I have a weird history with the saw franchise (of which Spiral is a continuation). I only really liked the first one and all the rest are “enjoyable” for their splatter effects only… they aren’t very scary and their faux moralizing is silly, trite, and unconvincing. So I went into this new flick curious… why not just call it Saw 9, why is Chris Rock in it, why is Chris Rock a producer? What’s so different?

Well… things are different, but it’s still a Saw movie. This new film focuses on Chris Rock’s detective character and his investigation of a copycat Jigsaw killer (this one wearing a pig mask but performing the same sadistic, bloody traps). Rock’s character has a complicated history as an informant and his fellow detectives have named him a rat. And the new killer seems very interested in teaching crooked cops a lesson.

The change of focus away from random people in a random series of traps is an interesting change to the series and might justify the title change. Maybe. The traps themselves are fewer but every bit as gory and disgusting as ever. But that means we have to care about a police procedural and a background for Rock… and that’s where the movie face plants. I was never engaged in Rock’s character nor did I find the investigation thrilling or mentally stimulating. It was just things people did in between vague flashbacks to Rock’s history.

And Chris Rock’s presence is weird. He opens with a comedian’s riff on Forest Gump and Tom Hanks that is pretty funny. But that’s the end of his character having much of a personality. Unfortunately Rock isn’t always the best actor (he’s great in his strengths, that’s for sure… but less so here). And this version of Saw appears to be his idea… so he had a unique spin that might have worked with a better writer and director. I think the film was – in the very last second – trying to say something about the cops but it was way too little, way too late.

Looking over my past Saw scores, I’m afraid this is actually my least favorite film in the franchise (which doesn’t have many high water marks, to be fair). I like the ambitious change, in theory… but in practice, no. It just didn’t work. I was deeply bored and deeply distracted throughout. I think it thinks it’s Seven and sir, I’ve seen Seven and you are no Seven.

Score: 58