Saw VI

Perhaps legislation isn’t the best way to prevent predatory lenders and insurance agents from creating an economic crisis. Perhaps the government should take a page from Jigsaw’s book and torture them into being better people. It works in Saw VI.

The sixth installment of the series that has defined the term “torture porn” goes back to the time of Saw III in which John Kramer/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) has just died. The rest of the narrative consists of a variety of flashbacks, some of which have been shown in previous films, related to the newest Jigsaw impersonator, Lieutenant Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), and his minions. 

If you’re looking for the hallmark gruesome puzzles, split-second decisions and bone-chilling torture devices, the movie won’t disappoint. But writers Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton bring nothing new to the table in their third Saw episode. They rope characters feebly related to the world’s financial woes into their formulaic survival games, forcing them to reflect upon the despair they cause their clients. Most of the film follows insurance executive William (Peter Outerbridge) as he struggles to save his own life. In an interesting twist, his clients get to choose his gruesome fate in the end. Financially-stricken audience members cheer on. Hooray hydrofluoric acid! Hooray bed of needles!

In all, the film serves to put more pieces of the vague puzzle that is Jigsaw’s life into place. But if you have a puzzle solved from the start, the only reason to continue adding pieces is if you like the process. Let it be known that the process is still torture.