Saw: The Spiral starring Chris Rock: A fresh take on the franchise that will appeal to fans and newcomers alike

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The film has problems with the pace of the narrative and the plot twists, but it remains a good thriller.

On May 13, the picture "Saw: Spiral" was released on Russian screens. This is the ninth part of the famous franchise, which started back in 2004. The first film was directed by aspiring authors James Wang and Lee Wannell (the future creators of the equally famous Astral).

The Saw franchise instantly became popular and even made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the highest grossing horror series. Only the "Conjuring", which was set by the same James Wang, was able to break the record.

Alas, from about the sixth part, the series has lost almost all of its recognizable features. The 3D format in the seventh film and the attempt to refresh the idea in the eighth looked like fun experiments, but destroyed the legacy of the dark original.

It is all the more pleasant that now Darren Lynn Bousman has returned to directing, staging parts two through four of Saw. Better yet, the filmmakers decided not to continue speculating on old topics, but finally moved on. Spiral, the idea of which was proposed by the performer of the main role Chris Rock, in fact, gives a new start to the franchise and serves as a successful entry point into history.

Too Fast Police Detective

Detective Zeke Banks (Chris Rock) is at the police station once headed by his father (Samuel L. Jackson). Zeke does an excellent job with tasks, although he does not know how to work in a team at all. There is another problem: once Banks turned in a dirty colleague, and since then other police officers dislike him.

But trouble falls on the site: a maniac, clearly imitating the long-dead John Kramer, nicknamed Saw (or the Constructor), kidnaps detectives and brutally kills them. Zeke Banks and his young partner William Schenck (Max Minghella) should investigate the case.

Fans have long been accustomed to the fact that the films of the Saw series are built on approximately the same principle. The Spiral, at first glance, starts exactly the same way: the action begins with the torture of a secondary character. It is all the more surprising that further the picture for a long time turns into a traditional detective thriller, which has much more in common with "Seven" than with the franchise.

In this case, this is very good. After all, "Saw" once started with a dark and cruel, but purely detective story, and only when the franchise was exhausted did the franchise turn into a senseless parade of cruelty.

Longtime fan of the series Chris Rock, it seems, decided to return the action to its roots and also built the whole plot on investigation, guesswork and the eternal feeling that the hero is a little behind the villain. Therefore, if you remove from the new picture all the connection with the original, then it will remain not the most inventive, but quite strong thriller about the police. Even the images of the main characters - an experienced loner and a beginner - copy the classics of the genre.

A fresh look helped to get rid of the eternal parasitism on flashbacks and to make a completely new film. If it was impossible to watch the previous pictures, at least not having read the story of the Constructor, then "Spiral" explains everything right in the course of the action, and the new viewer will not need additional information.

True, the main plot has two problems. The first is overclocking too fast. "Saw: Spiral" lasts a short hour and a half, and almost half of the timing of the action rushes at the speed of a train from the opening scene, which has already been published on the Web.

Already at this point, many will remember that most of the previous parts then came out in director's versions. The ninth film simply needs at least half an hour of additional scenes.

The second problem is the too predictable outcome. Although the trouble here is rather that the fans of "Saw" already know from the beginning: in each part there must be a sudden twist. And more often than not, it is the same. Watching a movie with a fresh eye is much more interesting.

A mix of humor and "torture porn"

A considerable amount of humor at the beginning will obviously surprise the viewer of this seemingly dark thriller. Here, of course, Chris Rock is revealed, who improvises a lot and does not abandon his comedic past. One of the opening scenes consists entirely of a conversation about the movie "Forrest Gump". And in the future, Rock and Jackson will regularly defuse the action with comments.

The only drawback is Russian dubbing. For some reason, in the adaptation, they decided that the characters in such moments should speak with funny intonations, although even the trailers show that in the original speech sounds more natural.

Someone may find humor inappropriate in a film where people have to literally pull out their tongue. But the merit of the authors of "Spiral" is that this is not a banal attempt to entertain the viewer with strained gags (as it was in the eighth part), but an important technique.

The Rock character is used to dealing with stress that way. But with each passing minute the action darkens more and more. By the middle of the film, not a trace remains of witty phrases, and the hero often screams out of impotence than teasing his colleagues.

And for those who once fell in love with "Saw" precisely as the apotheosis of "torture porn" - there are such fans, there is no need to be ashamed of that - the authors also left a lot of reasons for joy. No wonder Darren Lynn Bousman returned to directing. He perfectly knows how to show graphic ultraviolence in such a way that the viewer becomes uncomfortable.

Bousman does not parasitize on his old ideas, but one of the tests will definitely make you remember shots from the second film, when the heroine fell into a pit with syringes. Unsurprisingly, the director considers this scene to be his favorite because of its simplicity and obviousness. And sales of Chinese finger traps are likely to drop after the release of Spiral.

It was not without reason that the film had to be tested for age restrictions 11 times before it received an R rating. Prior to that, only the even tougher NC-17 was given.

But torture still does not become an end in itself for the picture. You can even imagine a lighter version of the film, from which all the most violent scenes are removed, and it will not lose its meaning. It's just that without them, any "Saw" would be a completely different story.

Fan links and trending topics

Despite the fact that the franchise has stopped marking time, clinging to the personality of John Kramer and his legacy, true fans of the series will definitely notice some very nice references in the new film. They will remain just easter eggs that will in no way interfere with new viewers. But at the same time they will once again remind about the already legendary start of "Saw".

The trailers showed a photo of Kramer and the spiral drawings that gave the title of the new part and are very reminiscent of the patterns on the cheeks of the classic Billy doll. The picture shows the famous pig masks, which, by the way, are already sold in full on Amazon. And at a certain moment, the main character will be chained to a pipe and a hacksaw will lie near his feet.

Of course, visually, "Spiral" does not follow the classic techniques of the "Saw". The picture is brighter here and is much more expensive. Still, the finale will feature the familiar green color filter, transforming basements and abandoned buildings into a frightening purgatory, and the legendary Hello Zepp melody will inevitably sound.

However, Saw: The Spiral differs from all previous films in its ideology. At this point, everyone will decide for himself whether this is good or bad. The designer and his followers often killed for almost philosophical reasons. Of course, in some parts of the center there were policemen in the past. But for the first time, the film is entirely about the brutality and corruption of power.

Here the authors can be accused of a desire to comply with the agenda, and at the same time of a certain belatedness of the topic. Still, the scene where a police officer shoots an unarmed driver seems deliberately rude. But the final of the picture will put everything in its place, again narrowing the focus to private tragedies.

As expected, Saw: The Spiral is not so much a direct continuation of the story as a fresh start. Considering that the eighth part with attempts to revive the classic structure almost killed the franchise, such a move seems to be the only possible and logical one.

Therefore, watching a film is like something new. Then "Spiral" will delight you with an atmospheric detective story and the necessary degree of rigidity.