SAW IV

The body of the Enigmista is on the autopsy table: in his stomach, an audio cassette is found on which the Enigmista's last message is recorded, asking for the presence of detective Hoffman. Meanwhile, two FBI agents, Strahm and Perez, are tasked with investigating the actions of the deceased criminal, including the disappearance of detective Matthews. At the same time, the SWAT commander, Rigg, is attacked in his home and kidnapped by a mysterious individual who tells him he must face some trials; he has only 90 minutes to complete the game; if he fails, his wife will be killed. The "Saw" saga, which began in 2004 with the excellent film directed by James Wan, has now reached its fourth chapter. Lions Gate seems more determined than ever to exploit its golden goose to the fullest, and thus it was decided to produce a chapter per year of this extremely successful saga, to be distributed in American cinemas punctually during Halloween. A strategy that has yielded the expected results and has incredibly managed to maintain rather high quality levels. So far, at least. Indeed, although the box office is slightly down but still flattering, this "Saw IV" terribly disappoints from all points of view, proving to be what this saga had so far managed to conceal: the lack of ideas. "Saw IV" does not have a strong idea behind it, it is merely a forced continuation of a story that had ideally concluded with the third chapter, and to continue it follows two not-so-noble paths. On the one hand, it relies on an accumulation of tortures and diabolical contraptions that are nevertheless the trademark of the saga; this is not essentially a bad thing, on the contrary, tortures are indispensable for a film in this saga, but this time they often result in mere fillers to lengthen the runtime of the film. On the other hand, we have the proverbial "climbing on mirrors," that expedient that we had already expected in the previous chapters and that was always, incredibly and skillfully, avoided: secret tapes found, key characters added to pad the story, unexpected revelations and plot twists that were frankly avoidable. It's a bit of all this, TV series expedients that clash in a cinematic product that wants to be credible. Furthermore, in "Saw IV" a serious mistake was made that we would never have expected from this saga, namely giving the Enigmista a motive at the origin of his actions. We know since the first film that John Kramer/Enigmista is a terminally ill patient who wants to "punish" those who have all their life ahead but do not know how to appreciate it, harming themselves and others; well, this simple but brilliant premise is completely forgotten here and a personal motivation is given to the Enigmista that lies at the origin of everything. Big mistake, especially because by doing so, the fan of the saga is betrayed! The classic final twist this time does not work, not only for the banality and inconsistency of the identity of the new executioner/accomplice, but above all because it opens too many doors to future sequels. Indeed, this fourth chapter, in a certain sense, can be considered a new beginning; all the characters created in the three previous chapters are set aside and free space and a sure future are left to new ones, only that these do not have sufficient charisma and adequate characterization. A large part of the failure of "Saw IV" is due to the screenplay, which loses the excellent Leigh Whannell, author of the scripts for the first three films, and passes into the hands of the duo Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, authors of the splatter "Feast" and already at work on the script of "Saw V." The two new screenwriters seem to have understood the mechanism of the saga, but they have merely engaged in cutting and pasting moments already seen in the previous films, exceeding in the number of characters and complicating the plot without reason. The result is that the characters all end up being too little explored, some passages excessively rushed and confused, and too many torture scenes. Paradoxically, at the end, it is precisely the torture scenes that turn out to be the best and most entertaining part of the film! Some are definitely well-designed, with truly ruthless and painful contraptions, capable of giving the film that characteristic meanness of the saga and a very high dose of splatter and gore. Starting with the realistic initial autopsy, continuing with scalp tearings, crushed heads, dismemberments, and sharp blades on the face. But this is too little to declare the effective success of this film, even for the most sadistic viewer. The only one who comes out really well is the director Darren Lynn Bousman (already author of "Saw II" and "Saw III"), who here shows that he has grown and refined his technique, thanks to interesting camera movements and inventive dissolves/fades, enhanced also by good photography by the veteran David A. Armstrong. The Enigmista has kicked the bucket, his assistant too, and the same thing happened to all the important characters who faced him; does it make sense to continue adding chapters to a saga that is now conceptually finished? Watching "Saw IV" it would naturally seem to answer no.