As mentioned earlier, the fourth entry in the franchise had the unenviable task of continuing the series following the demise of Jigsaw and Amanda at the end of the previous film. After the film starts off with an appropriately grotesque autopsy of John Kramer's body, it switches gears to position the previously minor character Daniel Rigg as the next in line to take part in Jigsaw's games. Though the big twist at the end of the film reveals that the meat of the narrative takes place concurrently with Saw III, sneakily sidestepping the issue of having to completely move beyond the death of John Kramer until the next sequel, Saw IV does a pretty slick job of injecting a number of new elements into the series. From the introduction of Agent Strahm and Jill Tuck to the reveal of Hoffman as another Jigsaw accomplice, as well as dealing with some dangling threads left over from its predecessors, such as the fate of Eric Matthews -- whose "I don't want to play anymore" line is the best in the film -- and Jeff Denlon, the film deserves credit for not relying on its parallel narrative to avoid changing the game, even finding time to shine a light on John's past to thankfully keep Tobin Bell in the fold. Like the third film, where Jeff's tests involved forgiveness, Rigg's tests involve him seeing the world through Jigsaw's eyes, as the "victims" Rigg comes across encompass a spousal abuser, a pimp and a rapist. By this point in the series, it's an interesting twist on the formula as, unlike the drug users and other generally "ungrateful" victims of prior films, the film positions the audience and Rigg together in wondering whether or not their lives are worth sparing considering their crimes, relying more on the weight of Rigg's choice of how to deal with them over showing off garish new traps. While the franchise could have easily bowed out with Saw III, the series' popularity meant its continuation was unavoidable. It may not have been necessary to keep it going, but Saw IV at least deserves credit for being more effective than it had a right to be and managing to hold off the franchise fatigue until Saw V.
Writer, film enthusiast, part-time gamer and watcher of (mostly) good television located on the fringe of Los Angeles, who now has his own website at www.highdefgeoff.com!
