3/4  Saw IV; back for more
I did not like the fourth installment in the series as much as its predecessor. While still cleverly-plotted and intricate, the overall movie became too convoluted for me this time around. What normally is an asset for the "Saw" movies b... (read full)

3/4  Good
Ever since I saw the first Saw movie when it was released, I have been hooked to the series. Saw was great, Saw II was good and Saw III was great. Saw IV kind of wraps up all the plot holes and everything that we went through watching Saw ... (read full)

0.5/4  A franchise that should have ended in 2004
A big piece of junk. Not horrible enough to walk out of the theater for, but it honestly couldn't be worse then the second installment. Be prepared for more of these travesties to film, as long as fake blood is cheap, and people will pay t... (read full)

1/4  Egregious
I think I'm all "Saw"-ed out. Sure, the torture is still somewhat interesting but the story has gone from bad to egregious since the first sequel. I rolled my eyes whenever the filmmakers tried to inject new life into the franchise while t... (read full)

1.5/4  Please no more Saw V!
It just feels that everything about this movie is fake or rather a cheap imitation. Saw IV is just a mere shadow of its former self. I even wonder why Tobin Bell keeps signing on for those installments. It would have worked if they wrote a... (read full)

3/4  :)
This movie was great! The Saw movies are always good for an intense plot that is a puzzle to put together until the end. While it was partially evident who was behind the "games" in this film, the story was still very captivating and at ti... (read full)

2.5/4  Saw IV Quick Review
This is the last good Saw film. The fifth sucked ass. The sixth isn't looking too great.

1.5/4  Saw IV Quick Review
Saw IV is pretty much the same as Saw III, but worse and with more gore. Enough Said. Bury the franchise now!

2/4  Saw IV Quick Review
More of the same - if you liked the previous Saw films, you'll probably like this one - still with inventive torture, but the ludicrous story just keeps going. One has to wonder just how far they're going to drive this into the ground.

0.5/4  Saw IV Quick Review
I have never gotten what anyone has ever seen in any of the Saw films.

In fact, I worry about the fact that there are so many people who would pay good money to go into a cinema to watch torture porn.

4/5 It's A Trap.
  by Sebastian Sanjurjo (Miami FL)
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R20I118D5LUXPX

2/5 An exercise in wheel-spinning
  by One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:

A completely unnecessary film (Saw III wrapped things up pretty nicely, but the franchise is a cash cow so more keep coming) which is unbelievably transparent in its pathetic attempt to craft a continuing story out of the few loose ends that were leftover from the last installment, Saw IV could be described far better as "desperate" than "scary": the only reason to see this one is if you want to say you've seen every Saw.

1.5/4

4/5 Just keeps getting better and better!!!
  by Johnny Palliser (So Cal.)
All I can really say about Saw 4, it that the series just gets better and better with each new film. The film is bloody as usual, and we continue to learn new things about John "Jigsaw" Kramer with each film, and we end up being more sympathatic with the character... The film has a good pace, and keeps you guessing as usual and still continues to play with your mind. There are times, that even I get a little confused of what is going on and who is involved and why... I like this series and can't wait to see 5 and 6, even 7 when it is finally released... Oh, yes! There will be a Saw 7...

I recommend this film, but beware... there is a lot of blood and gore, especially with the unrated director's cut which i have... You have been warned!

2/5 Confusing, illogical mish-mash
  by Brian A. Schar (Menlo Park, CA United States)
Let me preface this review by saying that I love horror movies. A good horror movie is good on its own terms; a bad one has potential to be good as a bad movie. Saw IV fails to live up to its potential either way. I didn't love Saw III a lot, but it was a decent 2.5-3 star movie, and the cliffhanger ending got me interested in renting Saw IV. I wish I hadn't.

We begin with a seriously fake autopsy. I've never actually performed one, so maybe it's super-realistic. But when you see the big pieces of latex (I mean, skin) peeled off of Jigsaw, you might actually start laughing like I did. That's not an auspicious beginning. And thus begins Saw IV. The flashbacks and heavy-handed exposition start coming fast and furious, rendering Saw IV more an exercise in figuring out the overly-complex editing than an exercise in straightforward horror. We the viewers get to see mild-mannered Jigsaw when he was just a regular old architect or civil engineer or something. He was more interesting as an enigmatic and all-knowing killing machine.

On top of the confusing editing, Saw IV fails to hew to its own internal logic. One of the key features of a genre film, particularly in SF, horror or fantasy, is to set up simple internal logic and hew to it diligently. Otherwise, it's very easy to shatter the suspension of disbelief. One of the key rules of Saw is that Jigsaw lets his victims "make a choice" - each gets to live or die based on that choice, and he lets them go if they live. Indeed, Jigsaw found Shawnee Smith to be an unsuitable pupil due to her failure to follow the rules. But the big set-piece trap in Saw IV completely ignores the rules, given that at least one of the participants was going to live or die completely due to the actions of someone else. Please, Saw franchise, if you're going to set up your main character to have a specific character-defining rule, make him follow it.

For spoiler-related reasons I won't go into here, the cliffhanger from Saw III isn't merely not resolved - it isn't even mentioned in this movie! That knocked a star off right there.

If you watched Saw III, you will rent Saw IV. You may, however, call it quits at Saw IV and purposely avoid the remaining films. I, for one, do not intend to rent Saw XIV to see which 20-year-old footage they're cutting up to make more flashbacks for the 2025 release. At best, this is worth a rent.

5/5 'I don't have to convice everybody. Just twelve people'
  by Jimmy Dalton (Texas, USA)
Now many didn't care for Saw IV, and felt the series reached it's peak with Saw III.

But I think this film goes hand-in-hand with Saw III. Granted, it went in a lot of directions that are polarizing for fans, as it ruined some potential that Saw III opened up for Saw IV, but it opened several new desirable elements as well.

I think this film deals with similar issues as Saw III; the acceptance of loss, redemption and forgiveness. This one deals more in the realms of letting go of things one cannot accept, and the danger of trying to prevent those around one from making the wrong choices, thus prevnting them from doing the right ones.

This installment shows more of what made Jigsaw into Jigsaw, how he went from John Kramer to sadisitic moral murderer Jigsaw.

I have to say Lyriq Bent, Scott Patterson, Costas Mandylor and as always Tobin Bell did great in this film. And it's important to understand that sometimes these aren't for the critics, but for the fans. And it's not about blood, it's about the story. I can skip over the trap scenes and still enjoy every other element, such as the actors, the dialogue, the story, the characters and the pace.

Unfotunately, Saw IV is a film people will judge before understanding, and that's just the way it will always be. I, however, defy this conventional thought with a Saw IV poster in my room.

Enjoy.