|
|
 |
Saw IV
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lionsgate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (22nd March 2008). |
|
The Film
 The lacklustre box-office of Eli Roth’s “Hostel: Part II” (2007) marked the downfall of torture horror or ‘torture porn’, the film, as with its predecessor focused less on an interesting story and more on victims being tortured in awful ways. Many of the set-ups went for the gross out factor and some were simply hard to watch. The result is a horror film that is more vomit inducing that scary. The “Saw” (2004-2007) franchise seems to have followed that progressive path as each instalment is delivered, relying less on a clever story and more on the traps and the gore factor (I suppose only the first film really had a great story). This fourth addition to the series has lost itself on its wayward journey to push the gore envelope especially in the film’s opening scene. But even the traps this time aren’t as interesting, the characters are unmemorable and uninteresting and the story is cobbled together and feels rushed. Despite the flaws, the series has proven itself to be a rather lucrative series for Lionsgate with each sequel making decent coin at the cinemas, but I can’t even remember seeing this film released theatrically. Although it opened to over $30 million, it kind of came and went. The disc release also comes as quickly as it did at the box office. The sad thing is that all involved openly admit to money being the primary reason for the existence of this sequel (although it’s painfully clear that was also the case with the first two sequels but it just so happens this is the first time those involved actually admit it) and because of this we can also expect a fifth and sixth instalment...oh happy day (in case you missed it, that was sarcasm). “Saw IV” takes place 6 months after the third film, both Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his apprentice Amanda (Shawnee Smith) are dead but the games continue as a tape found inside Jigsaw’s stomach confirms. This time around the game revolves around SWAT commander Rigg (Lyriq Bent), who must play along in order to save a friend. He has 90 minutes to overcome what Jigsaw as set out for him otherwise his friend dies. Meanwhile the FBI are sent in to investigate as they try to uncover what Jigsaw has in store this time and why is Riggs involved. All of which leads to another twist which has become a staple of the “Saw” series. From the beginning I was bored by this film, the autopsy sequence at the start was gruesome and unnecessary; the only reasoning that I could come up with for its existence is that it was done because they could do it. The film’s laziness begins to show from the start. Although Jigsaw is no more the filmmaker’s managed to keep him alive through the various tapes played by victims and Riggs and the usual video messages left by the doll. I suppose Jigsaw will never die, he will always live on. It’s a lame excuse to keep the series going and as a result delved further into his past as his ex-wife, Jill (Betsy Russell) is interrogated by the FBI. We learn the reason why he became Jigsaw, taking away everything that was interesting about the character. And the reason behind it all feels like such a cop out. Another thing that I’ve noticed over the course of the films is that the characters have become more and more uninteresting and unmemorable. The cast seem content at playing cardboard cut-out characters adding nothing to the overall film. The FBI characters Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) and Agent Perez (Athena Karkanis) were nothing more than bland rehashes of every other standardized FBI agent we’ve seen in a hundred other films/TV shows. And the main character Riggs, if you can call him that, was disposable. The audience aren’t really given the opportunity to know his character (despite the fact he was also in the last two films as well) and as a result don’t really care what happens to him. I found myself not really invested in their plight. And of course there’s the twist, which we all come to expect. The twist in this film makes no sense, it seems like it was either tacked on for the sake of a twist or it’s a cliff-hanger twist in which we’ll uncover the reasoning behind it in the fifth instalment...but in all honestly I’ve lost interest in this franchise. It’s time to find something new.
Video
The film is presented in its original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 the transfer is presented in high-definition 1080p 24/fps and has been created using AVC MPEG-4 compression. I've seen all the previous "Saw" films on Blu-ray and I have to say this is the best looking one of them all. The image is crisp and sharp, some grain is evident but that adds to the overall atmosphere. Much like the previous films the color scheme is similar with lots of blue and green hues and the transfer shows them off well. Black levels are deep and bold, detail is excellent and the print is clean, there are no noticable flaws present.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included in English DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 7.1 surround presented at 6.9mbps and an English Dolby Digital 5.1 EX surround track. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS-HD audio track. While the track was competant I was a little disappointed that the surrounds weren't used to full effect. The dialogue was clear and distortion free, ambient sounds worked well and felt natural but the track was lacking a certain punch and immersiveness that was present in the previous films. That's not to say the track doesn't do a reasonable job, it just could have been more aggressive in it's surround approach. Optional subtitles are included in English and Spanish.
