THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
I almost lost interest with Saw when reaching the fifth film. But since that one had such a clever ending, I couldn't help but wonder how the rest would fall out.
PLOT
Saw VI takes place after the events of the fifth film and opens up two predatory lenders named Simone (Tandera Howard) and Eddie (Marty Moreau), who wake up with helmets on their heads and screws aimed at their temples. Part of a Jigsaw game, they must sacrifice their flesh under a minute and there can only be one winner, depending on who provides the most. When Simone chops off her arm, she survives and Eddie is sacrificed. This game is created by Detective Mark Hoffman, the successor of John Kramer. When Peter Strahm got killed, the only thing that remained intact was a hand. He now uses it to spread fingerprints in crime scenes to cover his tracks, having authorities mistake the deceased cop as the protege serial killer. At the crime scene of Eddie and Simone, he encounters Special Agents Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston) and the alive Lindsay Perez (Athena Karkanis), who faked her death to lure the accomplice. Since they tend to reopen the Jigsaw case, Hoffman agrees to work with them on it. At Eddie's autopsy, Dr. Adam Heffner (James Van Patten) notes that the scalpel used on his body is the same as the one used on Seth Baxter, murderer of Hoffman's sister. This encourages Erickson to move forward on analyzing the videotape found at the crime scene, to distort the speaker's voice. Hoffman visits Jill Tuck, who has been aware of John's actions from the beginning. She gives him five files for the victims of another game, but doesn't give him the sixth. All files were from the black box given by her ex husband's lawyer. The next targets revolve around employees working at the insurance company Umbrella Health, who are held captive at an abandoned zoo. The executive of the company William Easton must complete his tasks within an hour or he will die. Easton is the main target because of the company's policy to turn down clients' coverage for medical treatment; John Kramer was one of the people who got turned down. Easton's first test involves him and his janitor Hank (Gerry Mendicino), as both are suspended in chains with metal vises that'll crush their bodies if they breathe. Since Hank breathed the most, he is killed from the vises. William moves to the second test where two of his employees, Allen (Shawn Ahmed) and Addy (Janelle Hutchinson), who have barbed wire nooses around their necks. As he holds on to two handles, he must let go of one or both will die, as the handle gets pulled away the longer he takes. Ultimately, he lets go of Allen and saves Addy. The next test leads to a boiler room where his company lawyer Debbie (Caroline Cave) is trapped thanks to the steam blocking her way out. He has up to 90 seconds to help her escape and retrieve a key that'll remove a speargun strapped to her body, or it will go off and kill her. He redirects the steam so she can pass through, but he receives burns in return. When she makes it to the end of the maze, she finds pictures acknowledging that the key is inside his body. She tries to kill him with a saw to retrieve it but as he defends himself, the timer goes off and she dies from the spear. In the fourth test, he finds six of his associates stuck in a carousel. A button has to be pressed to save them otherwise they would be shot by a shotgun when it stops. But every time he presses a button, he gets stabbed by a metal spike. Sadly, only two were able to survive. In the final test, he finds three people trapped in cages. On one side is his sister, reporter Pamela Jenkins (Samantha Lemole). The other has Tara (Shauna MacDonald) and Brent (Devon Bostick), the remaining family of Harold Abbott (George Newbern), a former client who succumbed to a heart disease after getting his medical request denied by William. For the Abbotts, they are informed from another Jigsaw message that they have the choice to kill or spare him as there are tanks of hydrofluoric acid connected to each cage. Although Tara hesitates, Brent chooses revenge by pulling the lever. When he does so, needles fall into William's cage and he is stabbed by needles with the acid. As this game happens, Hoffman briefly observes after being called in by Erickson. At a technical lab, the tape from Baxter's trap is found and they attempt to distort the voice. Erickson also points out that Strahm's fingerprints were examined and noted that the agent had died before Eddie. Just when Hoffman's voice is revealed in the tape, he kills Erickson, Perez and a technician to keep his cover. He attempts to cover his tracks by implanting Strahm's fingerprints all over the lab before burning it down. Before Perez dies, she tells Hoffman that everyone knows who he is. When returning to his observation room, he finds a copy of a letter of blackmail he gave to Amanda Young, letting her know that he knows she instigated the hospital clinic robbery that caused Jill's miscarriage. Little does he know that the copy was sent to him by Jill herself. When returning to see the final test, he gets subdued by her and is strapped to a chair. It is revealed that the sixth envelope was meant for him to be the final test, to fulfill the wishes of her ex husband. She attempts to leave him for dead by placing a Reverse Bear Trap on him. However, the film ends with him being able to break free from restraints and remove the trap from his head, with the result of getting his right cheek torn.
