SAW VI

You think it is the living who have ultimate judgement over you, because the dead will have no claim over your soul.  But you may be mistaken. 
Whew.  Part VI.  It's been a long enlightening(ish) road.  Apologies for taking so long to get this last one out.  1. I had an awesome weekend and 2. Don't watch six  2 hour movies like these and not expect some weird side effects.  I've been constructing Rube Goldberg devices since spring break and I CAN'T STOP!!! Allow me to pull myself together for this final stretch, dear readers, we only have one more Halloween and one more Saw to go.  Once again, like part V, I really dig this poster.  Yes he has six fingers up...it's less gross than part III's three yanked teeth...yeesh.  Editor Kevin Greutert takes up the director's chair this time.  He injected some fresh blood back into this franchise.  This movie is thankfully brighter and and much more kinetic than part V, arguably the series slump.  Some people I probably haven't mentioned yet who play a huge part to this series is Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton.  These gentlemen took up the writing reins from Whan and Whannell after part III! Let that sink in for a moment.  These gentlemen took over after both Jigsaw and Amanda had been killed and wrote FIVE sequels.  The unique timeline in the Saw movies allowed for all of the sequels with even part V flashing back to the original.  This movie (thankfully) keeps the flashbacks to a minimum.  We get a very unnecessary bit of back story between Jigsaw and Amanda but for the most part the film takes place in the present, as a sequel to V.
He helped me. 
This movie starts off with two loan sharks waking up in opposite cages.  The puppet  They are wearing special kid helmets that will activiate and drill into their head if they can't place a pound of flesh on their respective scales.  Maybe it's because I'm such a clever guy, or I've sat through six of these films, but I saw a couple of ways out of those traps that didn't involve mutilation, but then again it is a Saw movie.  The movie never really gets back to why this game was important, but it does show the audience that Hoffman is keeping Jigsaw's games alive and also gives the FBI a crime scene.  Blue-tooth McUseless is back in his role as Agent Erickson and Agent Perez is  back (yaaay...wait...who?) thinking they are looking for Straham.  Hoffman is offered the full cooperation of the FBI to help bring Straham in.  Some serial killers get all the luck huh?  The box from part V shows up and is shown to contain 6 (get it?) envelopes, victims, test subjects.  Betsy, Jigsaw's ex wife gives Hoffman 5 of the envelopes and he goes about setting up what he believes to be Jigsaw's final game.  This game involves an insurance guy named William who denied John Kramer coverage of an experimental treatment for his cancer.  Said insurance guy wakes up in an abandoned zoo and must learn that human lives are more than just equations in his formula for coverage...or something.  As William's game begins, Hoffman tries to keep the FBI off of his trail while carrying out Jigsaw's final(ish) game.

                Twin or flashback? Probably flashback.

This was a pretty decent sequel.  Basically after Saw II there is no way anyone can follow these movies without seeing all the ones that came before.  This story is pretty cohesive, the flash backs aren't too distracting and the directing hasn't been this good since Bousman.  The traps are where I had a problem. People from William's life are taken and in every case he can only save one or two of them and let the others die.  Up through part mmm....let's say 4, the games involved a clear way
out and no collateral damage.  You cut your foot off, you can go.  The insurance guy's games involve choosing between people who's only crime is working for this guy.  It seems Jigsaw's ideology has strayed from where it started.  The first trap involves a smoker who doesn't appreciate his life because....he's a smoker.  C'mon! That's a little too close to home.  The first films featured ex cons and junkies and suicide attempts, this guy does not deserve to play a game like this.  Unless in Saw VII Jigsaw goes after fatties that don't appreciate their lives.  Or perhaps people who listen to Nickleback.  This movie once again featured an awesome appearance by Tobin Bell as John Kramer as Jigsaw.  His scenes with insurance guy were pretty awesome.  I would not want to party with John Kramer, he just so...intense.  This film also added one of the lamest twists in flashback--Cecil, the guy that took away John and Betsy's baby had a girlfriend with him that night. That girlfriend was Amanda....sigh.  She was there too.  We've been flashing back to that scene for three movies now and I'm kind of getting tired of it.  I'm sure in part VII it will be revealed somehow that Donnie Wahlberg was there too.  I did really like the way the ending...ended?  Not so much the insurance guy's game, but Hoffman's game.  Gasp! What? Of course he's got a game coming his way, he's been in 4 movies and hadn't been tested yet.  All in all, a pretty cool sequel that leaves an interesting door open for the direction of the last(ish) film.

What I Like
I like how this film felt like an unrated episode of CSI Seattle.
I like how the reverse beartrap made an appearance...again.  
I like Shawnee Smith's haircut in this one too.
I like how the reporter character looked like Amy Smart.
I like how part V dealt with the mortgage crisis, part VI deals with healthcare, I'm sure part VII will tackle the energy crisis, or perhaps texting while driving.
I like that I won't have to watch another Saw movie for 7 months.