Extras
Lionsgate has released this film with a collection of 2 audio commentaries, a video diary, 2 featurettes, a single deleted scene, a music video, the film's theatrical trailer, a series of bonus trailers and an interactive blog feature. Below is a closer look at these supplements. The first feature-length audio commentary is by producers Oren Koules, Mark Burg and executive producers Peter Block and Jason Constantine. The four participants basically take us through the making of a fourth instalment. They cover various production issues from the producer's perspective as well as shed some light on various aspects of the film, its direction and so forth. They talk about the cast as well, there's a fair bit of back-patting going on here as well as they all seem oblivious as to how the franchise has progressively gotten worse after each sequel. I was bored after 30 minutes from this track, although they disperse some interesting information it was rudimentary and didn't really grasp my attention. The second feature-length audio commentary is by the film's director Darren Lynn Bousman and actor Lyriq Bent. I was surprised with the level of honesty that the disc producer's allowed with this track as the director basically lays it out there he was not interested in making this film and was basically pressured by the powers that be at the studio. Wow, that was refreshing instead of hearing the usual self-congratulatory type track. He also goes on to comment on the making of the film and the various challenges encountered during the production. Meanwhile someone needs to inform actor Lyriq on how to record a >b>commentary track because he spends most of his time telling was what's happening on screen...yawn. I was wasn't too impressed with either track to be honest, both felt lacking and a tiresome. Die hard fans might be able to muster enough energy to sit through both but otherwise I'd skip them. Next up is Darren's Video Diary which runs for 33 minutes and is a fly-on-the-wall clip that takes us through the film's production from the perspective of the director. The clip starts 5 days before the start of production and takes us through principle photography right through to the last day on the set. We see the director set up shots, work with the actors and producers as well as occasionally have some fun on screen. The feature is the best on the disc as it takes you behind-the-scenes and shows the chaos of working on a "Saw" set. Next up is "The Traps of 'Saw IV'" a 7-part featurette, as seen on the previous releases here we get a series of clips that takes us through the design and creation of the various traps made for this film. The clips can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option and include: - "Jigsaw's Traps" which runs for 1 minute 31 seconds. - "The Iceblock Trap" which runs for 2 minutes 40 seconds. - "The Knife Trap" which runs for 1 minute 52 seconds. - "The Hair Trap" which runs for 2 minutes 57 seconds. - "The Mausoleum Trap" which runs for 2 minutes 51 seconds. - "The Bedroom Trap" which runs for 2 minutes 29 seconds. - "The Spike Trap" which runs for 2 minutes 22 seconds. Following that is "The Props of 'Saw IV'" a featurette that runs for 8 minutes 58 seconds and takes a closer look at the cool props made for the film including the spike shooter, the spine cutter, Jill's locket (which never made it into the film), the clay soldiers, the pig masks, the prosthetics for the autopsy scene and finally a look at the Billy puppet. The disc also features a single deleted scene entitled "The Police Station" which runs for 44 seconds, the scene features the FBI being taken through the various victim files as they hope to find an accomplice to Jigsaw. Next up is a music video for the song "I.V." by the band X Japan which runs for 5 minutes 7 seconds, this is the usual video stuff featuring clips from the film. Also featured is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 37 seconds, although listed as theatrical this is probably a teaser more than anything. There's also a video game trailer for the game "The Condemned 2: Bloodshot" which runs for 1 minute 32 seconds. There's also a collection of bonus trailers for the following Lionsgate releases: - "The Eye" which runs for 1 minute 12 seconds. - "Rambo" which runs for 2 minutes 24 seconds. - "The Condemned" which runs for 1 minute 48 seconds. - "War" which runs for 38 seconds. - "Saw III" which runs for 44 seconds. - "The Descent" which runs for 1 minute 50 seconds. Finally we've got a profile 2.0 extra entitled "MoLog" this is an interactive movie blog in short this feature will allow viewers to log online and blog about various Lionsgate movies and share their comments with others on the boards. Since this is a profile 2.0 feature I cannot review as my player is not 2.0 enabled.
Overall
|
|||||
|