SAW IV

Ratings : * Avoidable ** Average *** Good **** Must Watch

The film opens with the autopsy of the Jigsaw Killer and the discovery of a wax-coated microcassette in his stomach, which, when played for Detective Hoffman, promises that "the games have just begun." It then cuts to a mausoleum, where Trevor and Art are chained to a large device. Trevor's eyes have been sewn together, and Art's mouth has been sewn shut, making communication between them impossible. When the device begins pulling them together, they panic, and Art murders Trevor to retrieve a key from his collar.

Meanwhile, the police discover the corpse of Detective Kerry. After cautioning Lieutenant Rigg for barging through an unsecured door, Hoffman is introduced to FBI Agents Strahm and Perez, who deduce that Amanda Young, Jigsaw's apprentice, would need assistance with Kerry's death, indicating that there is another accomplice to the murder.

That evening, Rigg and Hoffman are kidnapped. Rigg is told that Detective Matthews is in fact still alive, and is given ninety minutes to save him. He is then given his first test, where he finds Brenda is slowly being scalped. He rescues her, although he is warned not to, and Brenda later attempts to stab Rigg; Rigg subdues her and learns that Brenda was told that Rigg was there to arrest her for prostitution.

Rigg's next test is at a motel, where he is instructed to abduct the manager, Ivan, revealed to be a serial rapist. Angered by seeing videos of Ivan's exploits, Rigg forces Ivan into a prearranged trap, which dismembers him. Rigg's next test occurs in a school where Rigg attacked a man acquitted of abusing his family, though Rigg's career was saved by Hoffman. In one of the classrooms, Rigg discovers the husband and wife impaled to a pole, with the man dead and the woman clinging to life. Rigg tells the woman that she must remove the spikes herself before leaving, pulling a fire alarm as he does.

Strahm and Perez arrive on the scene, where it is learned that all of the victims were defended by Art, who is also the lawyer of Jill Tuck, Jigsaw's ex-wife. After a photographer is accidentally killed on the scene, Perez finds Billy, Jigsaw's puppet, in the office. She is told that Strahm will "soon take the life of an innocent man" and that her "next step is critical". Ignoring past clues that she is in danger, Perez continues with the investigation before Billy explodes; she is rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Furious, Strahm interrogates Jill, who recounts Jigsaw's backstory. She was once pregnant with a boy to be named Gideon, but the baby was lost when Cecil Adams robbed the clinic at which she was employed and he slammed a door into her stomach. She and her husband grew apart and divorced. After learning that he had cancer and only a short while to live, Jigsaw placed Cecil in a trap which collapsed prematurely; Cecil then lunged at Jigsaw, but fell into a mesh of barbed wire. Strahm makes connections from Jill's story to the Gideon Meat Factory, the scene of Rigg's final test.

Strahm arrives but finds himself lost, accidentally trailing Jeff Reinhart, thus revealing the transpiring events to be happening concurrently to Saw III. Rigg, meanwhile, approaches his final test. In the next room are Art, Matthews, and Hoffman; it was revealed earlier that if the door was opened before Rigg's time was up, Matthews' head would be crushed between two ice blocks and Hoffman would be electrocuted by a complex device. Rigg charges through the door with one second to spare; despite Matthews' attempts to stop Rigg by shooting him, he is killed. Rigg shoots Art while, in another room, Strahm faces off with Jeff, who brandishes a gun, unaware that Jeff is frantically searching for his daughter. Strahm kills Jeff while Hoffman, who was never in any danger and is Jigsaw's other apprentice, rises and seals an injured Rigg and a bewildered Strahm in the factory.

The film then replays the autopsy scene from the beginning, revealing it to have occurred after the events of the film. Hoffman again hears that the games have just begun, and that he himself should not expect to go untested.

My Rating : ***
Genre : Horror/Thriller
Director : Darren Lynn Bousman
Cast : Tobin Bell, Scott Patterson, Lyriq Bent, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russel, Donnie Whalberg.