Saw V
Tags: clever, revenge, gothic, violence, flashback

Plot synopsis:
The film starts with Seth (Joris Jarsky	) in the pendulum trap. It is revealed Seth is a murderer who was released early from prison due to a technicality. Seth is told by Jigsaw's puppet that if he wants to live he has to destroy the things he has used to kill-his hands.The trap is later revealed to be unwinnable, but Seth is made to believe that the aim of the trap is for him to push buttons inside of two devices which would crush both of his hands before a bladed pendulum (intended to slice him in half) descends upon him. Seth had in fact, crushed his hands, but as the trap is unwinnable, the Pendulum does not stop. From the side of the room, somebody watches Seth getting sliced in half through a peep hole.Meanwhile, Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) shoots Jeff (Angus Macfadyen) and enters the room where Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) died. After investigating and finding Jigsaw's corpse, the door is locked on Strahm by Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor). Strahm finds a hidden door in the room and kicks it open. The outlines of the door had been painted with glow in the dark paint, only visible in the dark. The door leads down a new hallway. Strahm finds a tape recorder and plays it. Jigsaw's voice addresses him on the recording and warns him not to proceed, but to stay where he is, stating that he can find salvation or let his "insatiable hunger to uncover the truth drive (him) deeper in the abyss." Jigsaw urges him to make the right choice. Strahm disregards the warning and leaves the room, walking down the hallway. He is soon attacked by a figure in a pig mask, presumably Hoffman. He wakes to find himself in one of Jigsaw's traps. His head is in a sealed box, which quickly starts to fill with water. Before he runs out of air, he performs a tracheotomy with the tube of a ballpoint pen in order to breathe. The police make it to the Gideon warehouse, and Hoffman emerges carrying Corbett (Niamh Wilson), claiming that he saved her. Strahm is carried out on a stretcher, still alive, but badly injured.The next day the police hold a service for all the people who have died chasing Jigsaw. The Chief of Police (Al Sapienza) announces that the Jigsaw murders are over and promotes Hoffman. John Kramer's ex-wife, Jill (Betsy Russell) is given a videotape and box from John's lawyer. The contents of the box, says John, are of grave importance to her. After looking in the box, Jill leaves without telling John's lawyer what's inside. Later she meets Agent Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston), Strahm's boss, and informs him she believes Agent Strahm is following her.Strahm is shown mourning next to a empty hospital bed, because Agent Perez (Athena Karkanis) died during the night. Agent Erickson, Strahm's boss, visits Strahm telling him he has taken him off the Jigsaw case. Strahm is dismayed and angered. Hoffman walks into the room. Strahm starts to act suspicious and says that Perez's final word was "Hoffman." Hoffman worriedly says he has no idea what Strahm is talking about. He heads back to his office and finds a note for him saying "I know who you are." Hoffman gets worried that his secret is threatened, and that he may be in danger. Later, Hoffman heads off to a lair where several monitors are placed on a table, depicting five unconscious people on the first monitor.Meanwhile, the five people wake up in a sewer, in a neck tie trap. They are told by Jigsaw's puppet that "Five will become one, with the common goal of survival." He states that while their "lifelong instincts will tell you to react one way, I implore you to do the opposite." The first part of their test involves pulling against a cable to get a key at the end of the room to release themselves. The consequence for not completing the trap is to be beheaded. They deduce they need to work quickly as nail bombs are set to go off in the room once the timer counts down. Mallick (Greg Bryk) gets anxious and runs ahead, starting the timer. In the end, everyone, except for Ashley, gets their keys. Ashley (Laura Gordon) is eventually beheaded by the blade once the cable is pulled tight. The group walks through a door to the next room.Strahm, contemplating what his deceased partner said, heads over to FBI headquarters to find files on Hoffman. He finds a file saying that Hoffman's sister was murdered, and her killer (Seth) was killed in his trap, which was revealed to have taken place before the events of the first film. Strahm comes to the conclusion that Hoffman killed Seth, but staged it as a Jigsaw