‘Spiral: From the Book of Saw’ Review: Finally, A Solid ‘Saw’ Sequel
Spiral is the best Saw film since the original, utilizing the franchise’s greatest hits to its advantage to create an aesthetically pleasing and constantly engaging detective thriller.
After the release of the terribly unnecessary eighth instalment in the Saw franchise, Jigsaw, directed by The Spierig Brothers, it was finally time for Lionsgate to retire the franchise once and for all after they swore that Saw 3D would be “The Final Chapter.” Many Saw sequels do not live up to the excitement and suspense of James Wan’s breakout 2004 film, as they dare to ask the question: how many sequels can you make (or milk out) when Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), your franchise driving character, dies in the third one? Admittedly, some of them are extremely fun to watch, but in a ‘so bad it’s good’ kind of way, most notably the seventh one. It’s terribly shot (with its emphasis on 3D) but also highly cathartic, which produces some of the series’ most oddly satisfying kills. The latest instalment in the franchise, Spiral, wishes to revitalize the franchise through a traditional detective thriller, à la David Fincher’s Se7en. By doing this, director Darren Lynn Bousman and screenwriters Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger craft the most serious (and best) Saw sequel yet, utilizing the franchise’s greatest hits to its advantage.
It’s also the franchise’s most aesthetically pleasing film, with bright neon blues permeating the film’s first trap, where a corrupt police officer is punished for his lies by having his tongue trapped inside a system designed to rip it out. “Live or die, make your choice,” the Jigsaw copycat tells him, as he must choose by either ripping his tongue out or getting killed by an oncoming subway train. This sets the stage for the film’s main intrigue, where detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks (Chris Rock) and his rookie partner William Schenck (Max Minghella) investigate the death, in which they find out a John Kramer copycat is targeting the police department, specifically the force’s corrupt officers, in which he constructs sadistic traps themed after their own cover-ups. Once the case starts to amplify as more deaths pile up, the film starts to hook the audience in very easily and never lets them go, using pure misdirection for its final reveal to be the entire franchise’s bleakest (and very best).
The addition of Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson (as Zeke’s father) in the Saw franchise was a stroke of genius, as their signature style of acting infuses life to a horror franchise that sorely needed it. Jackson unleashes his inner John Shaft II (with the best fake moustache I’ve ever seen) during the movie’s flashback sequences that take great inspiration from the cheesiest cop-action flicks of the 1980s, line delivery and all. But it’s fantastic—heck, why not go ultra-cheesy? Previous sequels seemed to want to take themselves (way too) seriously, but they were anything but. It seems that Bousman finally understood that the only way to bring back Saw from being yet another overkilled horror franchise (following the likes of Friday the 13th, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street) is to vivify it with camp. In this day and age, very few actors can make camp highly convincing, but Samuel L. Jackson has already proved himself with his tenure in the Shaft franchise, and he’s a perfect fit for the role of the mentor/father figure to Chris Rock’s Zeke.
Rock also shows his dramatic chops for the first time, and he’s incredibly convincing here. It’s probably one of the best roles he’s done in his career, mixing his signature style of provocative humor with emotional levity during some of the movie’s most tension-filled scene, most notably its climax, which deserves to be experienced on the biggest screen possible, preferably IMAX (if, of course, done safely). He, Minghella, and the other police officers share fantastic chemistry, with its emotional weight being solely constructed by the high caliber of its acting. The film’s traps are also remarkable, offering unflinching (but oddly pleasurable) moments of gruesome horror—with neon colors making them feel beautifully cinematic. I mean, there’s nothing more cinematically satisfying than seeing someone getting his fingers ripped out by a finger trap whilst getting electrocuted inside a water-filled basin or someone getting his body viciously pierced by shards of cut bottled glass from a machine spewing it out. It should be even more impressive on the big screen, with Bousman having refined his visual style from his previous Saw films, which makes its goriest scenes have a more cathartic impact.
While Spiral does lots of things right for the Saw franchise, its plot feels oddly familiar, utilizing predictable misdirection to its advantage. That misdirection only works during its ending, which happens to be the franchise’s most inventive trap (yet), but the film’s supposed “reveal” on who the Jigsaw copycat is falls a tad flat on its face, in the style of most Giallo-styled pictures. Irvin Kershner’s Eyes of Laura Mars comes to mind, where the killer's identity is only revealed during the end and kind of makes sense…but not really. The same can be said for Spiral’s ending (no spoilers here), where the more you think about it, the less sense it makes. I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise for any of you, but it feels particularly odd. However, it didn’t really matter for me as the film quickly plunges you into a climax that’ll quickly make your jaw drop in pure awe, harkening back to the first film’s ending. It’s a beautiful way to end the (second) rebirth of a new Saw renaissance, proving that this franchise might never die. And with Saw X already announced, it follows the footsteps of Spiral by having A-list actors delivering a mix of deliciously cheesy and grounded performances and a pleasurable aesthetic that’ll make you go “Hell yes” while someone is viciously murdered, maybe it’s a good idea to continue…but only if they don’t bring back John Kramer, whose arc is (more than) finished. Time to move on in more inventive ways than one…if the franchise wants to continue to “live.” Make your choice.