Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: The police close in on Hoffman as a man pretending to be a Jigsaw survivor is tested.
Review: At last, we come to the final entry in this franchise. Was it a worthy conclusion? Not really. It wasn't completely horrible either--it was more of a mixed bag with just enough fan service to be considered decent. I don't know what I was expecting at this point really since my interest was waning. I hoped there would be an epic revelation that would change the perspective of the entire franchise, but, instead, we got a final twist that fans speculated about since part 2 and was, pretty much, spoiled from the opening scene. Also, I can't speak toward the 3D aspect since I never watched this in theaters nor does my DVD have the capability (I have the 10th anniversary collection); it doesn't look as though you're missing out on much.
Right from the get-go we are shown the fate of Dr. Gordon. Why? This should have been saved for later. Likewise, showing Dr. Gordon later on in the story was moronic when you deliberately had him in the shadows. Seriously, what the fuck?! I know humanity has reached an unprecedented level of stupidity, but I think audiences can handle a Dr. Gordon revelation without it being spoon-fed all movie long. Whatever, dude. Anyway, we get an opening trap that is, maybe, the most unbelievable in the entire franchise. As many have pointed out over the years, how was this trap constructed right in the middle of an apparent shopping district? Besides being implausible, who made this trap? The timeline is so ill-defined that it makes the trap nothing more than a shock and awe kill rather than a significant piece of the plot. We are not off to a good start here! The only amusing aspect to the trap was that it had two guys agree to kill the chick who was cheating on both of them. Game over, bitch!
After Hoffman escapes from the reverse beartrap, he decides it is time to bail on this whole Jigsaw thing yet takes the time to begin YET ANOTHER fucking gauntlet of traps! Oh Rika, help me. Seriously, Jigsaw did not set up this many fucking traps before dying! And if Hoffman set this up, when did he have time? Even if Jigsaw supposedly set this shit up ahead of time, Hoffman still had to find the time to capture all of these people, right? How is anything in this movie happening?! They imply Hoffman wants out in part 5 yet it seems like he wants to continue this shit in this movie. The inconsistencies are killing me. Moving along...Jill goes to some detective about Hoffman being Jigsaw's accomplice and they begin hunting him down. I love how they shoehorn this relationship between Hoffman and this detective at the last minute.
While the cops are after Hoffman (whatever happened to the FBI by the way?), the gauntlet is being run by a guy who got famous for pretending to be a survivor of Jigsaw's traps. Now this was a move in the right direction. Besides being a creative concept, it allowed the plot to realistically introduce past characters for little cameos. This is where we see Dr. Gordon again which was stupid to reveal he was alive and well at this point; he should have been kept in the shadows or shown as a shadowy figure limping around. So the fake survivor's gauntlet is a play on the see, hear, and speak no evil concept as he must save those who covered up the truth. You'd think someone would finally beat Jigsaw at his own game or something, but the fake survivor fails to save anyone and that's sort of that. While I did like this scenario a great deal, and it's an awesome final gauntlet, it feels pointless nonetheless. It doesn't connect to the main story of catching Hoffman and serves as just background noise--a series of traps that came out of nowhere that Hoffman had no reason to execute other than to keep the cops busy.
Unrelated to the gauntlet, Hoffman set up--SURPRISE--another trap to distract police in order for him to sneak into the police station and finally kill Jill. The residual detectives and police are all killed too, for the lulz, and no one is left alive who knows that Hoffman is the last accomplice...or so we are led to believe. Shocking no one at this point, Dr. Gordon shows up at the last second to abduct Hoffman. Dr. Gordon has help which, allegedly, are the two goofballs from the first trap. I guess we could conclude that Jigsaw's method was working and that others wanted to help but come on, son. Regardless, Dr. Gordon takes Hoffman to the classic bathroom trap we keep coming back to throughout the series. Chaining Hoffman up, Dr. Gordon takes the saw away so that Hoffman is left to rot. The film ends with the final "game over" as Hoffman is left in the dark. This would have felt infinitely more satisfying if we didn't know Dr. Gordon was coming. Plus, the notion that Dr. Gordon was working with Jigsaw yet went back to his regular job is utterly preposterous! I can handle a lot of bullshit, but I can't believe that Jigsaw had Hoffman, Amanda, Jill, and Dr. Gordon all as his accomplices! Come the fuck on!
I'm rating this the same as part 1, but I think this entry is just a tad better. The fake survivor was a great idea, Dr. Gordon's reveal was still fun despite the squandering, the various cameos were cool, and I can appreciate the "all in" mentality. However, this was nowhere near as satisfying of a conclusion as part 3 would have been, the idiocy in the plot is truly astounding, and the traps come off as background noise when they should have been pivotal to the story. But is this truly the end? There are still a few things left unresolved and Hoffman is still alive. The producers have talked about making another one or even a reboot so I guess we will just have to wait and see. In the meantime...GAME OVER!
Notable Moment: When we see the survivor group. It was a cool way to bring back old characters, but they certainly didn't capitalize on the idea either.
Final Rating: 5.5/10
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