trap. Hoffman designed and orchestrated the trap himself using a voice modulator to disguise his voice as Jigsaw's and designed his own puppet to deliver Seth's message. A flashback depicting Hoffman looking at the pendulum trap ensues, as he was the person watching at the start of the film. Some time after Seth's death, Hoffman is kidnapped by Jigsaw who has discovered who was truly responsible for Seth's death. Jigsaw scolds Hoffman and blackmails him into working for him, which Hoffman reluctantly agrees to. Hoffman is then shown, through flashbacks, setting up the house trap, talking to Jigsaw before the events of "Saw IV", and kidnapping Paul (Mike Butters). After watching Paul fail his trap through a peephole, Jigsaw gives Hoffman Dr. Gordon's penlight, which he would later plant at Mark's crime scene. Logic reveals that there must have been at least one Jigsaw victim, unknown to the viewers, tested before Paul, where the puppet was used. That way, Hoffman and the authorities would know of the puppet, and Hoffman could use it for Seth's trap. By the end of these events, Hoffman is a willing apprentice to Jigsaw.Back in the sewers, Charles (Carlo Rota), Mallick, Luba (Meagan Good), and Brit (Julie Benz) make it to the next trap. In this trap, the group has to smash jars filled with glass to find keys to enter bomb shelters before a bomb goes off in the sewer. There are four bomb shelters, but only three of the keys will fit the locks. Jigsaw's puppet tells the group to decide which of them will be "the odd man out." Mallick begins to smash the jars with a pole. Charles beats Mallick with a pole down to the ground, with the intent of sacrificing Mallick's life so the rest can escape to safety. Brit and Luba pick up keys. Mallick attempts to pick up a key but Charles steps on his hand and takes it. Just as Charles is about to enter his shelter, Luba hits him with a pole and gives the key back to Mallick. The trio enter the shelter and leave Charles to die by the explosion. Luba, Mallick, and Brit make it to their next test. In this test, they have to find a way for five cords of electricity to make it into a bath of water to complete a circuit opening the door to the next test. However, the cords are not long enough to reach the bath water so they think they need to use a person's body as an electrical conductor. Luba tries to kill Mallick to use his body, but Brit stabs Luba in the neck, saying she never trusted her. Mallick and Brit use Luba's body for the electricity to reach the bath, and the door opens to their final test.
Meanwhile, Hoffman steals Strahm's cell phone from the evidence locker and plants it at the house where Brit and Mallick's game is being held, in hopes to frame him. Strahm is now sure that Hoffman is Jigsaw's apprentice. Meanwhile, Brit and Mallick make it to their final test. In this test they have to stick their hands in rotating saws and bleed into a beaker. When the beaker fills with the labeled volume of their blood, the door to the room will unlock and they will be free to go. Before they start the test they realize that there are five saws and five openings on the contraption, for which to stick arms into. They then realize that everyone could have made it through every test alive. Only one key was needed to unlock each neck restraint in the first trap, the bomb shelters had room for two in the second trap, and each person could have sustained a mild electric shock to complete the circuit in the third trap. It is also revealed that they were all connected by an act of arson that happened some time ago which resulted in the death of 8 people. In the final test, each could have given just two pints of blood and easily lived. Brit and Mallick realize the aim of their game was to work together and to help keep all five alive, unlike "survival of the fittest", as they had all thought. With no other options, the two remaining survivors begin sawing their arms in an attempt to fill the beaker meant for five with 10 pints of their blood. Just as Brit and Mallick fill the beaker with blood, finishing the final test, a FBI agent named Erickson (Strahm's superior whom Hoffman fooled into trailing Strahm's cell phone signal) arrives at the scene. Both pass out from blood loss as Erickson finds them and calls for backup. It appears as though Brit survived and Mallick did not. FBI agent Erickson, having found the Jigsaw files Hoffman planted, along with Strahm's cell phone, issues an APB on Strahm, assuming him to be the other Jigsaw accomplice.Strahm follows Hoffman to a new location, possibly Hoffman's house. It is revealed that the house is the same one from Saw II where the group game took