DOWNWARD ‘SPIRAL’
A few laughs from Chris Rock can’t justify more torture porn from the played-out ‘Saw’ franchise
Oh, so there’s your killer right there. We’re not that deep into the sloppy and gory torture-porn crime procedural “Spiral: From the Book of Saw” when a certain character does a certain thing that might seem inconsequential to everyone else in the room but is an obvious “tell” to the audience we have our killer. There’s no other reason for this character to do that one particular thing.
Not that figuring out whodunnit always spoils a movie. After all, there’s only a small handful of suspects in most murder mysteries, and even if we’ve narrowed it down to one or two candidates early on, we can enjoy the journey if we’re watching a well-crafted story. Alas, the ninth installment in the “Saw” franchise doesn’t meet those standards. Despite the usual depraved creativity from the psychotic mastermind pulling off a string of killings, a few darkly funny moments and a first-rate cast led by Chris Rock, “Spiral” lives down to its name. It spirals downward into a ludicrous, dumbeddown horror story more concerned with grossing out the audience than in providing any compelling reason for this long-running franchise to keep chugging along.
This is the fourth “Saw” movie for Darren Lynn Bousman, and he clearly knows how to stage those infamous scenes where some unseen, creepy-sounding monster has kidnapped a targeted individual and strapped them inside some insanely complicated device. Within the first 10 minutes or so, “Spiral” actually identifies itself as a combo platter of three genres:
† It’s a definitely a “Saw” movie, with an opening scene that dares us to keep our eyes on the screen as we see a guy ensnared in a device on a subway track that gives him the choice between severing his own tongue or allowing a train to turn him into human lasagna.
† It’s also a Chris Rock comedy vehicle. The first time Rock’s Detective Zeke Banks appears on screen, he’s delivering a hilarious, edgy riff on “Forrest Gump” that sounds like something straight out of a stand-up special.
† And it’s a cliché-riddled cop movie, as evidenced by the very next scene, in which undercover cop Zeke is read the riot act by his boss, Capt. Angie Garza (Marisol Nichols), who yells at him about not being a team
player and she can’t have this s--- anymore.
As for the alleged plot in “Spiral,” someone is kidnapping, torturing and killing cops — all of them from Zeke’s precinct — and is doing so in the twisted style of the late and not lamented Jigsaw, who was killed off a bunch of movies ago but has inspired a number of disciples and copycats. The killer keeps sending file drives containing video clues and horrific “souvenirs” such as severed fingers and limbs to Zeke, who has been teamed up with the rookie Detective William Schenk (Max Minghella). Zeke’s only other true ally is his father, Marcus (Samuel L. Jackson), the legendary former chief of police.
Zeke tries to piece together Jigsaw’s puzzle, which often leads him on a wild goose chase before Zeke figures it out, usually too late to make a difference. We know we’re heading to one last confrontation where Zeke will find himself face-to-face or at least face-to-masked-face with this latest Jigsaw knockoff, and we know the ending will almost certainly leave the door open for yet another “Saw” movie — and that prospect is just wearying.