SPIRAL: FROM THE BOOK OF SAW

It's been 4 years since our last foray into the SAW franchise with 2017's JIGSAW. Attempting to breath new life into an exhausted property, Lionsgate is now attempting another route to capitalize off of this IP with a spinoff staring Chris Rock as detective Ezekiel Banks. Banks is one of, if not the only, honest cop in his department and as such, has no friends as a result of it. As a patrolman 15 years prior to the events in this story, he turns in his partner for murdering a witness in order to silence him. Banks works alone due to his mistrust of his fellow coworkers who in turn, don't want to be partnered up with him either. Against his wishes, and as a punishment from his captain, Banks is partnered up with rookie detective William Schenk. Murders begin in gruesome ways that hearkens back the Jigsaw killings. It becomes clear early on the killer is focusing on cops to punish, rather than drug addicts or criminals that the SAW franchise dealt with. With that exception, there's nothing new here with this latest installment. A handful of elaborate contraptions are setup where the individual will have to literally sacrifice a piece of their body in order to live. By the end of the film, they're just walking through the motions and the big reveal of who the killer is was obvious as well. My money was on one individual early on and it turned out to be true, which was disappointing because I respected the SAW movies for their cleverness and twist endings. If you're a fan of the franchise it's not bad enough to completely ignore, but I would suggest doing yourself the favor, saving some money, and passing on a theatrical run. 6/10