Saw IV

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Only a deranged optimist would expect progress on any front in the fourth installment of this blood-saturated horror franchise. Even with psychopath Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) dead, "Saw IV" (Lionsgate) offers more of the same tortuous mayhem.

Seeing his autopsy carried out in the opening sequence will put to rest any doubts regarding whether Jigsaw survived "Saw III." The only benefit of being confronted with this anatomically graphic procedure is that nothing that follows could be more excruciatingly gruesome. Of course, there's no cinematic law preventing Jigsaw from manipulating murder games from beyond or preventing viewers from learning more about him through flashbacks.

With shock value exhausted and their antihero dead, director Darren Lynn Bousman and company delve into Jigsaw's past and provide a routine backstory that explains what turned the talented engineer into an executioner and self-styled moral tutor.

Learning more about his perverse worldview only dissipates the tension, however. And using a furious editing technique to link all the deadly moving parts can't mask the terrible dialogue and acting.

Greater focus is also placed on the law enforcement officials trying to solve the continuing series of killings and discover the identity of Jigsaw's remaining accomplice. Two FBI profilers, Strahm (Scott Patterson) and Perez (Athena Karkanis), crash the investigation and SWAT team leader Rigg (Lyriq Bent) is led on a scavenger hunt meant to test his savior complex, which results in more dismembering.

Just as Jigsaw wants Rigg to let go of his obsession with saving people, those responsible for continuing the "Saw" franchise ought to follow that advice and let the killing games cease.

The film contains pervasive bloody violence and gore, including bodily mutilations, much rough language and profanity, images depicting rape, and frontal male nudity. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops