The Saw series has spiraled out of creativity into plot repetition and violence porn.
Spiral
When I teach intro to film again, I will use Spiral (subtitled “From the Book of Saw”) as an example of thriller and revenge themes coupled with torture porn. At least I know the Gitmo operatives will enjoy it. But like that real life torture chamber, the Saw series just won’t quit.
Nothing is creative about the formulaic nature of the film although the father/son dynamic gives it a bid for the unusual. As for the torture, the Saw series (this in the 9th?) has been exemplary for creative variations of torture.
Most especially this iteration with the Dantean punishments fitting the crime. One ring of this hell, for instance, has the cop victim losing his tongue most horrifically for having lied regularly on the stand. In another, a victim can bypass electrocution in a tub by allowing a machine to rip off his fingers!
The Jigsaw copycat certainly has Jigsaw’s flare for the macabre while Chris Rock playing homicide detective Zeke Banks underperforms as the only decent cop in sight heading the investigation into the sick murders of the men and women in blue. Samuel L. Jackson as his dad and former chief of police is just Jackson reprising his bad-ass persona from a hundred other movies.
After absorbing the variations of torture, you might notice this is just a conventional and unremarkable police-as-corrupt thriller. But then, Rock is a producer, so like the Jigsaw imitator, he allows the series to live again. Or die, if I can predict the drift of critical reviews.
Spiral
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman (Abattoir)
Screenplay: Josh Stolberg (Jigsaw), Pete Goldfinger (Jigsaw)
Cast: Chris Rock (Dolemite is My Name), Samuel L. Jackson (Snakes on a Plane)
Run Time: 1h 33m
Rating: R