Saw V (2008 film)

If you're good at anticipating the human mind, it leaves nothing to chance. - Jigsaw

Day 5 of my Saw series coverage and it's getting hard to review these now.  Why, you ask?  Because starting with this one, I'm going to have to try to avoid being too spoiler-riffic in my summaries.  This film's opening seriously spoils the end of Saw IV.  The next film spoils the ending of this one.  And the seventh film spoils the ending of at least the first movie in the series!  I'll do what I can, though, with a minimal amount of reveals.

The film starts with FBI Special Agent Strahm in the room the third film ended in.  Seeing some paint glowing around a hidden passage, he finds a recorder hanging behind the doorway.  Strahm plays the tape and finds it addressed to him, telling him to stop his pursuit or he may live to regret it.  Strahm ignore the tape, tries to pursue Jigsaw and comes face-to-Pigface with an abductor.  Strahm awakens to find himself in a trap, but saves himself due to a bout of quick thinking.

The rest of the film is split between two storylines.  The first is Strahm trying to figure out the identity of Jigsaw's other accomplice, while said accomplice does their best to discredit and tear down Strahm.  The other is another set of players, stuck inside a series of rooms and forced to play Jigsaw's latest game.

In addition to Tobin Bell (who did a fantastic job, as always, as Jigsaw), Costas Mandylor (who also did a terrific job as Hoffman), Scott Patterson and Betsy Russell, we get some new characters again.  Julie Benz played Brit, a real estate developer caught in the five-person trap.  Benz also played in Romero film Two Evil Eyes, Jawbreaker, Shriek if You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth, and 8MM 2.  Meagan Good played Luba, another victim of the five-person trap.  Her acting credits include 2005's Venom, the One Missed Call remake, and 2009's The Unborn with Gary Oldman and Odette Yustman. 

The interplay between actors continues to impress me.  The scenes between Jigsaw and his accomplice work very well, each playing off the other and making the scenes work beautifully.  Tobin Bell gets even more of a chance to shine here in flashbacks to the setups to previous games, even ones we've seen such as the house in Saw II.

I give this film a 5 out of 5.  It goes a long way towards setting up the overarching endgame plot covered in the next two films.  Tune in tomorrow for the penultimate chapter in the series.  One man, several decisions.  You won't want to miss it!  Until then, this is Red Hawk signing out!