Review #377: Saw V (2008)

October 2026 Horror Reviews #5 - Saw V (2008)

Saw V follows immediately after the events of Saw IV, and the main plot revolves around Detective Hoffman (whom we now know to be one of Jigsaw's apprentices) and FBI Agent Strahm (who was investigating the Jigsaw murders in the previous movie). Much of the film is a cat-and-mouse game between Hoffman and Strahm, with Strahm beginning to suspect Hoffman's involvement and Hoffman trying to throw suspicion anywhere he can.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, I do like the drama and suspense of the main plot, and I really like Strahm as a character. In the first few minutes of the movie he establishes himself as a strong protagonist (is he even the protagonist though? More on that in a moment) and he's one of the few people who unquestionably beats one of Jigsaw's famous deathtraps, in a moment that is quite possibly my favorite moment in the whole series. Additionally, I really like the sideplot of the five victims stuck in a trap dungeon, even if I don't understand how or why it's connected to anything else in the movie. So, there's definitely a lot to like in here, and if you're just watching this one because you've been keeping up with every Saw entry since you saw the first one or two, this is a perfectly serviceable entry and you'll probably have a great experience chucking some popcorn in your mouth and yukking it up with your friends at the theater.

But... I dunno. There's a bunch of stuff about this film that I really hate.

First, I really think you're meant to root for Hoffman (and by extension, Jigsaw). This always baffles me, when the unquestionable villain is clearly meant to be the protagonist. Hoffman is not an antihero- arguably John Kramer could be considered one, if only his ethos were even remotely consistent- but Hoffman is a bad man using his position to commit atrocities and avoid blame. (And hey, maybe I'm weird, but especially in this day and age I really find it hard to root for a corrupt cop who uses his clout and authority to kill people he doesn't like. Maybe it just hits a bit too close to home in a way that wasn't the case in 2008.) So when the movie is structured around how cool Hoffman is for casting his own blame on Strahm, with like 75% of the screentime being this cop/FBI storyline, I'm just not very excited about the movie in general.

Second, even John Kramer's part in this film (because, as I complained about last time, they're still using Tobin Bell's performance to fill seats even though his character died two movies ago) is incredibly inconsistent. There's a point where John is initiating Hoffman into his worldview and he insists "It can never be personal", as if we haven't just watched four movies' worth of John making it personal. (Dr. Gordon, one of the victims from the first movie, was the doctor that gave John his cancer diagnosis. Art, one of the victims in Saw IV, was a lawyer who had angered John following the death of his unborn son. Hell, in Saw IV we saw John's first deathtrap, which he tested out on the man who caused his wife to miscarry! John has not a leg to stand on by claiming "it can never be personal!") But what bothers me the most, is that the series isn't even about an ethos anymore. In the first couple movies you could make a relatively solid case that John had a strict code and all of these killings were in line with his code. Now, it doesn't matter. John doesn't matter, he died two movies ago. By continuing on with some other guy, some other guy who clearly doesn't follow any sort of ethos and is primarily just covering up his own misdeeds, it's like the filmmakers know nobody cares about the plot anymore. They know that people are coming to the theater to see some gory kills, some clever traps, and some unexpected plot twists. 

That's it. That's all this series feels like now- random kills, traps, and plot twists thrown in a blender with some lazily-written melodrama connecting them.

And one more thing I'm not crazy about: I don't like how serialized this franchise has become. Even in movies that have a lot of entries it's important to make it so a person who has never seen any other entry isn't completely lost, and I don't know how that wouldn't be the case with this one. It picks up practically mid-sentence after the last film, 95% of the plot is building directly on plotlines that were started three or four movies ago, and even the ending of the film is no resolution, it's just the end of one scene to lead into the next one when Saw VI comes out. This movie neither starts nor ends with a status quo, and (to my recollection) neither of the next two movies do either. But we'll see.

But, again, there's still some stuff in this movie I really like. The trap dungeon sideplot is really compelling, I liked all of the characters in it, and the twist for that sideplot (really the only major twist this movie has, since the main plot is pretty straightforward) is incredibly fun and is signposted in such a way that you assume it's just bad writing, until the moment when a character realizes how dumb they've all been. It took me by surprise on this watch even though I already knew what the twist was!

So, in conclusion, I think this is a better-than-average movie, but I would never in good conscience recommend this movie to someone who wasn't doing a full-series watchthrough. If that's what you're doing, this one will probably be a lot of fun. For everyone else, though, it's a pass from me.

Overall Rating: 6/10 Coffins Full of Glass

Unexpected Fate: Apparently, Scott Patterson (the actor who played Agent Strahm) didn't know how the movie was going to end during the majority of the shoot. He found out the fate of his character when the special effects team started taking casts of his arms and he asked them why.

Next Up: Saw VI (2009)!