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
