دوامة

As a huge fan of Chris Rock and a huge fan of the 'Saw' series, when I heard that Rock was behind the revamped 'Spiral' movie we were getting I was beyond excited. Then a worldwide pandemic came along delaying the film by 12 months which only served to get my anticipation levels up that little bit higher. The end product is an interesting one. It's better in some ways than I hoped, and less so in others than what I hoped. What really took me by surprise the most was how much I liked Rock as the lead. Early on we get a little stand-up routine from him (in context of the movie of course - more or less) and then here and there we get little glimpses of his terrific humour which he has obviously inserted into the script himself. But when it's time to get serious he is more than capable. He brings great intensity to the movie and combining that with his natural charisma, makes for a great centrepiece of the film. The film takes a little bit of a step-back in terms of the brutality of some of the traps. Make no mistake, there are some brutal things to watch in this movie, however I suspect a conscious effort was made to reign things in just a little. In previous 'Saw' movies it felt like they were going out of their way to make as many audience members faint as possible. Here is just feels like they are trying to find a good balance between keeping the gore-enthusiasts pleased, and keeping those less inclined to enjoy that type of thing in the cinema. The pacing of the film is lightning quick. There's a little bit of set-up and character introductions early on, but once the action begins it never relents. The film is only 93 minutes admittedly, however it is over before you know it. There's a new voice on the tapes this time around. At first it took me off-guard and I didn't quite know what to think of it. However by the end of the film it had grown on me a lot. It is very different to the one we had in the original series. I will be interested to hear what other people thought of it. I can see it being quite a polarising thing. I won't get into the conclusion of the film (always a treat in the 'Saw/Spiral' universe), suffice to say it is quite different to how we are used to these films ending. I still think I need to go back and rewatch the final scene to fully understand certain character's motivations and what they were trying to achieve. The door has been left wide open for more sequels though so if this one is a success then prepare yourself for Spiral 2-8 in the coming years. I say bring them on.

While this had some good moments and good traps and a decent storyline, this isn't anything special or new, and should have been far more superior than it was. Chris Rock was better than I expected but I still think I'd like to have seen someone else in the role. Unfortunately though this was far too predictable as it's very obvious early on who the Jigsaw copycat is. Unlike other films there wasn't much subtlely. A shame as they had an opportunity here to make something really exciting.

What was his big idea, just to be in it? He's easily the most obnoxious Saw character of all time. Traps sucked, b-movie gore was mediocre, for a thinking horror fan this feels feeble AF. If I were a producer, I'd be wishing I spent that budget on cocaine.

Predictable from the very beginning. These were the same writers who wrote Jigsaw which was easily predictable but less than this film somehow. It was so easy to tell that Chris Rock's rookie partner was behind everything, it was almost laughable. Soon as he showed up on screen and begin talking I could tell it was him. I kept hoping to be thrown off but in the end that wasn't the case. With Saw X just being announced, the studio needs to go with new writers or bring back the old ones. The way this one ends, where the hell do you go now? Chris Rock's character knows who this guy is. I felt they kind of botched the ending. The strings holding Sam Jackson should have ripped him apart as SWAT was entering the room and then they should have shot Chris Rock while he ran in from the side. The rookie shuts the door to the elevator and laughs "Game over". The rest of the movie was fine. The traps weren't that interesting and it's different not having the presence of you know who and his puppet.

The tasks that the persons need to choose between is not close enough to the Jigsaw movies before this broken thing. Total breakdown. Too extreme and not good enough for the series.

I think this was a pretty good Saw movie, and it shows a more brutal jigsaw killer copycat. You just need to make your own judgment on whether you like it or not.