Movie Review - Spiral

Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Genre: Horror/ Thriller/ Crime
Runtime: 93 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Samuel L. Jackson, Marisol Nichols, Patrick McManus, Dan Petronijevic, Richard Zeppieri, Ali Johnson, Zoie Palmer, Dylan Roberts, K.C. Collins, Edie Inksetter
 
Description: A criminal mastermind unleashed a twisted form of justice.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2021 MOVIE CHALLENGE

WEEK 44: A HORROR MOVIE

Review: When it was announced that Chris Rock would be working on a new “Saw” film, a few eyebrows were raised. Although the comedian declared himself a big fan of this horror-franchise, his resume shows zero experience in the genre. But maybe he can blow new life into the franchise. Well, the answer is no. The film is not that great and Rock can be partly blamed for that.
In all fairness, it is of course a tough job to continue the “Saw” series in an interesting way. The surprise hit from 2004 received six sequels in quick succession, which increased the horror and made the ramified story increasingly complex. The numerous subplots, flashbacks and bizarre revelations turned the franchise into a weirdly unusually film series. By the time the seventh part wa intended as the finale, however, the formula had already become rather threadbare and the planned relaunch, with the unimpressive “Jigsaw”, didn’t really get off the ground either. So yes, which way can you go with this series?
Back to basics then, seems to be the idea. That was probably the right choice, as it allows “Spiral” to function as a sequel without getting caught up in the complex continuity of the previous parts. The great advantage of this is that no prior knowledge is required. Even the pre-history of a moralistic killed who killed his victims with sadistic traps is made sufficiently clear for newcomers here and there. In terms of plot, “Spiral” is straightforward: a series of Jisaw-like murders are committed against policemen, and the officer in charge of the investigations is someone who, because of his extreme rectitude does not exactly enjoy the appreciation of his colleagues.
“Spiral” is much easier to categorize then previous parts: it’s a police thriller. So we get an experienced cop who makes his own plans, a commissioner whom regularly fights and a young partner whom he teaches the intricacies of police work, while the city suffers from a heat wave and the victims pile up. Good enough for a serial killer thriller, except that the whole Saw-element in it feels rather incidental. It would take little rewriting to make this a completely stand-alone film.
Back to Chris Rock. In itself, not an unpleasant choice, were it not for the fact that Rock is a bit out of place as the driving force of the film. He tries to hard to be serious, which leads to a somewhat wooden performance. Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Rock’s character’s father, partially compensates, but mostly plays on routine and does what we see more often of him.
“Spiral” leaves us with an open ending, which hints to yet another sequel. We already didn’t need this movie, so a sequel is really unnecessary. The movie proofs that most life has been drained out of this franchise, just stop making them.

Rating: 2 / 5