place. The house has since been refurbished and made liveable. Strahm follows Hoffman into the house and finds the trap door leading to the underground structure of the house. Passing the bathroom, its door sealed closed, Strahm finds a new room and enters it. Inside the room is a transparent box filled with broken glass and a recording featuring Hoffman's voice, rather than Jigsaw's. Hoffman urges Strahm to have trust and to get into the box. He'll be hurt, but has a chance at life. Strahm shuts off the tape when he hears Hoffman walking in the distance behind him. Strahm hides behind the door and shortly after, Hoffman walks into the room while Strahm approaches Hoffman from behind, holding him at gunpoint. Following an altercation, Strahm shoves Hoffman into the box, sealing him in. Hoffman signals for Strahm to play the rest of the tape. The rest of the tape plays and explains the rest of the rules to Strahm, making him realize he would have lived if he had gotten into the box, stating that if he wouldn't, the room would become his tomb, and he would simply "vanish". Jigsaw's tape addressing Strahm at the beginning of the film was not referring to the "sick room", but the current one. The walls begin to close in on the room as the glass box lowers into the floor, safe from the enclosing walls. Strahm attempts to break into the glass box by shooting it and trying to pull it open, but the glass material is impenetrable. Strahm starts shouting at Hoffman, "I know who you are!". Soon the walls come close enough for Strahm to attempt to climb up to the ceiling and escape by the roof filter. However, it is too late, and he becomes slowly crushed by the walls while Hoffman watches Strahm getting crushed from down below. With all evidence planted to frame Strahm for being the next Jigsaw accomplice, Hoffman is now able to continue his work as Jigsaw's surviving apprentice, undetected, leaving the Jigsaw legacy pinpointed at Strahm who is in fact dead.It is also believed that Jigsaw's autopsy occured after the events of Saw V, giving new insight to Hoffman being "the last man standing", now that Strahm is dead. Therefore, Hoffman has yet to be tested as promised by the tape found at the autopsy. The beginning/end of Saw IV was not the setup for Saw V but presumably (and hopefully) Saw VI.

Review: The knowledge gained doesn't force any re-evaluation of the past events it concerns; you just see and know a bit more about them, and to no great effect, except for the fact that Tobin Bell's performance is always compelling, maybe even more so when he's talking to people who aren't stuck in Jigsaw's deathtraps.The Saw films have demonstrated an unfeasibly high success rate over time in terms of pulling off twist after twist and having them nearly all hit home.
The film answers as many questions as it raises, and serves as more of an origin movie, like Saw IV did.
It's more of a thriller with some gruesome images (like the first film) than a full blown horror movie (like parts II & III).In the end, what it comes down to as far as your ability to enjoy the movie, you have to ask yourself this question: "why do I watch the Saw series?".
If you watch the series for pure shock and awe and disgust, you'll be disappointed, because Saw V does not try to be a horror film outside of a few scenes.
Given that the Saw films are notable for their unexpected plot twists, the fact that this was the most predictable one makes it difficult to see why it scored the "You won't believe how it ends" tagline.
The movie again is also featuring lots of flashbacks, which shows events that happened in the previous movies, often seen from a different side this time but some of these flashbacks however are quite pointless for the movie once you start thinking about it.I also blame Hoffman for it that this movie doesn't work out as good and interesting as any of the other sequels.
All Saw movies have a great look and atmosphere over them, though this one works out as the least effective one when it comes down to its atmosphere and horror/thriller elements because of the reason that this movie features very little new elements.The Jigsaw games themselves also seem less innovative and clever.
It's still gruesome and lots of bloods and guts can be seen flying around but it's just less surprising and shocking all.Lets hope "Saw VI" will have some fresh new good ideas and a better script with some better- and more interesting characters in it.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
So in closing I think this movie may be adequate for the die hard saw fans, not nearly good enough for new comers, and winds up lacking far more than it gives.