THOUGHTS
Since the two prior films were okay in comparison to the first three, I chose to keep my expectations low. Because of that, I was able to get through it. Now that I have, I have to admit that this one is better than the fifth mainly due to upping the ante as in gore. Of all the traps, The Steam Maze was the most unsettling to get through. I've never been in a boiler room before and now, I don't ever want to because of that scene. The theme of appreciating life has a stronger presence here but at the same time, we learn something else: selfishness and self interest in poisonous. That message is in full display because of how it calls out the error in healthcare reform. I know there is more to that debate but with a simple answer, it is a government policy that is rigged. At first, you easily dislike William Easton because of how ruthless he can be at work. But thanks to the performance by Peter Outerbridge, we saw that he still had humanity as he cared for everyone that got trapped. Every time someone died in front of him, you felt the sense of regret he has. Seeing how he realizes this is his doing, it just comes to show how oddly effective Jigsaw's traps are, as in the attempt of reinvention. Considering that he is depicted as the worst of the worst, it blows my mind that he wasn't dealt with much earlier. As for the returning Costas Mandylor is still good being bad. As Hoffman, we see him continue to be shameless of his sadistic actions. Despite the honor he is known for has disappeared deep down, he keeps thinking ahead when he is in trouble. Keeping Strahm's hand to cover his tracks and being able to use his surroundings to get out of a trap is amazingly smart. Those things alone make him a memorable antagonist. When I least expect it, Betsy Russell surprises me once again. As Jill Tuck, we see her to as the most loving wife anyone could have. She may have been stunned of what John was doing, yet she was able to understand his reasoning and remain devoted, which is shocking to say the least. Seeing the flashback where she visited him before the simultaneous games occurred involving Rigg and the Denlons, comes to show how far she'd go to be by his side, besides attempting to kill Hoffman as his final wish. We all know that John Kramer is the face of the franchise, so we had to expect more flashback scenes with Tobin Bell. Seeing him rant on healthcare reform being rigged feels somewhat more powerful every time I see it. Even though this one is a slight improvement, there were many things that keep it from making it great. First off, that post credit scene of Amanda telling the abducted child Corbett to not trust the one who saves her is stupid in so many levels. The child does not return to affect the plot, nor did we get a scene of her telling authorities that Hoffman is a bad man. I know we want to know that Amanda attempted to get him in trouble, but I don't think she was even trying. Also, I bet you $100 that when you read the sing 'Umbrella Health', you mistook this movie for Resident Evil. If this movie copied anything, it was just a company name. Of course it sounds sinister, but they really couldn't think anything else to sound clever? I guess not. The biggest mistake Hoffman does make before destroying the lab was keeping copies of his tapes. If he's doing that, he should've got caught way before this. He even made it weird asking Simone if she learned her lesson. I mean he looked as if he wanted to get caught, although that isn't really his case. During the Oxygen Crusher scene, I find it so confusing how Hank doesn't John Kramer on the tv set. The news talks about Jigsaw on a daily and he comes off as if he's never heard of him. When a serial killer is at large, everyone should know who he/she looks like, so it's unbelievable that he didn't know. And what happened to every survivor of William's game anyway? A total of five people survived and we don't know what happened to them at all after William died. There is not a single scene of anyone breaking from restraints and escaping their captivity and I can't stand this plot hole. Lastly, seeing Harold's son flip the switch on him could've led to a better idea of a Saw film, but they really dropped the ball on that. However, I still think you can enjoy this film if ignoring my said flaws. To wrap up, Director Kevin Greutert gives another decent entry to the torture porn franchise. If you're still on board with Saw, another wish of good luck is passed on from me to you.
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