It's About the Game, Not the Players

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2016)

So, this is more of an essay about the series as a whole, and my belief as to the fact that at its core, the films are supposed to be philosophical. Each one tackles a different philosophical question. Although, granted they did lose some of this quality after their original director and writer left after films one and three respectively. I'll go film by film.
1. Would you kill to save yourself/your loved ones? If you've seen the film, you know the plot, and you know the big twist at the end. And while the characters of Adam and Lawrence have become two of the better known characters in the series. But it's ultimately not about them. It's about the audience having to answer that question for themselves. And it's also a parody of the ideals of masculinity (Adam means man, and he is portrayed as an angry, testosterone fueled @$$hole... incidentally, my first name is also Adam. Not important, but felt like sharing, because what the hell, this is my review.) Lawrence means blessed, and yet Lawrence doesn't see how blessed he is. Finally, we have the killer John Kramer (aka Jigsaw.) Biblically, John wrote the book of Revelation, which is about a destructive message from God. All of his victims receive a destructive message from an omnisentient being.
2. What would you do to survive in a hostile situation? That's what the group of people in the death house have to ask themselves. Ultimately, this film is my favorite of the series because knowing about the monster doesn't decrease the fear you feel for him. It makes him scarier. Same thing with the names. Daniel means God is my judge. From the beginning, Daniel was protected by Jigsaw and Amanda. Eric consequently means ruler, suggesting his authoritative, but ultimately flawed nature.
3. Would an eye for an eye make the whole world blind? A man seeks vengeance for the death of his child and (at the end) the death of his wife. Similarly, one can note that Amanda means: worthy of love. This plays into her character as she is a jealous character who has been hurt by everyone she's ever loved.
Then, they got crappy, so I'll speed up a little.
4. Is apathy ever an answer?
5. Basically a very long, gory argument for collectivism.
6. (My favorite of the post original trilogy.) If you had the power to kill with impunity for profit, should you? (The answer, even outside a fictional world is no.)
7. Is it wrong to capitalize on others misfortunes? (Yes. Very yes.)