Review: Spiral

There was a period there where the Saw movies were so bogged down in continuity they all but lost sight of what made them work: deathtraps and plenty of them. We don't watch these movies for yet another shock twist reveal that some side character has decided to "carry on Jigsaw's work" - we want to see people mangled for some minor transgression by an evil puppet serial killer who thinks they're righting wrongs. So good news: Spiral ("from the book of Saw") delivers on the mangulations and then some. Maybe leave pork off the menu for a while.

The other element here - and it's literally the only other reason to see this film - is Chris Rock, who isn't playing Chris Rock but if you're a fan of Chris Rock you'll definitely enjoy the way he's playing a very Chris Rock kind of character. "What if Chris Rock was a cop trying to track down a serial killer while riffing on Forrest Gump and referencing New Jack City?" Question answered.

While those are two very good reasons to watch this film (or at least, they are if you're a fan of gory dismemberments and / or Chris Rock), beyond that this slice of grim big city murk can feel a little reheated. A Jigsaw copycat killer is targeting corrupt cops in an unnamed US city, and Detective Zeke Banks (Rock) and new partner William Schenk (Max Minghella) are on the case. Which might be a problem, because years ago Banks took down a crooked cop and the whole force turned against him - even, to some extent, his police chief (now retired) dad (Samuel L Jackson).

Jigsaw Junior is killing corrupt cops; Rock is playing literally the only non-corrupt cop in town. So there's not a whole lot of tension there. Meanwhile, the identity of the Jigsaw copycat is extremely non-mysterious if you're paying even the slightest attention, so that's not exactly keeping you in your seat either. And yet Spiral is still perfectly watchable (unless you're squeamish) and at times almost compelling. What gives?

Seeing a bunch of mildly annoying characters murdered in gruesome ways is always going to be somewhat entertaining, and while the death traps here are pretty basic, they do deliver when it comes to unpleasant ways to die. Spaced out at one roughly every fifteen minutes, it's a fairly solid structure to build on.

Chris Rock is the other big draw (Jackson, who brings some weight to proceedings, is only present for a handful of scenes), and he's going all out to make it work. Reportedly Rock pitched the idea of him starring in a Saw film to the studio; turns out dropping someone with actual charisma into the sub-Seven grime of the franchise makes for a pretty good hook. 

Clearly a shouty cop who plays by his own rules isn't anything special. But Rock (who largely keeps his riffing to character-appropriate gripes about marriage) makes it work here, especially in the scenes where his frustration with his fellow cops boils over.

This is a film that is exactly the sum of its parts and no more; if you're not interested in gruesome death traps and / or Chris Rock, there's nothing else here for you. But put together, those parts add up to a solid installment in the Saw series. As always, the only (rusty, metal, blood-splattered) door here that isn't linked to a death trap is the one that leads to a sequel.

- Anthony Morris