Reader Feedback: SAW V - What Did You Think?

If you make the trip to the movie theater this weekend, chances are you're there seeing SAW V, Clint Eastwood's Changeling, High School Musical 3 (although I doubt the demographic that reads /Film would be caught dead watching that film) or Pride and Glory. We want to know what you thought! Post your comments below.

Thursday I went to the SAWfest marathon in San Francisco. I had only seen the first two films in the series (which it turns out are probably the best films in the series). I still contend that the first SAW film is a great indie thriller (not even a horror movie). For those who don't know, SAW actually played at the Sundance Film Festival, and was a relatively low budget effort. Not that the sequels aren't low budget compared to the average Hollywood release now-a-days, but the first film was a real indie film. I also think the SAW films don't get enough credit for the morality aspect of the traps and situations.

The series did lose it's way, especially when you get to the fourth film, which I'm still trying to make sense of. But I think SAW V is a step in the right direction. That said, I also wouldn't call it a good film. To me the SAW series almost plays like a disjointed television show. Some of the films in the series even begin with a "What happened last week on SAW" type opening recap.

And while they're certainly not great films, its somewhat refreshing to see sequels that are actual sequels, and not just another episode or adventure. Each of the SAW film attempts to tie itself into the previous stories within the mythology. Sometimes that means bringing back actors and sets from the previous films, and other times it means rewriting the way things went down in order to create another layer of depth. And yes, sometimes these extra layers make relatively no sense. Especially when you see the films back to back in a movie marathon. But again, to me it plays like watching episodes of 24 on Fox.