Saw V was a decent film, but sadly it is nothing compared to the first 4 and is the weakest of the lot.I felt the acting was very poor at times from most of the cast, but Tobin Bell still managed a very good performance as the sick and twisted "Jigsaw", it's a shame he didn't get much screen time.The other problem I had with the film was that it didn't really feel like a saw film while watching, it seemed like they wanted to focus on the drama more than the actual traps.
But with saying that, the main game with Malick, Brit, Luba, Charles and Ashley is VERY well done and entertaining, it's a shame they didn't show it more.Overall, this is a pretty good film, with a bit of a let down ending (but still shocking).PS.
However, Hoffman lures Strahm and incriminates him making Dan Erickson (Mark Rolston) believe that Strahm is the criminal in another deadly game that Strahm has to play to survive."Saw V" is another stupid films of this absurd franchise.
I couldn't figure out where the film was on the timeline at certain points - at one point I though Jigsaw had come back from the dead.The truth is, you don't really care about the characters, the games are poorly conceived and it seems that the makers just want to go for gore and guts without going any deeper, which would be the smart thing to do.I expect these films will just keep going and going, they should have quit while they were ahead but alas, money is the dictator.
The acting is just horrible and the story line is just ridiculous the only good thing about this one is the most brutal Saw death or maybe even movie death ever ( Wall closing in scene)This movie is about Marc Hoffman the last living predecessor of the jigsaw murderer.
He sets us a new game as another FBI agent tries to close the book on the jigsaw murders and put away Hoffman for good.This movie was terrible compared to the other saw movies.
In this respect, Saw V may just be the best film in the whole series, utilizing plenty of flashbacks, insane traps, and a plethora of returning characters.
which although this movie is OK and fans of the saw series will like it, lets hope the 6th one has more of a twist to it..
This film was entirely unnecessary to the series and other than to see a few good traps, this movie could be excluded from your Saw collection and not be missed..
Churning out no less than five films onto the Hollywood Halloween Horror frame in the same amount of years the Saw series knows its audience, its largely male, stumbling through adolescence onwards to the thirty something gore fiends looking for the latest offering in the now rapidly declining 'shock horror / torture porn' genre that the first film brought to prominence in 2004.After the events of Saw III shook the franchise with its inventive ending and then, somewhat competently handled the aftermath in the fourth entry, Saw V begs to ask the question: Who's left to slice and dice?
The roller-coaster only can maintain its pace for some time before you hit some slow corners and V is a sign the ride is coming to an end fast.On one hand the film wants to be a detective thriller, yet is hampered by so many explanatory flashbacks sequences (to understand how the apprentice came to this point) that anyone not familiar with the events of the previous 3 sequels would develop an aneurysm from trying to put it all together.
Two detectives start to close in on the twisted madman- but are they as clean cut as they seem?From the off set it's pretty clear to see the plot to no less than the fifth instalment of the grisly Saw franchise is just a little bit piecemeal to say the least.
There is a series of flashbacks that jumps back and forth between past and present (and more than one previous Saw sequel), making the movie convoluted and confusing.
The whole scenario is remarkably similar to Cube, a far more interesting movie.The other story is a detective named Mark Hoffman who is involved with Jigsaw as sort of an unwilling accomplice, and then there is an Agent Strahm that is investigating the killings from outside Jigsaw's world, trying to figure out what's going on while the five strangers are killed off one by one.By this point in the series, hardcore Saw fans (which I am guessing make up about 90% of the remaining audience) will probably be mostly interested in the new torture devices, but the movie spends a huge amount of it's relative short running time jumping around in flashbacks and side stories, including one about Jigsaw's daughter, who has inherited a mysterious box, the contents of which Jigsaw explains are "of grave importance."Agent Strahm, early in the film, escapes a trap that was not meant to kill him but to test him, and he begins to suspect a copycat killer or that Jigsaw had an accomplice.
