The type of movie to make me go ‘you know, I was too hard on Saw 3’. That one at least had the trio of Amanda, Lynn, and John. This one trades it in for condescending disgust for altruism, for recovery clinics, for the idea that anyone can be helped. There’s no humanity to most of the victims, removing the most engaging aspect of the traps, and instead it is replaced for a Punisher like power fantasy of righteous punishment, once again the majority of the victims having no way to save themselves, to show who they are and what they do when faced with the impossible.

It’s gnarlier, at least, with some gore that makes me wince, but not always earned, like the miscarriage. It’s a wrinkle I don’t think John needed and risks being overboard melodrama, turning John into a sympathetic figure. What hells to stop that is Tobin Bell’s performance, who conveys that something was always underneath the affable surface. A sort of disdain, a geniality towards his fellow man that will only last until forced with his first tragedy. But the film doesn’t offer much of a reason for the franchise to exist outside of his performance, which is an obvious problem going forward. Trying to indoctrinate someone into being an apprentice is a good concept, but Riggs is flat as hell and never in danger of converting.

The twist is decent, but there’s also so little to Hoffman here. We were told nothing about him and little of his personality is shown here, so it doesn’t hit like it could. We have no idea of what his motivation could be. It’s all left for the sequels, leaving this movie’s ending a bit inert. It’s all a bit limp, really. It sticks with 3’s grimmer tone and again loses sight of the fun. None of the sequels so far have found the fun of 2, and they can’t be as underdog and fresh as 1 by nature. I hope the later ones do.