Contrary to my suspicions, Saw V is a masterpiece. Finally, the producers have achieved continuity, and enough of it to ensure the entire storyline makes sense. Formerly marred by the refusal of Donnie Wahlberg to continue with Saw III, the franchise is now unofficially closed and with a dramatic ending that will shock everybody.
Tobin Bell (Jigsaw) nicely weaves together his motivations and introduces the real accomplice behind the many murders, Costas Mandylor (Mark Hoffman). This finally explains who the third accomplice was and who managed to have such incredible strength as to have assisted the dying Jigsaw in creating heavy and elaborate traps. Both criminal minds together killed countless murderers, officers, drug addicts, rapists, and even managed to bury the would be heroes, not to mention Amanda herself on whom the game was always being played. Jigsaw’s wife Jill (Betsy Russell) is not exactly Julia Roberts but she offers a little sentimentality and some suspense to the story.
Scott Patterson (Agent Strahm) is the only officer left standing as the film begins. He manages to escape the Jigsaw trap by puncturing trachea to breathe while his entire head remained trapped in water. The duel unfolds between Hoffman and Strahm. One is a do-gooder FBI Agent, the other a brilliant, twisted and maniacal killer so convincing as to cast suspicion on everyone else while being rewarded for heroism.
The real twist is that some of the Saw movies which often times seem puzzling in their storytelling, apparently took place in parallel frames, not all subsequently. Knowledge of this elucidates the mysteries surrounding the plot and allows those of us who have endured Saw III and Saw IV to leave with total closure and some twisted pleasure at the shocking ending of it all.
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