After the disappointment of Saw V, Saw VI was a surprisingly lean, energetic entry. Faced against the first entry in the Paranormal Activity series and carrying the baggage of its predecessor, though, the sixth film took a pretty hefty financial plunge for the series that would only end up forcing the creative team to bring the series to a close the following year even in spite of garnering praise as the best Saw film the series had provided in several years. At this point, people were either fans of the series or not, and Saw VI took strides in making up for the general lifelessness of the fifth film while celebrating the series in the process, implementing flashbacks involving Tobin Bell far smoother than before and even bringing back Amanda to explore the struggle over Jigsaw's legacy between her, Hoffman and even Jill Tuck, fueling the present-day storyline with a forward momentum V had been lacking. This time around, too, the film's primary game involving Peter Outerbridge's insurance agent and his team was actually interesting and the carousel trap stands as one of the series' best, both in its simplicity and for the moral quandary it presents. With each passing film, the series had continually pushed the suspension of disbelief beyond the breaking point, which fans had long since accepted, but what helps Saw VI stand above its implausible scenarios in a way that V couldn't is the vigor in which it presents itself. Saw VI may not have set out to reinvent the series or appeal to a whole new set of fans, but its palpable effort to give the series some semblance of a pulse back puts it head and shoulders above the sequels it's sandwiched between.
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!