It's totally lightless from beginning to end, a cheap horror technique that gets real old real quick.Not much effort is put into having a good twist at the end of the movie, although the closing scene does have the element of surprise and, like mostly all of the movies before it, is pretty painful to watch.
And the yearly sequels are not faring much better.Picking up after the rather bizarre finale of Saw IV and a ridiculous graphic torture scene, Saw V begins with Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) emerging virtually unscathed from one of Jigsaw's (Tobin Bell) traps.
FBI Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) has also survived, and believes that Jigsaw's work is being continued by a new apprentice.What follows, for anyone who knows the franchise well, is a series of flashbacks, turns, crosses and wrap-ups.
But if you do, you will see some tried and tested problems that still have yet to work themselves out.Taking out any glaring continuity errors and changes made on the fly, the film suffers from the same fate as Saw IV in that it does not feel like a complete movie.
Yes, I went in thinking it would be worse than Saw IV, but throwing in new director David Hackl seems to have done the film a little bit of good.
As Saw 3 came around, the horror and suspense was gone and it seemed to just be a gore show with another twist that led to another sequel, which is what this one did.The story continues as Hoffman tries to hide his identity as Jigsaw's apprentice.
After only a 30 Minute Gig Johnny Rotten looks at the Audience and says..."Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" This because the Band, Out of Sync most of the Time, Sid Vicious barely able to Stand Up, Cutting Himself with Razors instead of "Playing" the Bass, and overall just a Disastrous Display of Depravity, the Crowd Booing constantly, the Seminal Punk Band just left the Stage and that was the End, Literally.This Entry in the Never Ending Series isn't much more than a Boring Rehash and seems Out of Sync and Not Knowing when to Leave the Stage, is Repetitive with some of the Lamest Lead Acting ever Committed to Film.
This is the fourth sequel to the gruesome horror movie Saw, where Jigsaw's deadly game continues despite his death, luring a new set of victims in his trap - five strangers trying to play a "survival the fittest" game.
Meanwhile, Agent Strahm is on the trail of the case of Jigsaw's games and his apprentices.The story continues the same elements seen the previous three films, including mind-playing games, blood, gore and graphic scenes.
The identity of Jigsaw's operative in the police force was revealed at the end of IV (a much better film in every way), and if we even WANTED to know the reasons that this particular cop 'went over to the dark side', we certainly wanted it to be a much more interesting and involving story than the one V gives us.
Meanwhile, Agent Strahm, after escaping a trap set for him, is determined to find out what Hoffman has been up to.....I liked the first 3 Saw movies.
This one takes a new route and goes to nowhere with a new story (if there was a story) and tries really hard to bring the franchise back on its feet (which it failed to do).The traps where O.K but I prefer a good story and I was actually waiting for the ending hoping that the twist may save the poor and boring movie.
If, like me, you love the past Saw movies, enjoy their inventive twists, their clever story lines and the great traps, then you will enjoy Saw 5 a great deal (well maybe be a bit disappointed with the ending, more on that later).
His way of Directing produces an Uncanny ability to Effortlessly tell the story and glide through scenes very easily (kudos to the editing for that one too).The traps of SAW V are very much different from the previous films, they are much more practical and have multiple methods of solving or dealing with them.
SAW V is really good movie but its had no compared things of the main parts.The Problem is The act and the camera moves is so different from the other part maybe because it directed by David Not Darren and this is the problem.the actors act very great in the movie specially Tobin Bell And His Character "Jigsaw", Tobin did really great job and the fans will be pleased.the games and traps are so great and fantastic and really good.
The story yet again carries on from the previous film as Hoffman continues his 'ingenious' continuation of Jigsaw's work, while a hotshot agent beats the trap and sets out to hunt him and anyone else who maybe a fan of that or-so lovable character Jigsaw.Despite being slightly more coherent than the previous two outings, almost half of 'Saw 5'is told via flashbacks and when there isn't one, we are simply being plied with buckets full of raspberry syrup and mundane traps which Jigsaw himself would laugh at if he ever saw them.
