Saw V - 2/5

This is by far the weakest in the franchise yet. "Saw V" just misses some of the things that made its predecessors stand out as Horror films and as good sequels. This one also has some of the worst acting in the series and the worst dialogue (which is saying something) when it comes to the characters.

I think my biggest issue with "Saw V" is how it fails to truly intertwine the two parts of the story. We have the ongoing investigation with Strahm as he searches for the new Jigsaw and we have the new victims and the new traps. Unfortunately, it never really makes them intertwine until the ending and even then its somewhat a bare minimum. This lack of the clever pacing is what hurts this film the most and throws off the expectations that we have as fans. Not to mention the 'twist' at the end isn't really a twist (and a huge disappointment coming after "IV"'s killer twist) and more of a step to leading us into a new sequel which of course will happen.

Throw on that a story that leaves far too much hanging by the end (I'm assuming these are threads for the next film - so rating might go up slightly after seeing "VI") and I felt as though that this film felt far too much like a filler sequel to prepare us for the next one which is somewhat of a disappointment on my end.

Although it does have some moments, like explaining how the new Jigsaw has fit into the entire franchise thus far, this one feels a bit too watered down and far too surface value for a good "Saw" film. Definitely looking forward to seeing if "VI" pays off on all the story elements that were left unfinished. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider