Spiral

I was so excited to see this. It was a tradition for me and my buddy back in the day to go to the theater every Halloween for the new Saw sequel. We just had a good time.

I had pretty high expectations for Spiral, but even as I was lowering them throughout the film I kept being disappointed. The traps just weren't impressive at all. I've heard a lot of people say the first one was amazing, and while it was filmed quite well, I didn't think it was great either. So many traps that were simpler from the first 4-5 movies had so much more of an impact. I'll skip over discussing a lot of the details of the film and just get to the ending, which had major Saw IV vibes, and left me feeling pretty empty. I'm not one of these people that claims to have seen the twist coming...I didn't, but it didn't make my jaw drop or fascinate me at all. The ending felt rushed and I don't know exactly what impact they were trying to have.

I'm giving it a 5/10 simply for the effort of bringing the series back. Rock does a decent job really. I just wish the creativity was there.

I had high hopes for this as potentially a new beginning for the franchise. Unfortunately, poor writing and a lack of depth really let it down. The pacing was off and though Rock was ok, his lack of real acting chops showed. It's worth a look but don't expect anything special.

Zeke Banks (Chris Rock) is a reckless undercover cop. Twelve years earlier, he had brought down a dirty cop and became an outcast within the department. His father (Samuel L. Jackson) was his supervisor at the time. Captain Angie Garza (Marisol Nichols) is his present day boss and she forces him to partner up with rookie Detective William Schenk (Max Minghella). They're assigned a strange case of a dead body in the subway.

Chris Rock has been trying to act hard in a few roles recently. Some comedians can pull that off especially as they get older. All I think is that this is an unfunny Chris and it's weird. This is his acting face and it's fake. I try to image him without his past greatness and I can't do it. As for the movie, this is a lot of Saw essentials; overly complicated kills and morality lessons. The complicated tests are getting repetitive after almost two decades of Saw movies. I actually like the self-righteous morality in this one. The reveal is fine although it's somewhat expected coming from this franchise. Quite frankly, I wonder if this would be better if Sam Jackson takes the lead role.

What was his big idea, just to be in it? He's easily the most obnoxious Saw character of all time. Traps sucked, b-movie gore was mediocre, for a thinking horror fan this feels feeble AF. If I were a producer, I'd be wishing I spent that budget on cocaine.

I'll keep this relatively short: It's a good movie worth watching, but if you've seen five thriller/horrors in your life and pay attention to small things, it's entirely predictable 30 minutes in. The traps aren't that great despite what others say. It's a fine movie on its own, though, and probably worth watching. Just don't expect to be blown away like some of these other reviewers.