That coupled with acting to rival a plank of wood at the 'Woodies', and you've got yourself a pretty idiotic hour and thirty minutes that doesn't shock nor entertain.What made the 'Saw' franchise, most notably the first, most enjoyable for myself was the ingenuity in which Jigsaw operated, however with nothing remotely interesting or enjoyable comes from this film, exact that we can all hope that it finally does now end here!.
As usual, there are meanings behind the different traps that the five adults must understand in order to guarantee their survival.Even though the fifth entry in the franchise convinces with a solid main plot with two intriguing characters portrayed by two excellent actors and a side story involving a series of clever traps, this movie is a little bit less convincing than the four predecessors.
That it is very difficult to connect with any of the characters in any shape or form (the other films do a much job even with Jigsaw, actually a very interesting villain shamefully wasted here) and that the script is perhaps the dreariest, most tired and contrived of the series works against them.With the exception of the opening trap, 'Saw V' fails on the creepiness and suspense.
Possibly the weakest instalment of the series and definitely one of the worst sequels in existence, the 5th chapter in the Saw franchise not only discards the basic aspects of storytelling but logic as well, for anything & everything goes in this movie over the course of its runtime without making any proper sense.Once again putting a group of strangers through a series of sadistic tests, Saw V mainly concerns the guy who's been continuing Jigsaw's work following his death and whose identity was unveiled in the previous chapter.
I guess this one is a little better than the previous one though for I know I saw it but I can't remember anything of it.So if you like to watch people snuff it in a nasty way after being held hostage by an evil game host this is the film for you.5 out of 10 ways to die.
Alright to begin with, Saw 5 did a great job with the story and developing a background of the characters, however, what it lacked is the ending smart enough to make you say, "are you kidding me?" just like saw 4..I solemnly feel that the saw franchise has gone too far, because we all know that coming up with different styles of gory killing methods is the new American style of pleasing people, and it does not implore you to be creative, just sadistic..Also, with every movie the writers are giving away an opening for another saw movie.
We all know when things turn absurd.I have given this movie a 7/10 for two reasons, the story (despite the ending) and new traps, nothing else..
Only three things matter: gore, a twist at the end and die-hard fans paying to see the latest episode, no matter how disappointing.Interestingly enough, Saw V is a bit of a breath of fresh air in that it marks a departure from previous entries: aside from the bloody prologue (which, apparently, was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, whereas the rest of the film was handed over to newcomer David Hackl), the usual game scenario, which borrows heavily from the premise of Saw II, is given less space than usual.
Sure, there are the usual unlucky people (including Dexter's Julie Benz and 24's Carlo Rota) who have to mutilate themselves in order to survive, but one has the distinct feeling those scenes were added just to spice up the main storyline, which plays out like a traditional mystery film: Special Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson), having survived one of Jigsaw's traps, is firmly convinced the case isn't closed, and rightfully suspects foul play coming from Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who - as the audience already knows - has been assigned to carry on the philosophical serial killer's legacy.
As Strahm gets closer to the truth, a series of flashbacks explain the real nature of Hoffman's association with Jigsaw.In the previous entry, those flashbacks were a blatant excuse for providing some moronic back-story (and yet, for some reason, they worked) and giving Tobin Bell some screen time in spite of the events of Saw III.
Where its predecessors have all relied on one massive, final twist at the end of the films, Saw V is the first movie in the series to leave a majority of the audience underwhelmed.
Saw VI is out next year and I hope for the sake of everyone they end the series with the twists and shocks this film never had..
Saw the short film from 2003 is a good movie.
In the meanwhile Hoffman has another group of people who are his toy and he put them to get through some traps and win their lives.I think that "Saw V" was a little bit boring as the fourth was and I believe that all have to be ended in the third movie.