Ok, so in my review of Saw IV I suspected that the series was suffering from the opposite of the Star Trek curse i.e. the odd-numbered films were good and the even-numbered films were bad. That suspicion was completely disproven by the end of Saw V because while it is stronger than its predecessor in some areas, Saw V exhibits a blatant flaw that, if not addressed in future entries, could prove devastating for the remainder of the series.

Not long after discovering Jigsaw’s base, FBI agent Peter Strahm (Scott Patterson) is attacked and wakes up locked in a trap, which he escapes. Jigsaw protégé Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who has just been promoted for his alleged closing of the Jigsaw case, is alarmed by Strahm’s escape and takes steps to ensure the agent does not uncover his work with John Kramer. While a game of cat-and-mouse ensues between the FBI agent and Lieutenant Detective, five prisoners participate in a series of tests that will reveal a dire truth linking them.

The Flaw

I’ve only got one thing to say about the horror (or gore rather) hence I won’t bother dedicating a whole section to that, but the flaw I pointed out in the beginning spreads so far and wide, I think it’ll make this review shorter and easier to read if I just say what it is and describe the ripple effects.

Saw V cannot decide if it wants to be about the people who are locked in the traps or about the people who make them. If Saw V was about the people in the traps, the film would focus on the five prisoners. If it was about the people who make the traps, then it would focus on Strahm and Hoffman.

Just like its immediate predecessor, Saw V takes some good plots, or good ideas for plots in this case, and tries and fails to make them whole.

There is little to no connection between the prisoners and the enforcers. In a flashback, we learn that before he died John Kramer asked Hoffman to arrange a game involving the five prisoners. We see Hoffman respect Kramer’s wish in a scene where the Detective Lieutenant glances at the players on his monitors. That’s the only thing that links these two stories.

In my opinion, the plot following Hoffman and Strahm is the most compelling and logical progression from Saw IV.

While pointless, the plot regarding the five prisoners offers a somewhat new take on what is becoming a very derivative formula. From the word get-go, we learn that the prisoners are, to varying extents, privileged and share a survival-of-the-fittest mentality. This plot could’ve made for a good standalone film but since it’s crammed in next to a thriller story, it feels like it’s just there to fulfil the trap quota.

I say trap quota and not gore quota because, compared to the last two films, the gore in Saw V is quite restrained. The most graphic sequence occurs in the opening, where a convicted killer is sliced in half by a pendulum. After that, the gore doesn’t resume until the very end, which would be very admirable if the plot or plots were better incorporated.

Speaking of plots, just because one is more interesting than the other doesn’t mean it’s good by itself. Strahm hunting Hoffman and Hoffman trying to get Strahm off his trail is a great idea, however its execution needs a lot of work.

More needs to happen for starters. Most of the plot just chronicles Strahm’s independent investigation. Hoffman immediately suspects that Strahm is on his tail but the plans Hoffman puts into place to counter Strahm we don’t see until the climax, so we’re stuck with Strahm.

He learns everything we know already as well as Hoffman’s history, how he was mentored by John Kramer and how he assisted in the capture and rigging of prisoners. This private investigation runs for several scenes, each with its own flashback, all ending with Strahm yelling “Ah ha!” It’s really tedious.

Not the worst Saw film but definitely a turning point in the series, where it goes from here I’m not sure. I know we’ve got two films to go before we get into reboot territory with Jigsaw and Spiral so I can only hope that parts VI and VII are a lot better than I remember.

I give Saw V a deserved 5 out of 10.