DVD REVIEW: SAW – THE FINAL CHAPTER

I don't think the problem with the later films is the Hoffman focus; if anything, him going nuts was a way to keep things fresh and different from Jigsaw and Amanda (I sort of like the idea of Amanda and Hoffman being polar opposites; she's so emotional she can't handle things, whereas he's a detached sociopath who doesn't care).  The trouble is that they treated Hoffman as the B-story, and they rarely gave a decent A-story worthy of carrying the film.

Saw IV is a hyper mess, focused on a dozen characters without making them interesting.  Saw V is plain dull; nothing happens.  Saw 3D has a potentially interesting main victim, but he's stuck going through a variety of tests with no interest value.  Every time they'd cut to Bobby, I'd roll my eyes because I knew I was in for some boredom.  The hanging trap may be the least interesting in the series.

Saw VI works because it has a main game that's legitimately interesting, with a flawed but likable protagonist going through it.  Then you graft the Hoffman-goes-nuts storyline on top of it.  Everything works.  But these writers had four attempts at bat, and three of the main games fell really, really flat.