17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hoffman continues as the killer., October 29, 2008
I will not tell all the surprises in this film.
It is very important that you have seen SAW 2, SAW 3 and SAW 4 to understand what is going on here. If you missed SAW 4, you might pick up on what is going on in SAW 5, but then again, you don't know about the "death" of Jigsaw John and how and why the "games" and traps continue.
Returning for another go around is Tobin Bell as "Jigsaw John" who you will see in new footage of "flashbacks".
Also returning is Costas Mandylor as "Hoffman" who we met in SAW 3 as "Forensic Hoffman" and SAW 4 as "Detective Hoffman".
Scott Patterson returns as "Agent Strahm" from SAW 4 and Besty Russell returns as "Jill" whom we met in SAW 3 and SAW 4.
Mike Realba returns as "Detective Fisk".
Also in new footage of "flashbacks" is Mike Butters of the first SAW (2004) and Tim Burd as "Obi" and Tony Nappo as "Gus" from SAW 2 (2005).
Bill Vilbert returns as a cop.
Niamh Wilson returns as the little girl "Corbett".
In archive footage: Danny Glover, Shawnee Smith, Donnie Wahlberg, Lyriq Bent, Angus Macfadyen, Bahar Soomekh, Athena Karkanis, Justin Lovis.
When we last left SAW 4 (2007), we discovered that Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) was the new killer taking the place of Jigsaw John (Tobin Bell) and he had survived the trap that killed Officer Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg).
The story continues as we see a man, Seth, (Joris Jarsky) strapped to a table with a pendulum swinging back and forth getting closer and closer to his naked, chiseled stomach. He must reach into these hand vises to try to stop the pendulum, but his hands become cut and crushed. He is running out of time. The pain too great. He fails the game and the pendulum cuts him deeply to his death. Just before he dies, he sees an eye looking at him from a hole.
We will soon find out who it was.
Now beginning with the same night as Saw 3 and SAW 4, Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) is on this case and is getting closer to finding out who the killer is, but everyone believes it was Jigsaw John.
The movie viewers know that Jigsaw John is dead as we saw for our selves in SAW 3 and SAW 4. We know Hoffman is the killer.
Agent Strahm is investigating the rooms where the murders took place. He winds up back at the Gideon warehouse in the room where Jeff (Angus Macfadyen) who he accidentally killed in self-defense, Lynn (Bahar Soomekh), who we found out is Jeff's wife, Amanda (Shawnee Smith) and Jigsaw John have died.
To the left, he sees the tiled wall with drawings hung up. He suddenly kicks the wall and a door opens up in to a secret passageway.
Agent Strahm goes into this passageway and is assaulted by someone dressed in the pig's mask.
Strahm finds himself in a trap. A glass cube is fixed around his head with lights inside. It fills up with a liquid. Frantic to get loose and to breath, he reaches for a sharp object in his pocket and stabs his own throat to continue breathing. He manages to survive the trap and is helped by a back-up unit. Jeff and Lynn's little girl has been saved.
Also helped by back-up is Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), but the police department does not know yet, he is the killer.
Erickson (Mark Rolston) takes Agent Strahm off the case and is put on medical leave, however, that is not going to stop Strahm from getting more clues.
Strahm is still tracing the footsteps of the killer off-duty and goes through the department's files. He is hot on the trail, but Erickson catches him in the station and is getting suspicious.
Meanwhile, there are 5 people who are in a room (Laura Gordon, Megan Good, Greg Bryk, Julie Benz, Carlo Rota). They are all wearing a neck collar device cabled to a wall, but behind each of them is a locker space with very sharp blades that could behead them. On the other side of the room are the keys in a glass case they need to be set free. The more that someone pulls on a cable, the others are put back further to the blades. There is also a jar of explosive nails ready to kill them all, so they must work together and fast. The timer is going.
As in SAW 2, each room has a trap.
This film shows less of the traps and victims and less gore. Most of the plot is the cat-and-mouse chase between Strahm and Hoffman.
Along the way in this film, we will see brand new footage of "flashbacks" that are missing pieces to the first SAW, SAW 2, SAW 3 and SAW 4.
Also there is a very nice surprise for all of us SAW fans.
The Unrated Director's Cut (Widescreen) runs 95 min.
DVD container is wrapped in tight plastic, but please be careful, there is a protective coverslip that lifts off that you need to save. Notice the security seals still on your container. You can carefully peel these or cut them. I prefer to leave them intacted. The DVD itself has blue printing.
There are some problems with the disc from the Unrated Director's Cut. The picture will freeze once it is on the Option Menu or will freeze up and skip after playing the preview of My Bloody Valentine 3-D (2009).
After about 3 plays, the DVD would start to work better.
if the Option Menu freezes on you. keep trying to load in the DVD. If it skips and plays, wait for the little black dot to appear by "Play", and press "Enter" on your remote control. The movie will play fine.
Special features: 2 audio commentaries. The first audio commentary with Director David Hackl and First Assistant Director Steve Webb is very informative. They are oh so careful not to reveal secrets of the upcoming SAW VI (2009). But they almost did.
The Pendulum Trap ( Approx.5 min.), The Cube Trap ( Approx.5 min.), The Coffin Trap ( Approx. 5 min.), The Fatal Trap (Approx. 11 min.), Slicing the Cube: Editing the Cube Trap (Approx. 5 min.), Theatrical Trailer.
The SAW film series:
SAW (2004).
Saw
SAW II (2005).
Saw II - Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition)
SAW III (2006).
Saw III (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
SAW VI (2007).
Saw IV (Unrated Widescreen Edition)
SAW V (2008).
Saw V (Unrated Collector's Edition)
SAW VI (2009).
Saw VI (Widescreen Unrated Edition)
SAW 3D: The Final Chapter (2010).
Saw: The Final Chapter
Update: December 2011. Vice Chairman of Lionsgate, Michael Burns, said "I'm sure some day you'll see SAW back in the picture."
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Game in Overtime, October 27, 2008
"I want to play a game." Well, we all knew that. But with Jigsaw dead, how does the Saw series keep the game from becoming overtly predictable? The answer is not revealed in "Saw V," which shows the series becoming an utterly predictable Halloween event.
Jigsaw (Tobin Bell, weirdly malevolent as ever) is still dead. That minor fact, however, does not negate his being in "Saw V" in various states of criminal commission, with or without Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) as his accomplice. Still hot on the case FBI Agent Pete Strahm (Scott Patterson) is on Hoffman's trail, and there are five hapless but interconnected folks now secured in one of Jigsaw's traps.
The traps are, as usual, freaky. The FBI cops are trying to figure out who dunnit. Mrs. Jigsaw discovers she has inherited a mysterious box from her dearly departed, but we aren't allowed to see the contents after she peeks in (hmmm, preview of the plot for "Saw VI"?). What is missing is any sense of newness to the film, or a real hard twist at the end. For a film with a tagline of "You won't believe how it ends," that's only partway true. I was really expecting more.
While I still think
Saw II is the best of the series, "Saw V" comes off as little else than a cop caper with some of that old time gore tossed in for squeamish factor.
Saw IV was definitely more squirm inducing, which makes you wonder why they didn't spend a little more time trimming the fat and adding a bit more slashing. As a cop chase flick with a side plot of torture, "Saw V" comes off as just an average flick. Of course, I'll be back next Halloween.
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