility and gets everyone into place? Seriously? He did THAT in a day! Give Hoffman a hammer and some nails. He could build the homeless a condo in an hour!
He got the 5 envelopes a few hours before ("The game starts tonight"). Sooo.... The traps were set up ahead of time (just in case?) I don't know, it kinda took me out of the movie.
And whats with the recreations of Jeff's trap from Saw III (helping helpless people already in traps)? Rigg did it in Saw IV and William did in Saw VI. It creates a great emotional turmoil on the main trap participant but after the first time it shows lazy writing.
The great thing for Saw I-III (besides its story) is the traps were believable. In an interview with Leigh Whannel (writer of the first trilogy) said the basis for the traps was you could walk into a Home Depot and build these things yourself. Name one trap from the 2nd trilogy that you could build on your own.
The plot (the reason I go)
It was nice to see what caused Amanda to freakout in Saw III in the letter she read. Although (it'll prolly be answered in a sequel) I don't like how it just says "Kill Lynn or I tell". What did Lynn do to piss off Hoffman? Also, did John know that Amanda was responsible for Gideon's death? He must've because in Saw III he tells Amanda there is an important letter in his desk that she must read. So either John found the letter or Hoffman replaced Johns original letter with his own.
Williams game was alright. For the carousel couldn't have William continued to press the buttons after the two reprieves? Worth a try.
I understand the major theme of Williams game was to put a face on the death he indirectly causes but his game spits in Jigsaw's philosophy's face (actually, Saw IV - VI does that too). In Saw IV John says "Everybody deserves a chance."
How is that fair to the people with the barbedwire noose? The man died because he had no friends? Yeah, thats fair, and yeah, it ties into Williams game of "who should live vs. who will live" so its complicated.
The fact that Jill knew about the games since Saw III was a bit silly.
Also, gotta love the mystery of what Jill dropped off at the hospital (Evidence of Hoffman's involvement?)
The way Hoffman got out of his trap was clever but Jill clearly made it unwinnable. Was that in John's will, too? The final shot of him screaming towards the heaven, while a powerful image, was cheesey.
So yeah, I'm done with the saw series. I'll torrent future installments but I'm done (especially since Saw VII will be shot in 3D) paying for them
The traps are ludicrous, way too many plotholes, zero plot progression, zero character development (kinda hard to develop when you die after 1 movie)
The worst of it was, to me, that John was a great character in the first trilogy. He firmly believed in what he was doing and his test subjects held validity. They had purpose to be in those traps. They belonged in those traps. In the 2nd trilogy is seems like they were chosen at random. Like the bald guy in Saw IV's opening trap? He didn't even have a name! Or even Art (John's laywer) why was he in there? Its never stated.
Also he never lied. Never! He misdirected. Like Jeff's first tape from Saw III
"At the end of this trial you will come face to face with the man responsible for the loss of your child"
Now you think its Timothy, the drunk driver who killed his son, but he was referring to himself. And the word 'loss' has many meanings but since Jeff lost his son we, the audience, automatically equate it to the man who ran his son over.
In terms of favorite:
II - III - I - VI - IV - V
Sorry, that was so long. I really enjoyed this series and it was painful watching it sprial downwards like this (especially since Saw III had the perfect ending shot of Jigsaw on his deathbed, finally at peace with the audio of Jeff's screams echoing in the background).
So yeah, I'm interest in everyone else's opinion, theories, thoughts, etc