Blu-ray Movie Reviews

In the fifth installment of the "Saw" franchise, Detective Hoffman is seemingly the last person alive to carry on the Jigsaw legacy. But when his secret is threatened, he must go on the hunt to eliminate all loose ends.

Saw V picks up right where the last one ended and continues the series of torture porn. The case says “You Won’t Believe How It Ends” making this seem like it could be the final conclusion to the series but like all the episodes before it the ending leaves an opening for more grisly deaths. This installment follows Hoffman’s involvement in the jigsaw murders and you get a lot of back-story on the films before and what his involvement was. The story is a little disjointed as there is a new group of players going through hell while an FBI agent is homing in on Hoffman. Ultimately this is a decent addition to the franchise with new gruesome death sequences but I’ve been losing my interest in the series as a whole.

The HD presentation looks quite good with excellent contrast and dimension. This is a dark movie with lots of inky blacks and excellent shadow detail. Whites have a glow to them at times that obscures finer details but the image still retains plenty of fine detail in the darker sequences. Colors a vivid and blood red is exaggerated a touch. There is some light noise in the image that is obviously intended for stylistic touches and does add to the look of the film.

The 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is aggressive with impressive extension in the lower end. These films have always been pretty moody and the score really fills the room during the death sequences. Panning effects are impressive and there is plenty of sidewall activity. Spatial design is compelling but not completely enveloping but the balance of elements in the mix is good. Dialogue always sounds natural and is never drowned out by the rest of the mix.

Extras include a pair of feature commentaries and some features on the different puzzle murders in the film. The trailer is also included. Disc two features a digital copy of the film for portable devices.

This one ended up being a bit better than the last Saw movie but still a bit too cookie cutter compared to the series as a whole. If you’re a fan this will probably be right up your alley but I found it barely passable for the genre.