Saw IV (2007 film)

You think you will walk away untested.  I promise that my work will continue. - Jigsaw

Day 4 of my Saw run and we're picking up the pace on the series.  We get another 'maze run' with this one, but with one difference... aspects of the player's life become more of his test than ever before.

With the start of the film, we get the usual teaser trap, with two people chained to a contraption in the middle of an old mausoleum, one with his eyes hut, the other his mouth.  After the outcome of this game, we jump to S.W.A.T. commander Rigg leading his squad into another of Jigsaw's lairs.  Guiding a robot in, they get a scope of the room, but when Rigg sees the hanging body of Detective Kerry, Rigg busts through the door without thinking.  Later, Detective Hoffman gives him a severe reprimand over breaking through an unsecured door, and Rigg is sent home, relieved of duty.

Arriving home, Rigg finds his wife packing, with a note for him on the stand in the hall.  She implores him to come with her, but he turns down the idea.  After she leaves, Rigg gets an unexpected visit... from the Pigface.  Awakening in his shower, he finds a Jigsaw video waiting for him in the bedroom.  His task?  To realize that, like Jigsaw, he can't say everybody.  Will this lesson take, or will he end up like so many before him?

Once again, we get a bunch of recurring actors, plus a few new faces, gracing the screen.  Among the returning cast is Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Dina Meyer, and Donnie Wahlberg.  New actors include Louis Ferreira (going by Justin Louis here) as Art Blank, one of the two hooked up to the trap in the beginning.  His career includes over 100 screen credits, including NCIS, Breaking Bad, Criminal Minds, and movies like Blood and Donuts, and The Lazarus Child.  Scott Patterson plays FBI Special Agent Strahm, a man convinced that Jigsaw was working with a second person.  He does well in this film, but he gets a much meatier role in the next one.  Athena Karkanis plays FBI Special Agent Perez, Strahm's partner.  Other films she's been in are Repo: The Genetic Opera and Survival of the Dead.  We also meet Jill Tuck, Jigsaw's ex-wife, in this film, played by Betsy Russell.  She goes on to have a larger role in the later films, as well.

This film was a fun watch for me.  The acting was great, the story built on what happened in the previous film (and even continued some scenes from that one).  The third movie, while continuing themes and characters from the previous two, really set in stone some continuity points.  This film continues that tradition and sets up for the next really well.

My rating for this film is a 5 out of 5.  Continuing the use of likeable characters, plus really delving into Jigsaw's past to find out what started him down his dark path, was a great touch here.  Tune in tomorrow for Saw V, where we return to the second film's multi-player theme.  Take care, be safe, and this is Red Hawk signing out!