Darren Lynn Bousman, 2021.
Cinemas nationwide have finally reopened, and with the return of the big screen comes the return of the Saw franchise, only this time the franchise is veering into a different direction. Chris Rock had a solid idea for reigniting the iconic franchise, and approached Lionsgate with it. They loved it, they got talking to some of the previous directors, writers and producers of former Saw films, including Bousman (who directed 3 other Saw films), Leigh Whannell and James Wan (who created Saw) and Spiral: From The Book Of Saw was born.
I was extremely excited to go and see this, as I have previously seen a Saw film on the big screen, but was nervously intrigued as I didn't know which way they would go with it. Instead of relying on John Kramer's presence in the movie, they went the way of a Copycat Killer, who would have their own motives and morals.
Chris Rock stars as Zeke, a Cop who is working in the shadow of his father, an esteemed police veteran portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson. Along with his rookie partner, Zeke takes charge of a grizzly investigation that is eerily reminiscent of the city's gruesome past. Before he can predict, he finds himself at the centre of the killer's game.
There was a lot of pressure was on Chris Rock in this film, as he was the one who approached Lionsgate with a pitch, being a fan of the movie and wanting to reignite it. I thought his idea was really cool. It's unclear what little bits were his idea and what came from writers Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger, but along with the director Bousman, the three of them came up with a great idea for a movie.
I wont be delving into much, if any of the plot, as there are clues laid throughout, and its best not to spoil it for anyone, but there was plenty I liked about this film, but also plenty I didn't.
I really liked the look of this film. It appeared to have a lot more money behind it. Originally one of the reasons why it was so easy to make a Saw film was because they were incredibly cheap to make. They would release one every Halloween and would destroy the Box Office. This film had more money behind it but still kept the atmosphere from early Saw films. The set design, wardrobe design and cinematography is all impressive in Spiral.
The tropes from the Saw franchise shone through, with nice callbacks to previous films, even Saw and Saw II. The original score and overture was used a few times in this movie, and was also modernised throughout and on the soundtrack. As much as I don't like classics being messed with, I understand the need to evolve and keep up with the times, and feel they did this successfully. The Hello Zepp overture is probably my favourite piece of original score in any film, and I am glad it had its place in Spiral.
The acting. That was really very poor to begin with. So much so that I was tempted to walk out if it didn't get any better. Luckily it did, but from just about everyone, the first 30 minutes was not strong at all. Chris Rock is mostly good in the movie, but in the last 30 minutes he really pulls it off, and definitely makes up for a poor start. Obviously his humour was on point in this movie, and it didn't feel forced. The humour felt incredibly natural to his character and that's the sign of a decent actor. Sometimes Sam Jackson is amazing and makes a movie 10 times better and other times he's just Sam Jackson and we already love him so that's okay. I'm leaning towards the latter, but that's not really a bad thing, and also not really his fault. His character was pretty much just Zeke's father and, in classic Saw fashion, the movie is only about an hour and a half long, so his character couldn't really be fleshed out much more than that.
I enjoyed the twist, it is probably quite predictable but I and everyone else who saw it with me didn't quite get it, so again that was a big plus. However, the big twist comes about 10 minutes before the end, so all the dialogue, the big reveal and gargantuan crescendo was crammed in, and that for me really affected how I felt about the ending. Throwing back again to the first Saw, it does this much more effectively and I feel they tried to finish in the same way. I can appreciate a sudden quick ending that leaves us wanting more, but I felt that if this film were to have lasted another 15 minutes, then everybody's characters could have had a bit more time to digest what they had seen, the big twist could have had a bigger impact and the tension could have been built up a lot more.
This happened a lot throughout the movie, in almost every scene, the pressure was heightened, and everything was running at 110% speed. This greatly impacted the tone of the film, and was one thing I didn't like. Not only is it incredibly gory, it also explains everything really quickly and feels incredibly rushed. This left nothing for the audience to imagine. Everything was shown to us, and I mean EVERYTHING. In Saw films, it has ended up as a gory franchise, when I really think less is more. The first 2 are so highly regarded for me because it lets the viewer imagine what they'd go through and feel if they were in those traps. That is a lot more of a personal nitpicky note, rather than a critique.
I was confused by reviews I had seen before I watched it, that said this wasn't a real Saw movie, because other than the fact that it isn't directly in the John Kramer story line, this has all the hallmarks of a classic Saw movie. In fact it really reminded me of the first 3. It is abundantly clear to me that this will most likely be a spin-off series to carry on the Saw legacy. This is probably the best way to go, given how many people - including myself - think that they have probably churned it out a little too much. If you look at the very first film from 2004, it's clear that the franchise has gone in a way that writers Leigh Whannell and James Wan perhaps wouldn't have wanted to go in. I think that Spiral has addressed that, and the film did a great job returning to it's roots.
Overall I did enjoy it, a bit more than I thought I was going to. The twists and callbacks to earlier Saw films I enjoyed, but the pacing of the film was way too much, and the acting was really poor in the first half an hour. Chris Rock came good in the end, but the direction of the film was poor. The story was great, and if this becomes a spin off franchise and there is a Spiral 2, I would be all for that, but if this is a standalone film in the same universe as Saw I would be disappointed. It is worth going to see if you are a fan of Saw, and I would be really interested to hear what you would have to say about this film, as I feel this is going to be very divisive.
My rating: 6.5/10
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